Woman with Car Payment Issue Took a Stand
Our Client’s Story
A Washington, D.C. woman decided to start her own government contracting business and money was tight for a while, but she paid her bills. She mailed in her car payment and was worried that it would not post on time, so she called the lender. The lender said they could take the payment immediately over the phone and she could stop payment on the check if she wanted to be proactive, so she did. A few days later when she was at the dealership getting an oil change they talked her into trading in that vehicle for a new one. She advised the dealer that the payoff might be an issue because of the stop payment on that check and they promised to make sure that they got the right number. Of Course, they didn’t and the payoff was later determined to be short and the lender wanted the money. The client and dealership disagreed and the matter was dropped without either party making the payment. She was satisfied that it was a dealership issue and never gave it a second thought.
The Challenge
One year later, a $1,000 charge off suddenly appeared on the woman’s credit report, even though she had not been reported late and had never received any late notices from the lender. She tried to straighten things out on her own, but to no avail. The finance company wouldn’t listen to her: “We reversed the payment, it’s not our problem, and you still owe us the money.” Likewise, Equifax, Experian, TransUnion responded in this way: “The finance company says you owe it, what do you want us to do about it? It’s your problem.”
The Blankingship & Christiano Solution
Months went by, our client continued to try to fix the error, but nobody listened. Instead, they were counting on her to just pay the money since it was a relatively small amount and most people in this situation do just that. But she refused to do so, saying, “No, this isn’t right. I’m not going to get pushed around like this.” We took on her case and filed a lawsuit on her behalf. When we deposed a representative of the finance company, she admitted that the company just wanted to close out their books when they went straight to a charge off instead of providing our client with the required 30, 60, and 90-day notices. She also admitted that the payoff would have been treated as a prepayment and the loan was actually current. Those admissions broke the case wide open.
While a typical person in this situation might say, “Fine, here’s your $1,000. You’ve ruined by credit and I’ll just have to explain this for the next seven years, even though it wasn’t my fault and nobody will listen to me and fix it. You win.” For this client and our firm, it was about a lot more than $1,000.
Tired of Getting Pushed Around? We Can Help
Are you dealing with bad credit due to incorrect or negligent credit reporting? We know what these companies do wrong and get right to the heart of the matter – repairing the damage. If you’ve been trying to remedy your situation but can’t get anybody to listen, contact the Virginia fair credit lawyers at Blankingship & Christiano, P.C. online or call 571-313-0412 today.
