Concern for my credit score (moved from Raleigh forum)

[VickiR]

I forced the apt. complex to give me a detailed statement of the charges.

One of the charges was that my son had broken one of the slats of the mini blinds. Their quote for that was $250.

I had offered to pay a portion of the total bill so that it wouldn't ding his credit. They refused.

Funny thing is that on occasion a collection company calls about this debt and they are now willing to take much less than my offer was. However, now I have no interest in paying.

Vicki

Originally Posted by saturnfan

If the manager agrees there was a valid forwarding address on file, they DID NOT comply with NC law and cannot collect the alleged debt. They also owe your deposit back.

File a complaint with the NC State attorney General's Consumer Protection Unit.

Also, carpets are depreciated for normal wear and are replaced about every 5 years. If the carpet had reached normal replacement time, it doesn't matter what you did or didn't do to it.

You might have an attorney write the complex stating their violation of NC law and demanding the refund of your deposit and cancellation of any alleged debt.

Their stupidity in not using your new address does not excuse them from compliance.

[saturnfan]

Originally Posted by VickiR

I forced the apt. complex to give me a detailed statement of the charges.

One of the charges was that my son had broken one of the slats of the mini blinds. Their quote for that was $250.

I had offered to pay a portion of the total bill so that it wouldn't ding his credit. They refused.

Funny thing is that on occasion a collection company calls about this debt and they are now willing to take much less than my offer was. However, now I have no interest in paying.

Vicki

Hi Vicki,

Our complex uses plastic blinds and normally won't charge if a blind is broken since they have a relatively short life anyway.

A walk through or pictures before vacating are a great idea.

We changed apts 2 years ago in the complex and our son did the same this year after he got engaged. No damage charges for either apt.

I hope the OP gets satisfaction from the Attorney General's office.

[texdav]

Originally Posted by meggypie

@BayVillage: No, there was absolutely no pet damage. That is the reason we do not think the charge is in good faith. We are honest people who believe that one must take care of what they start. If there was damage done, we would certainly be willing to pay up.

**As a matter of fact, we did try to settle with the property manager directly for $400 , but she refused, which is a little suspicious to me...

@Dedratermi: That's what we thought in the beginning. I'm just hoping that if we are contacted by the collection agency, that's the only thing that will happen. I know it takes some effort on the creditor's end to go the distance and actually do damage to someone's credit score. Crossing my fingers!

Its sounds kind of suspious if there was no damage and you offered to settloe. basically you can dispute it in couirt unless you ignore a court summons and have a judgement aginst you which can be reported and effect your credit.The bad thing about a judgemnent is that isn many sates it can be renewed and even porevent you from sellign property or buying without settleing the judgement.

[DebPA]

Meggypie,

You might want to consider getting credit monitoring so you can watch your credit report closely and see if there is any effect as you fight this.

This is a page kind of describing what credit monitoring is and what it costs.[url]http://www.thecredittruth.org/credit-monitoring.aspx[/url]


All the bureaus sell it, and there are tons of resellers on the internet. Just make sure you get one that monitors all three bureaus. A collection agency will likely only report to one as it is cheaper.