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I recently got my free credit report and it shows a collection for $3,444 from a collection agency for a rental I had. Does this itself qualify as an eviction?
I also have a lot more questions since I literally just found this out. A detailed post about my situation is below.
Back in 2013 I moved to New York state for a job. I had to sign a year long lease with an apartment complex that was privately owned. After only 2 months I lost my job. At the time I called a free legal service and was told I had a case against my previous employer, but that is another issue altogether. Anyway, I was then left with no job, virtually no savings and I still had to pay my rent. A previous employer agreed to hire me back, but was in Massachusetts so I had to move. I explained the situation to the onsite leasing agent and she said I could break my lease if I got someone else to take over the room for me.
I tried for a month to find someone. However, I had no reception on my cell phone in this place (it was a remote part of New York) so I had to direct the people I found on Craig's List and elsewhere to call the housing office, which the onsite person said she was fine with. I later found out that rather than working with me she was actually only showing them other vacant rooms in the complex.
To cut to the end I had to just move without finding a replacement. I told the onsite manager about this, but I'm pretty sure she just screwed me over (or at least helped me screw myself over). She told me to leave my key in the door slot to her office and said that the complex would not go after me since they'd be able to find a replacement.
Anyway, other than wanting to know if it counts as an eviction I have a lot more questions. Namely, what can I do about this? I guess I'll just have to call the collection agency and pay off the $3,444. Or should I even do that? The company is based in Florida and this was a New York company. I just want to be responsible and pay if off, but I'm skeptical of getting screwed over. How do I know if I pay it they're not going to try to go after me even more? Also, my rent was $825 a month. Shouldn't it be $8,250 rather than $3,444?
Thanks in advance for any constructive help. This is a hell of a pickle.
I don't know the state laws but likely the lower amount reflects the actual vacancy on the apartment because it was probably leased before your old term expired. But phone them and check. If this is truly the first time this is known to you, I suggest you obtain all three credit reports and see if its on all of them. If so, you should address it.
They might've sued you and were granted a default judgment. You would have to look up civil court cases in your county to see if they evicted you as well.
I recently got my free credit report and it shows a collection for $3,444 from a collection agency for a rental I had. Does this itself qualify as an eviction?
Judgments/public records list separately on credit reports. A collection account is just that; an account that has been placed with a collection agency and listed on your credit report.
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Anyway, other than wanting to know if it counts as an eviction I have a lot more questions. Namely, what can I do about this? I guess I'll just have to call the collection agency and pay off the $3,444. Or should I even do that? The company is based in Florida and this was a New York company. I just want to be responsible and pay if off, but I'm skeptical of getting screwed over. How do I know if I pay it they're not going to try to go after me even more? Also, my rent was $825 a month. Shouldn't it be $8,250 rather than $3,444?
Thanks in advance for any constructive help. This is a hell of a pickle.
Well first off, have you ever been contacted by this collection agency? Was finding them on your credit report the first you ever heard about this?
Really, this needs to be in the personal finance subforum. This is a debt collection issue now, not a rental one, and that forum has people more experienced at dealing with that issue than you'll find here. That said, here's my take.
- There's no point in paying it off unless you benefit from it. The benefit to you in this instance would be getting it removed from your credit reports and that would need to be agreed to in writing with the collection agency. If they won't do that, you'd be better served just waiting out the statute of limitations and/or the credit reporting period.
- If you have the financial ability to pay it all off, you can be pretty aggressive with your approach. If you don't have those means, you might be better off letting a sleeping dog lie, if you know what I mean.
Sounds to me like you are on the hook. You signed a legal contract, you defaulted, you owe. Losing your job and subsequently getting another one is your job, not theirs...not being insensitive but, a deal is a deal? A contract is a contract? You signed it, were you under duress?
You get the point. Now, to be fair, it sounds, like the landlord was a real piece of work...NY...shocking, right? Anyway, it sounds like you will have to work it out. Legally. As it relates to Florida? That's just one of their hundreds of boiler rooms/collection agencies/scam artist plying their trade.
Judgments/public records list separately on credit reports. A collection account is just that; an account that has been placed with a collection agency and listed on your credit report.
Well first off, have you ever been contacted by this collection agency? Was finding them on your credit report the first you ever heard about this?
Really, this needs to be in the personal finance subforum. This is a debt collection issue now, not a rental one, and that forum has people more experienced at dealing with that issue than you'll find here. That said, here's my take.
- There's no point in paying it off unless you benefit from it. The benefit to you in this instance would be getting it removed from your credit reports and that would need to be agreed to in writing with the collection agency. If they won't do that, you'd be better served just waiting out the statute of limitations and/or the credit reporting period.
- If you have the financial ability to pay it all off, you can be pretty aggressive with your approach. If you don't have those means, you might be better off letting a sleeping dog lie, if you know what I mean.
I definitely have the means to pay it off now. I just want to make sure I benefit from it though as you said.
It does make me curious though, what happens when you just let it expire from your report? It seems like there should be some backlash from it. I mean what would happen if the debt was considerably more like $100,000?
I'm still working to sort this out as best I can, I got a recommendation from a family member for a lawyer to give me a free consultation. I'm sure I'll just end up paying the whole amount, but again if I do that I want to make sure it benefits me as much as possible so the situation gets resolved as best as it can.
I definitely have the means to pay it off now. I just want to make sure I benefit from it though as you said.
Best bet then would be to dispute it, possibly catch them in some FDCPA/FCRA violations and use that to soften them up enough for a favorable settlement.
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It does make me curious though, what happens when you just let it expire from your report?
Once the 7 year reporting period is up, that's it. It cannot legally be put on your credit again.
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It seems like there should be some backlash from it. I mean what would happen if the debt was considerably more like $100,000?
The statute of limitations (how long they have to sue you) depends on the type of debt and state law. If that expires, they can't legally sue you.
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