Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New Jersey

Ruined Credit
My wife & I had a credit account with a major home improvement store chain, but due to an error that was not our fault, our credit scores are now garbage. We had 6mos to pay on the account w/o incurring interest, and the day before this period was to expire, we went into the store to pay off the entirety of the balance. We were not able to pay the entire balance due to an unknown computer error, which the store associate acknowledge, and were informed to ''return tomorrow to pay the rest.'' We did so & to the best of our knowledge, the account was settled, but our next monthly bank statement showed that the first payment was withdrawn & returned the same day. Our bank confirmed that there was no reason that this should have happened as adequate funds were available. Upon speaking with the store, they directed up to call the credit company, as they were technically a proxy. Communication with the credit company was exceedingly difficult; we provided them with our bank records, and asked only that the interest charges be reveresed & we'd gladly pay the balance that for whatever reason they returned. They declined to do so, and have at this point sold our account to a collection agency. Please help, thank you in advance.

Asked on 2/09/08, 2:59 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

John Corbett Corbett Law Firm LLC

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Re: Ruined Credit

There are a number of ways to handle this problem depending on how much is involved and what is being reported by the credit reporting agencies.

If the matter does not show on your credit reports, it may be economical to just pay the interest and remember to pay sooner the next time. If there is already an adverse report that you want removed or corrected, you may want to have a lawyer deal for you and get a written release that will also correct the reports. If the credit card company won't deal, you have the option of filing suit for slander of credit. That route would be expensive and should be done only if you are forced into it because the reports are seriously damaging your credit.

See also: http://info.corbettlaw.net/lawguru.htm

Answered on 2/10/08, 12:44 pm

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