Question for Financial System Guru's

[[AK]Clay]

AT&T unilateralerally changed the terms of my agreement and sent me a $25 bill for a service I never used, but had access to. I have refused to pay and have canceled the service - yet they keep sending me a bill. I'm happy to throw away their paper on a regular basis, but now they're threatening to report me to the credit agencies. While the bill is not high, what they did was essentially fraud in my eyes and I'd like to avoid paying this bill at all costs. How serious is the credit report threat and the repercusions? What are my options?

[Slaughter]

Shouldn't you be able to take them to court for something like that?.. Just curious..

[[AK]Hylander]

AT&T unilateralerally changed the terms of my agreement and sent me a $25 bill for a service I never used, but had access to. I have refused to pay and have canceled the service - yet they keep sending me a bill. I'm happy to throw away their paper on a regular basis, but now they're threatening to report me to the credit agencies. While the bill is not high, what they did was essentially fraud in my eyes and I'd like to avoid paying this bill at all costs. How serious is the credit report threat and the repercusions? What are my options?

That is very hard to say without seeing the original terms of agreement and what exactly they charged you for and the 'trigger' mechanism. I'm not saying by any means that they were correct, but it's hard to say how strong your or their case is without knowing all the details.

As far as your credit goes, are they threatening to turn you over to collection agencies, or threatening to report it on your credit report? Or both?

Sorry not to be more insightful, but it is very difficult to say without knowing all the details and what the offer was or wasn't.

Have you spoken to them on the phone? If so, what have they said? Have you requested proof of your approval for the new service in question? What do they say is the reason for your 'subscription' to the un-requested service? What action or in-action on your part constituted your acceptance of said service and associated fees?

[[AK]Bribo]

You have a gun - don't you?

[Slaughter]

Yeah, Guns and Tridents solve all the world's problems.

[[AK]Hylander]

You have a gun - don't you?

Come on now.. it's not like he's dealing with BoA!

[[AK]Clay]

Thanks Hylander. From the sounds of it, the rules on credit ratings and input thereof are not well defined. In my case, I had agreed to having AT&T as my long-distance carier with no fees other than direct billing of minutes. I do not recall ever being told that the terms of this agreement were only temporary. As it turns out, I never actually used their long distance service.

AT&T changed the terms of my service and claim to have sent me written notification that there would be a $23.30 access charge for every 3 months of non-use (nice). I do not recall ever receiving this notice - and I sure don't ever recall explicitely agreeing to it. However I believe most of these guys write their contracts such that they can change the terms at any time, etc, so I'm not sure how something like this works.

Upon reciept of the bill I called to find out what was up, and was told that there are no options - I must pay. I promptly canceled the service through my local carrier (the only way I could cancel it).

Several months later I get a bill from AT&T saying that "Failure to pay the balance due may result in negative reporting to the credit bureau".
I'm fine being blacklisted by AT&T's internal system. I'm also fine taking a trivial ding on my credit rating - my rating is quite good and I've already got my house and cars.

But I don't know how this system works. How bad a hit will something like this be to my financial life? It's only $23.30 and all my other finanicial activity is very reliable.

[Slaughter]

It really depends how bad they want that 23.30 on how far they crawl up your anus.

[[AK]Squidly]

Call them. You can usually get fees in situations such as this waived. If the first call doesn't work, try another. Sometimes all it takes is finding the phone rep who is willing to click the little check box on their computer.

Companies (credit card, phone, cable, electric, etc) are famous for altering the terms of your agreement and notifying you via slip of paper included in your bill. Some bills include 4 or 5 slips of paper, offering things, changing things - some quite unrelated to the service in question. (Think magazine offers in your credit card bill...)

Anyway, saying that you don't remember being notified isn't going to cut it with them. The only options are to get them to waive the fee or pay to it.

Don't mince around with your credit report. It's not worth the $25 to screw that up.

[[AK]Hylander]

I have to agree with Squidly on this one - $25 is not worth the risk to your credit file. I'd just keep calling them and keep asking to speak to a supervisor.

Do you have Credit Cards? Do you know many credit card issuers have disclosures in their contracts that allow them to increase your interest rate if your percentage of revolving credit used goes up too high, you make a late payment or your credit score falls? MBNA is famous for this as they look at your credit about every 6 months, the marketing report that reports your score, not a normal "inquiry" that would show up on your credit report. (This is not something you should have to worry about in terms of mortgages and auto loans however. If it is, I would highly questions the source of your funding. )

Makes great sense.. lets see, these people are increasing their level of indebtedness, so we are going to jack up their interest rate to increase their indebtness and increase the likelihood of late payments (fees) - or they will probably go delinquent and we'll lose our money since it is insecured debt (likeyl much more than the fees we will collect). Makes perfect sense!

[Slaughter]

Heres a question, mainly for Hy because I know hes in the money industry..

My girlfriend has a friend on her cell phone bill as an additional line. Said friend has been late on paying or not even paying at all, which has gotten the girlfriends phone shut off completely.

Could my girlfriend take said "friend" to court for grievances and to get her credit fixed?

Makes perfect, logical sense to me.. I mean they would get everything fixed and straightened out.. which should reflect and fix her credit, correct?

Mainly I'm just concerned about the credit part of the question..

[Katanas Blade]

Heres a question, mainly for Hy because I know hes in the money industry..

My girlfriend has a friend on her cell phone bill as an additional line. Said friend has been late on paying or not even paying at all, which has gotten the girlfriends phone shut off completely.

Ahh, the good ol' friend who just can't seem to pay their bills and screws you over because you were being nice.. maybe she'll learn something about human nature from that experience, eh?

[Slaughter]

I already knew that about human nature.. fortunetly I've gotten her to be "meaner". It is a dog eat dog world afterall.

Anyway, after taking my advice shes gathering all her cell phone account information.. transactions and what not.. and gearing up to take her to court. However this is mainly at my reccommendation that she do this so that "maybe" her credit could get fixed and/or back on track.

Girls man.. can't live with them, certainly can't live without them.

This "friend" has threatened her before, I made sure to tell her that if she lays a hand on my girlfriend that she (and all her friends) will regret it. I'm very protective of my "territory".. someone trys to harm it or me and I strike back, I don't care if she is a "girl" she looks more like a guy and weighs more than most.

[[AK]Squidly]

"Neither a lendor nor a borrower be."

Nothing has destroyed more friendships or familial relationships than "owesies".

[[AK]Hylander]

Heres a question, mainly for Hy because I know hes in the money industry..

My girlfriend has a friend on her cell phone bill as an additional line. Said friend has been late on paying or not even paying at all, which has gotten the girlfriends phone shut off completely.

Could my girlfriend take said "friend" to court for grievances and to get her credit fixed?

Makes perfect, logical sense to me.. I mean they would get everything fixed and straightened out.. which should reflect and fix her credit, correct?

Mainly I'm just concerned about the credit part of the question..

As mentioned above.. lesson learned. Even though her friend was on as a second line, your girlfriend is solely and ultimately responsible for paying the bill. As far as suing her, etc.. I suppose she could go to small claims court if she has proof of the promise to pay for the line, etc.. but there isn't much she can do about her credit now because it was reported correctly.. regardless if the friend was suppose to pay or not, because your girlfriend was ultimately responsible for the line.