VERY old Landlord issue, resurfaced, almost had us homeless.

Date: Thu, 04/13/2006 - 05:21

Submitted by staceyanna
on Thu, 04/13/2006 - 05:21

Posts: 6 Credits: [Donate]

Total Replies: 21

Please forgive the long post but there is alot of information and I am trying to clarify what to do and how to do it in order to get this removed. I will try to give as much information as possible because I need this resolved or else my son and I will be on the street... Like we almost were last year.

I'm a single parent, and years ago, when I was still with my son's father (who never liked to work a day in his life) when I was pregnant I decided to go live with my mum since I had to stop working and he was not interested in working to pay any bills. The apartment we shared was in MY name only. He moved in with me, never had an apt on his own before. I moved out with one month left on the lease, my maternity leave had already kicked in and he was supposed to pay the last month's rent out of his savings, but he didnt. I gave the apt 30 day notice that we would be moving at the end of lease and even gave a forwarded address (which was my mum's). I never heard about it again from the apt, and since my exe is on the lam fleeing from child support I assumed it was taken care of, cause I havent heard from him. This was in Dec 1999.

Fast forward to 2 years ago (May 2004) I relocated to another state to make a better life and have more opportunity for my son and I. I had no problems getting apartment or any utilities I have always paid my rent on time, good tenant, people love me cause I leave the place in better shape then when I moved in. The apartment we moved into was basically an expensive dump (I only had 2 days to fly in and find an apartment) and most of the good ones were taken). So we moved into what was available and I planned to move as soon as the 1 year lease was over which was last year in Mar/Apr 2005. Now I applied to an apt in Mar 2005 and I get denied. Which shocked me cause I have perfect references even to date, there would be no reason for me to get denied. I chalked it up to maybe it being a bit too posh for us and I apply to 2 others and the same thing. DENIED! So I ask the last 2 complexes for the reason why we were denied and they tell me I have an apartment complex on my credit. Impossible I think, I have rented from 2-3 places in the past 6 years and never had any problems even in this current state and no where was that on my credit, I know cause I checked the year before when I relocated and my credit was clean.

So I pull a recent credit report and find a judgement in the amount of $900 for some apartment management company I have never heard of in my life. Even WORSE, the thing was added there Feb of 2005! And states that the date was 2001 which is not true, cause I was living with my mum from 1999 to 2001, I then moved to these townhouses in 2002 of which my credit had to be flawless to rent there and I stayed there 3 years and they gave me a glowing reference when I moved. The negative entry had an 800 number on it, and when I call all I get is a recording stating they do NOT answer any questions by mail, anything I would like to know I need to send them a notarized letter with proof of my identity and they will respond within 30 days. At that point I had 2 weeks to move cause the lease was over and we were about to be homeless. Long story short I ended up having to move into a smaller, worse dump for even more money renting from a private person who had never been a landlord before and basically breaks down my phone asking for the rent up to a week before the month even starts. I REALLY want to move, but none of the apts would even give me a 2nd glance, cause they are all governed by major management offices that deal with multiple apt complexes. So I am basically stuck.

Fast forward to recently... My car was hit by a truck and totalled so I was out of commission for a few months. But I did some web searches and find out that the apartment that my ex and I had lived in way back when in 1999 went bancrupt, TWICE since then. It seems the newest mgmt company (which matches this new entry on my CR) may have audited their past records and found my information and that my ex never paid the last month's rent. But I never dealt with this company before. Secondly not once did I ever get any collection notices from anyone, and I did leave a forwarded address which was my mum's house. Thirdly, its over 5 years after the fact. Can they do this? I never dealt with their company and I thought when a company went bancrupt the past debts were wiped. Some people I talked to told me NOT to contact them or else the debt would be like "brand new" and the time would restart. Another person told me to just dispute it with the big 3 reporting agencies and they will erase it eventually. But I am scared that will do the same thing. Its bad enough they reported a wrong date and I never dealt with them before. I dont know what to do.

I havent had major credit problems at all save for a late payment here and there, I have 2 credit cards that combined are less then $3K that I am in the process of paying off slowly but surely... I want to move within a few months, but I need this fixed or else I am back at square one and wont be able to rent anywhere. Someone please offer some guidance.

THe Public Records section on my report states: NONE OF FILE so I dont think this is a judgement it seems. I was in FL at the time the debt was acquired in Dec 1999 (the date the lease was supposed to end). I am now in MD almost 7 years later.

The debt shows up under the COLLECTIONS section and states the following:

Collection Agency: PROF DEBT
Original Creditor: Sumerset Apartments (which I NEVER heard of, it was called Rosewood when I lived there)
Date Assigned: July 2001 (almost 2 years after I vacated which is weird)
Date reported: March 2005 (almost 7 years after I vacated)
Amount: $880
Balance: $880
Date Paid Out: NOT ON RECORD
Date Closed: NOT ON RECORD

This apt was in FL, I now live in MD. Yes I left the month's security deposit with the old landlord. Cause my ex was supposed to pay it and they had my forwarding address in order to send it to me when he did, which never happened. I was pregnant and soon after running around with a newborn so I forgot about it. These apts always had revolving employees in the office and kept TERRIBLE records. I even saw a post online where they put an eviction on someone else's credit 2-3 years after the fact without them knowing as well, you can see it via the following link

apartmentratings.com/rate/FL-Orlando-Rosewood-Village-Apartments-343464.html

link made inactive per forum rules-Mikey

Do I dispute with the credit bureau since its so old? Do I try to validate? The old apartment has been taken over twice and as of today is known as Summerset Apts but when I lived there it was called Rosewood Village Apts, so I doubt their records even go that far back as 1999... They are now been converted to low income units as of 2003. Its real old and they added it to my credit report in 2005.

There are multiple wrongs here. This debt is way past the SOL, debt is a few months shy of being 7 years old. I was never contacted by anyone, not the apt or the collection agency. Plus information being reported is showing a DIFFERENT OC as well(new owner of apt who i never did biz with)...

So now what to do? I am lost. I just want to know the steps I need to take in getting this off my report. Cause I would really like to move and if nobody is going to rent to me because of this, then this needs to be resolved, especially since it was added 6 years after the fact and I never did do business with this last mgmt company that took over the apartment.

Please someone advise me. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.[size=2][/size][color=darkred][/color][color=darkred][/color][color=darkred][/color][color=red][/color][color=darkred][/color][size=2][/size]

Refer this matter to the Attorney General and the FTC. They can

Refer this matter to the Attorney General and the FTC. They can help you straighten this out. I'm so sorry for all this trouble you are going through. It must be so dreadful. If you have any firther questions, don't hesitate to ask here or pm me.