When I was 19 I got my first credit card. My husband and I were expecting our first child and I thought it would help us to have it. It was a 200.00 limit capital one gold card. We used it to buy tires for our car, and made the payments.
While paying on the balance, my husband lost his job. I think our balance was around 40.00 at this point. I viewed the bill as one of least importance, because we were barely scraping by.
One year later, after being turned over to collections for the amount owed, we got our tax return and I decided to pay it all off, as the balance had accumulated to nearly 450.00. I had learned the credit card lesson and so I paid it all and forgot about it.
Keep in mind I was 20 years old and not NEARLY as experienced as I am now! (hahah) 2 years later I recieved a collection notice (I don't even know the company) stating that my balance is 780.00. I was outraged! How could this be?
I contacted them and they were totally unreasonable. Apparently there was a mysterious $3.45 balance that had not been paid when I sent in the "full balance". Although I tried to argue it, the creditors were highly demanding and I felt so depressed after getting off of the phone with them that I didn't want to deal with the problem.
I thought that because this was OBVIOUSLY not my fault, the problem would go away. (hahah!) Over the past 2 years I had only been contacted once about the balance of 780.00 stating that they would settle the account to 350.00. I refused, because I didn't owe them a penny.
So, when my husband and I started looking for a house to buy, we obtained copies of our credit reports. When we saw it was still on there, I finally got up the nerve to resolve it. But now the balance was over 1,000.00!! Over the course of the past 6 months the creditors have called everyday at least once.
He told me that because we had been late on our payment more than twice they were allowed to charge us more than 20% interest on the remaining balance. He said that Capital one has charged overlimit fees on top of late fees for the past 4 years, every month.
When I told him my story, he told me to prove that I made payment. (Not that this is an excuse) BUT... I was 20 years old!!! What 20 year old keeps copies of money orders for 4 years??? I told him that I wanted to see documents and statements for the charges. He said he could not let me have access to my account. Does that seem weird to anyone but me? Before I realized that this man didn't have my best interests in mind, I told him that I really wanted to straighten out the matter and that if he could get it off of our credit report and if we could be done with the whole ordeal, I would pay 300.00 and no more.
In my mind I considered this MORE than fair, after all they were out and out stealing my money. He agreed and (TRY NOT TO CRINGE) took down my bank account number, for a set date for a 50.00 withdrawl. BAD IDEA! I KNOW I KNOW!
I called my husband, got scolded, and called back to tell him nevermind and that he was not authorized to take money out of our account after all. He was pissed! He cussed me out one side and down the other. Just to save our butts we spoke with a lady at our bank and told her the situation, just in case.
She informed us that once I gave that information out to him it would be LEGAL regardless of whether I called back and said no. But if he did it more than the one time it would be fraud.
Sure enough, he got his 50.00, but no more. He has called this week but I hung up on him and then when he called back I told him never to call me again because it's harrassment at this point. Hasn't called since, but I'm sure he will.
I am really scared of what this is doing to our future. We have not been able to buy a home, have a car loan in our name or even have a cell phone without having a huge deposit because of this.
I do have a question. It may be strange, but maybe someone knows the answer... When we got copies of our credit report there was a record at the bottom, which were of dates. It said:
"Aug. 2001 Sept. 2001 Oct. " etc. And underneath it, it said Capital One under each month except one or two of the months.
I was wondering if they were tapping in to bring down our credit score in any possible way or is that when they have tried to contact me??? I am clueless, but maybe someone can help.
Holly
Phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.
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