That's a good question. I'm not sure what is the right answer. I'll do some investigation and get back to you if I bump into an good answer. You should email the people at Discover Card as they probably could answer your Discover Card question..

I have not done the Validation letter, I just found out about this yesterdayPlus I dont really have time. I need to get this taken care of this week. So either way , I'm going to have to pay it I think. I will let you know what I found out..

Good luck to you tooLet me know if you find out more info ..

Mindy..

I know that some places will let you rent if you have an agreement with the old landlord to pay and are paying (with Discover card) as agreed. If your future landlord goes by this, I would suggest contacting the old landlord and inquiring about a payment plan and get it in writing and then send a good faith payment and subsequently show your future landlord the agreement...

Oh that's a good idea. I might try that as well ..

Thanks.

Mindy..

I am currently a Manager of a 172 unit complex in Michigan and can let you know that our policy is to accept a applicant with an outstanding balance to a previous landlord with a copy of a satisfactory repayment agreement, as long as the actual landlord reference does not contain derogatory information other than the oustading balance...

Thanks StormI am about to call the new apartment and see if they will take that. I will see if they willIts in collections already , I am still not sure if it's best to go w/ the land lord or the collection agency ? Im thinking the land lord ? .

Mindy..

As crappy as this sounds, the problem is if you don't get something in writing that they will delete, it's still going to tank your CRs for as long as it stays on there. You may have problems in the future if you don't protect yourself now..

Good luck...

At this point I'm not worried about our credit, it's tanked. we had a business that went under and we lost everything. We are at this point just trying to start over, we will file BK soon..

But we have to find a place to live now. ( Living w/ my parents at this point ) My thought was if I went w/ the land lord and paid them , then I could dispute the debt as "Not mine" w/ the collection agency , because once it's paid to the land lord , I dont technically owe the CA anymore ? OR Ask the Land lord ( property management ) once it's paid off to delete as you said...

If you had no noise complaints or other lease violations in your file, and assuming you have a satisfactory payment plan in place, you will be ok at a lot of places. Point of interest: A lot of landlords/managers are reluctant to mention things like this anyway. Other than verifying any outstanding balances, all some companies will allow these days are Yes/No answers on lease verification forms. For instance, "Would you lease to this resident again?" Answer: "If qualified.".

Some companies are nervous about being accused of preventing people from getting housing...

Another thing... If you can't get your former management to settle for less than the entire amount due, consider a 6-month lease at a not-so-great property. Spend that time paying (with Discover card) off the other place. (Be SURE to get a letter saying you've paid in full!). Pay your rent on time and build a good history and try again this summer at a nicer property...

You don't have success with this maybe try renting from private owners...

Thanks , we did not have any issues with them, We did have some late payments here in there, but we lived there for 5 years and was never more than 30 days late until the last 2 months of the lease, due loosing the company , we kept in constant contact w/ them , paid what we could , they refused partial payments even when I said " I have half the rent "..

We asked if we could move out 2 months early , so we did not have to break the lease w/ the their permission , after living there for 5 years they said no ..

They agreed if we paid the 2 months we owed they would say we did not break the lease, we just have had been able to do it until now ...

I just called the property ( new one ) He's going to ask his boss tomorrow if they will accept thatI know either way we have to pay itIm ok w/ thatJust need to find a place as soon as we can , Tough to live w/ mom and dad w/ your husband and 2 kids when your 35 years old !..

Private owners are very hard to find in this area where we live, in fact there is nearly none, my son is a JR in high school , in many different sports , I cant really up root him right now, transfers to his high school are closed becuase it's such a good school. So we are trying like hell to stay in the area...

So you moved out 2 months early and they charged you for both months? Hmm... I hope they waited 2 months to get new residents in because they cannot collect double rent. Your rental responsibility ends when they start collecting rent from a new tenant. Also, check your lease to see if there is a cap on late charges; ours could not exceed $250 per month. (I notice you're in TX.) They also have to deduct your deposit from the balance, which I'm sure they did. Something to investigate, in case it's being erroneously reported...

It is often written into lease agreements that an early termination of the lease will result in a penalty payment of the remaining months..

I cannot say whether this is legal or not (as many things written into leases are not), but I am nearly certain you would have to take it to court to find out...

So you moved out 2 months early and they charged you for both months? Hmm... I hope they waited 2 months to get new residents in because they cannot collect double rent. Your rental responsibility ends when they start collecting rent from a new tenant. Also, check your lease to see if there is a cap on late charges; ours could not exceed $250 per month. (I notice you're in TX.) They also have to deduct your deposit from the balance, which I'm sure they did. Something to investigate, in case it's being erroneously reported..

[/quote].

We actually moved out at the end of our lease. We just could not pay the last 2 months(actually about a month and a half ) A charity paid half of our rent one month so they basically had to accept that , it was sent directly to themThey did not rent the house right away ( they sold it actually ) They did decut our deposit from all the BS "Clean up " Charges they charged to us, which conveniently added up to our deposit of $1000.00How do I see if it's being reported as " Broken" lease or eviction ? On our credit it's being reported as a Lease / rental unpaid debt...

[qoute].

We actually moved out at the end of our lease. We just could not pay the last 2 months(actually about a month and a half ) A charity paid half of our rent one month so they basically had to accept that , it was sent directly to themThey did not rent the house right away ( they sold it actually ) They did decut our deposit from all the BS "Clean up " Charges they charged to us, which conveniently added up to our deposit of $1000.00How do I see if it's being reported as " Broken" lease or eviction ? On our credit it's being reported as a Lease / rental unpaid debt..

[/quote].

Eviction would be something that is filed with your county court. You can look it up on-line if you they let you look up your county records on line. If not you can call your clerk of courts and see if there was any evictions in your name. I don't think an eviction would show up on the credit report...

Thanks Beli , I dont think there is or could be an eviction , they did not evict us. A broken lease they might put out there, but not sure..

Thanks for your help everyone !.

Mindy..

I understand the urgency. I am living at home with my parents and three kids. It has been almost two years since we moved in and I am in dire need of a place of my own. I called the attorney's office that has my debt and they were no help to say the least so my fight continues. Everyone has given you some great advice thus far. Even if the landlord sent it to the collection agency I am assuming if they assigned it opposed to selling the debt the landlord and pull it back from them and may be you can work it out with him that way...