Complaint / Review
First Premier Bank Card
Won't accept my full payment

Trying to clear up my credit to get a mortgage. My reports show my account with First Premier where the balance is $130, status says "Charged off as bad debt", and makes no mention of being sold or transferred to a third party.

In March I setup a payment plan for $50 a month to be withdrawn from my bank. When I stopped seeing the withdrawals I assumed I was paid up. I never received any phone call or letter from First Premier saying that I wasn't paid in full yet.

In (month of year) I received a letter from Accounts Receivable Management (ARM) saying they were collecting on this debt. Since I thought I paid it all I sent them a letter requesting them to validate the debt and if they could prove it was mine then I would pay the full amount in return for them to not report to my credit files. I sent it certified with return receipt. Within a week I got the return receipt showing that it was received. Since that time I have not received any phone calls or mail from them about this debt. Because of this I was under the impression that I no longer had this debt.

Presently, the lenders that I've tried getting a mortgage pre-approval from have all said I need to take care of this First Premier debt that is on my reports. I place a call in to them assuming I can pay the full amount today and be done with it. The person with whom I discussed the situation said that ARM owns the debt now and they can't do anything about it. She gave me the number for ARM for me to discuss it with them.

I just called ARM, two times, and each time I get placed on hold until the phone system says to call back. I'm getting run around in circles and I don't know what to do. I'm so frustrated that a debt of $130 is keeping me from owning my own home. Unlike most people we hear about, I am willing to pay the full amount. I just can't believe that no one is willing to accept this money!

All I want is for someone to take my money so that First Premier shows a balance of $0 and says "Paid or paying as agreed". I don't think I'm asking for much, am I?