Debt Collectors

G

GatorDave

500+ Posts
To make a long story short, apartment management people suck. I moved out and now they are charging me for things that they didn't tell me about. I've talked to the people in the office, but they just told me to call the corporate office. Every apartment I've ever been in, they've screwed me on BS fees at the end, and I'm not going to take it this time.

If I refuse to pay this bill, they are going to send it to a collection agency. So what happens then? Will it affect my credit? Does it go onto some kind of record? What exactly is a collection agency going to do? Will they take legal action? They are trying to ding me for $756 if that makes any difference. I moved into a house, so I don't care if it goes onto some kind of "rental record" as I will most likely never be going back to an apartment.
 
you can fight in on your credit report. can be time consuming, but if you have really had it.....

what was the bill for?
 
I'm trying to refrain from stating the specifics because I don't want to hear from the "you signed the contract, it's your responsibility" people. I want to keep the focus strictly on what will happen if I refuse to pay the bill.

The gist of it is I moved out early and broke the lease. I went in to the office and spoke with somebody a couple months prior about exactly what the penalty would be for breaking the lease. What they are charging me for now was not mentioned in the live conversation, but now they are saying it's in the contract. And I'm sure it is somewhere in all that fine print, but I didn't feel the need to read it word-for-word, since that was the whole point about talking to the office about it.

Again, please keep it focused on the repercussions of not paying.
 
If you really believe that you are in the right you should fight it. I regret not sticking up for myself when I knew I was getting screwed by an apt complex. They would charge everybody for replacement carpet (even if it wasnt damaged). They would then steam clean the carpet and not replace it. Its a long story how I found this out so I wont go into detail. Anyways, we talked them down on the number but still ended up paying a shitload for a couple of college students. I wanted to fight it but didnt have the money at the time. I figured that it would cost more to fight it than pay the reduced rate. I was a *****. If I had to do it again, I would fight them on it and would have gone to court if needed. I still feel like crap about that. If everybody was willing to stick up for themselves they couldnt scam people.
 
But, if it was in the fine print you are probably screwed as far as courts go. I dont know what will happen if you just dont pay. You could always try to talk them down on the number.
 
all about the move in reports with pictures and the move out report with pictures. that or contact them about who they use for a make ready and hire them yourself so theres no middle man taking a LARGE cut.
 
and oh yea, to answer your ?, you will have them on your *** for a long time as well as it possibly going on your renter's record for something like 7 yrs.
 
They can take you to small claims court and get a judgment against you. If you don't show up to fight, they get their judgement.

It won't hit your credit report unitl they get the judgement. It's really not a "credit" issue like a credit card loan, car loan, home loan, etc. that appear soon after payments are missed.

Once the judgement hits your credit report though, you're going to get hosed. Anytime you want to get a loan, it will be a huge issue. Good luck trying to explain to the Expirian or your new lender, "Hey, trust me. The judgement is BS. The judge didn't know what he was doing."

Bernard
 
if they get a judgment, then yes you are really up **** creek. however don't most collectors simply try to collect the debt themselves without paying any court costs to get a judgment?

it'll still show up, just as a debt that went to a collection agency rather than a judgment. bad, but i dont think AS bas as a judgment.
 
go ask the same question here...The Link
those folks know every option you have when it comes to cleaning up your credit. it is a HUGE pain in the *** and takes time, but it can be done.
 
Lots of good responses near the end of your post. I have experience with this sort of stuff, so I don't mind giving my two cents. Feel free to PM me if you want more detail.

I think Bernard may jump the gun a bit on the judgment. If they take you to small claims court, you will undoubtedly get served with any lawsuit and you can go defend yourself. I am sure, if it gets to that point, you will have taken care of it one way or the other as you sound like a pretty stand-up person. The only thing you would need to worry about in this regard is if you somehow missed the citation from the court when it gets served on you, which is unlikely. In general, them taking you to court is unlikely. Collection agencies are bullies and they bank on their ability to beat you into submission. Some of the really aggressive ones will take you to court, but they are losing money at that point because they have to hire a lawyer. Most will write it off at that point.

Ok, now on to the other aspects of your question. You will get collection notices from the corporate office. There will be several of these. The corporate office will send this to a collection agency and you will get more letters and phone calls. Lots of them. They will call you at home, cell, and work. They will get all of these numbers and call them at least 3 to 4 times a week. If they do this, I would refer them to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as to what they are allowed and not allowed to do. If you ask them not to call you at work, then they are not supposed to. Most of the time, they know what they are allowed to do and will stay within these obligations.

This will go on your credit report, which will stay on for 7 years. This will come up as a "ding" whenever you try to get financing for anything - house, car, tv, etc. Sounds like you bought a house, so this is no big deal. If you bought a new car, it might raise your interest rate a tenth or quarter point. You can fight this going on your credit report and send letters to the three major credit agencies and see what they say. In the end, it is their call and it probably will stay.

My personal experience is that my wife broke her lease and owed about the same amount of money. She would get calls and would ignore them. When we bought a house, it showed up as a debt on her credit report. Would could still get the house, but the interest rate was much better if we paid it off. So, we paid it off.

I know you did not want to discuss the verbal representations versus what is in the contract, but you likely have an argument in a small claims court. A district court would likely pour you out because there is likely a clause in the lease about who the landlord's representative is and who has authority to make representations and it also probably disclaims verbal representations. So a "real" judge would likely tell you to pay. A justice of the peace (likely not a lawyer or a judge) would probably think you had a good argument about being told something and you relying on what was told to you. But for the agent telling you what your obligations were, you would not have broken the lease.

In the end, since you bought the house, the ding on your credit probably does not matter. If you plan on financing anything anytime soon, then it may matter to you. But it is also something you can take care of when it pops up. If you don't mind the debt collectors calling and sending letters, then you can probably sit tight.

Sorry for the long post. I also hate apartments and debt collectors, so I have a lot to say on the matter. Any time I can help someone deal with these ********, I am more than willing.
 
Pay the debt. It's not worth the credit hit or harassment you're going to get, and if they do take you to court, you will lose and the costs could go up substantially (costs of court + attorney fees). Whether you think you were in the right or not, you most likley weren't. If the lease you signed was any kind of standard form, there will be clauses about early moveout penalties and clauses about verbal representations and the contract controlling. Unless he/she is a total idiot, a JP won't ignore these. Plus, if the apartment company is big at all, they probably made a donation to the local JP's campaign. In my experience, JPs (and most judges) side with landlords, even when the tenant is in the right.
 
I have been in front of several JPs that are total idiots. The call of whether to take it to court or not is the collection agency's. The apartment likely has nothing to do with it as they have written it off at that point.
 
Chances are you spoke to some person on an hourly wage and maybe not a lot of experience on what your legal responsibility is. So she may have misled you but did not intend to. Legally your contract is what is binding, sadly. That will stay on your record and whoever picks it up will hound you.

Somebody may even pick it up later on down the road too. This is well beyond the supposed 7 years. If you respond, they will make that debt current and you get hit again for 7 years. I think I have this right about responding, even to contest.

Somewhere down the road somebody may offer you a deal of paying half of it. You may want to wait till that time but keep all documentation of it. Proof they offered you half and that your debt is cancelled at that time is needed. A friend of mine did this and misread the letter they sent. Fine print said that he could "pay half the amount at this time to erase his debt". That "at this time" meant he had to pay the other.

Once they got a heartbeat or sign of life from him the onslaught continued. They threatened to increase the now half owed amount, making it more. They were rabid.

So be careful. But you will eventually be offered a deal that will be less than the amount now. Consider paying it then. Also, report the Apartments to the BBB if you feel you have a valid complaint. Tell all you know how horrible they are. Maybe put their name on some boards that deal with housing. Cost them some cash.
 
i faced a similar issue with a cell phone termination "fee". Verizon tried to tag me with a $175 termination fee about 7 years after i signed up for service (with what was then GTE).

i told them to go **** themselves i wasnt paying. they said i "signed a contract" which i asked them to produce. they did not. the fee went to collection.

agencies sent letters about once every 2 months for a couple years, called maybe 6 times. i told them all the same thing, you are wasting your time and mine, i'm not paying. they eventually passed it on to another agency, who eventually stopped pursuing the money.

i think there is a mark on my credit record but i couldn't care less about it.

I spoke with my insurance agent (allstate) about 2 years ago and they wanted to re-run my credit as part of reworking my homeowners policy. i gave them a heads up that they might see this cell phone thing and they responded:

"oh yeah, we see those all the time. basically, we ignore anything on a credit report from a cell phone company"

i found this very interesting.

takeaways for you:

-they stopped pursuing the claim in my case after a minimum amount of annoyance.

-they do put a ding on your credit report i think

-sophisticated users of credit reports did not care.

I have told this story to friends before and almost universally get the "i would have just paid it" response. they seem too afraid of a mark on their report. I explain to them that a credit score is, in my view, not worth the paper its printed on, as the reports are so fraught with errors.

its not like a $175 outstanding item is going to get in the way of a $500k mortgage or anything like that. now, if you are going for that 0% for 36 months on a Plasma, you might have a problem...

my $0.02.
 
I'd try to avoid letting it get on your credit report. If you are a young person and will need to get a car loan, home loan etc in the future, it'll look bad. It won't be a huge deal if you've already got great credit, but if you've never gotten any loans, etc your credit report is probably pretty thin.
I'd consider talking to them and trying to convince them that it's better for them to get part of the money by compromising with you rather than nothing. Ask for explicit documentation as to why they are charging you so much.
 
To me the most important consideration is whether you are the type of person who has the need to act on principle, or if you are pragmatic and want to take the easiest way out of this problem. I am of the first kind. I couldn't sleep at night thinking that I just gave my wallet to a thug because I was too scared to defend myself. I once was in a similar situation to the original poster, and I never paid what they wanted. It has put a dent on my credit report. I don't care. I refuse to be a victim of thugs.
 
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