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Thread: credit questions

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    Default credit questions

    I'm getting ready to look for an apartment, but I'm nervous. I've got proof of income and references from my 'day job', and my current landlord is going to give me a good reference as well...but...credit. ugh.

    Once upon a time, I had a credit score of 750, so I never had to worry about credit checks. I don't know what my score is down to now (I'm kind of putting off looking, although I know I'll have to sooner or later). There are two problems. One, I am carrying the maximum balance on my credit card.

    Two (and this is the biggest problem), I need to somehow fight fraudulent charges resulting from a gym membership, but I have no idea what to do. I canceled the membership almost a year ago, and I just recently realized that they've been continuing to bill me all this time...until I hit my credit limit and they were unable to keep billing my card. I contacted the billing and membership dept for the gym and was told that they never received my cancellation letter...which is BULLSHIT. I made absolutely sure that I did the cancellation process exactly by the book. They are outright lying so they can keep collecting $ from me. No surprise, since this gym chain is notorious for being dishonest, ripping people off and conveniently "not receiving" cancellation notices. Again, I should have known better.

    I don't know what to do now. Can I dispute the CC charges from the gym, or is it too late since they've been billing me for months and I hadn't noticed or filed a dispute before now?

    So, I suppose my questions are twofold. One, what (if anything) can I do about these charges from the gym? If I can dispute them, how do I go about doing that? If I can't dispute them, is there anything else I can do so that I don't have to keep paying bogus charges? Will a dispute bring down my credit score?

    And also...what is considered "good credit" as far as apartment rentals are concerned? Is there anything I can do to offset the blemishes on my credit and make myself look more attractive to a prospective landlord? Are they mostly concerned with things like evictions and bankruptcies, or will I totally ruin my chances of getting an apartment by having a high CC balance and what appears to be a delinquent account with the gym? I'm definitely renting from a private landlord and not an apt management company, if that makes any difference either way.

    Any help and/or advice would be so much appreciated; I'm feeling really overwhelmed and panicking right now.
    Last edited by sorsi; 03-15-2009 at 06:28 PM.

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    Default Re: credit questions

    Quote Originally Posted by sorsi View Post
    I canceled the membership almost a year ago,
    Do you have proof of its cancellation, did you write a letter canceling it or was it a fixed term membership that you did not extend/ sign a new contract?
    Quote Originally Posted by The Snark View Post
    But then I suppose the sort of people who write this kind of crap generally don't allow their opinions to be tainted by things like "facts" and "reality".
    Distortion becomes somehow pure in its wildness
    The note that began all can also destroy

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    Default Re: credit questions

    Quote Originally Posted by glambman View Post
    Do you have proof of its cancellation, did you write a letter canceling it or was it a fixed term membership that you did not extend/ sign a new contract?
    I wrote a letter (as the contract said to do)...it was one of those promotional "try it for 30 days and if you're not satisfied you can cancel" hooks. So I did cancel, after the 30 days and within the stated time frame. I have a copy of the cancellation letter that I wrote, but that doesn't seem like much in the way of proof.

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    Veteran Member justifymylove's Avatar
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    Default Re: credit questions

    Paying down your credit card is a good idea. If you call your CC company and tell them that you are paying down the balance and in the meantime NOT to accept any charges going-forward with the gym because you are in dispute with them, I'm pretty sure they'll let you do that. I had a similar situation with a service that billed me monthly and I told my bank that any charges from that organization were not approved by me, and nothing got billed to me from that point on.

    I don't know how much the gym has bilked you for, but it is likely not worth disputing. You could always take them to a small claims court but I suspect the cost of doing so would greatly outweigh the money they've charged you. Sucks, I know. Do you have a copy of your cancellation notice or anything like that?

    And I don't know how stringent the building is about credit, every building is different, but I sincerely doubt that carrying a balance on your CC is going to make it way difficult for you. Lots of people have to carry a balance and somehow lots of people have a place to live So do what you can for now!
    Edit- I should add that none of this advice comes from professional expertise, just my experience.

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    Default Re: credit questions

    Quote Originally Posted by justifymylove View Post
    Paying down your credit card is a good idea. If you call your CC company and tell them that you are paying down the balance and in the meantime NOT to accept any charges going-forward with the gym because you are in dispute with them, I'm pretty sure they'll let you do that. I had a similar situation with a service that billed me monthly and I told my bank that any charges from that organization were not approved by me, and nothing got billed to me from that point on.

    I don't know how much the gym has bilked you for, but it is likely not worth disputing.
    About $600. I don't mean disputing the charges in order to get my money back though; I wrote that $ off as a loss (and a painful learning experience) awhile ago. I was just wondering if disputing would cause them to stop billing me from here on. Or if I can do ANYTHING to get them to stop billing me. Thanks for the tip about what to say when calling the CC company; I will definitely do that.

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    Default Re: credit questions

    Usually you send it as Certified Mail to be proof. How long was the term of the contract? You said you canceled it almost a year ago and within the 30 days. Do you have a month or two left? Did you authorize them to bill your CC each month? (I had a gym membership from 16 to early 20's '86-early 90's and I was sent a bill each month after paying for the first month.)

    The best thing to do is to look over your contract and see what it says. Also, always keep receipts and go over your CC statements. Some scammers scam one card for thousands, some scam thousands for very little (because a few dollars won't seem like much when a person doesn't check the statement and has only has an idea of spending around x.)
    Quote Originally Posted by The Snark View Post
    But then I suppose the sort of people who write this kind of crap generally don't allow their opinions to be tainted by things like "facts" and "reality".
    Distortion becomes somehow pure in its wildness
    The note that began all can also destroy

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    Senior Member patchouli's Avatar
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    Default Re: credit questions

    I know you asked for a lot of advice but I'll offer a piece about the landlord.. I think your chances are much better with a private landlord rather than a management company, based on my experiences, anyway. I was approved by several over the years when I was first building my credit and didn't have much of a history for them to go off, but the companies weren't as willing to risk renting out to me. The landlords will probably look at your history as a whole rather than focus on your gym charges and CC balance.. as long as you have several other accounts that you've paid consistently on time. Also, income is just as important when applying for apartments, so hopefully you meet their requirements.

    Edit: Oh, and if you're unable to dispute or if you do and it remains on your report, you can always add a statement to your credit report that will be read by anyone who pulls it.

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