Need advice on early termination

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 13:57:16 GMT, "RobR" <[email protected]> wrote:

>One thing you might consider is trying a phone that has
>known excellent RF abilities. There are many Cingular
>phones I can't use where I live. When I moved I had
>to try several different phones before I found a couple
>that worked at the new house. Give just about any
>current Nokia phone a try (I've had good luck with
>the 6620 and 6230) or the Motorola RAZR.
>

So you have the option of spending $200 on a new phone to avoid paying
$150 in early termination fees?

---

› See More: Need advice on early termination

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Andrew White <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>> Being billed for $150 cancellation fee will not "destroy" a credit
>>> rating. They won't tell you the impact it'll have on your score, but it
>>> will almost certainly be minimal.
>> Are you both (you and Elmo) ****ed in the head? Any non-payment like
>> that will have a severely detrimental effect on the credit score!
>
> You're wrong.

Many people are overly concerned about minor non-credit items on their
credit report. The most important things on credit reports is that you
have no past-due accounts, and that you do not have an excessive amount
of debt.

An $150 collection on your report has very little impact on an already
high credit score, usually only 20-30 points if it's not a credit card
or mortgage.

Even people with high credit scores get these collection notices
occasionally, due to disputes with medical providers and insurance, and
cell phone companies. I.e., it took me three years to get one medical
provider to remove a $200 collection from my credit report (they were
billing a old PPO insurance company rather than the current PPO). During
that time my credit score didn't appear to go down, but maybe it would
have been 800 versus 781, without that collection. In any case, the
cut-off for the best mortgage rates is a score of 760, so it had no
effect. As long as the rest of the credit report is clean, the scoring
system recognizes that there may be an anomaly as to why a single
negative item has appeared.

It may help to send a dispute letter to the credit bureaus as well.

Note that I'm not saying to actually do this in this case. The original
poster should simply pay the termination fee. And as one person pointed
out, if you don't pay the fee, Cingular could simply consider the
account still open, and bill you monthly for service. This would show up
on your credit report as past due payments, which would definitely have
a detrimental effect on your FICO score.

M. L. wrote:
> I recently moved to a new residence and cannot get a decent signal there.
> The low signal was verified by the customer service rep at Cingular.
> However, she told me that my only options were to go to a lower-priced
> plan, to find someone else who would take over my contract, or to pay a
> $150.00 early termination fee. Do I have any recourse here? I don't see why
> I should have to pay for a service I cannot receive through no fault of my
> own. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

I used to work for Verizon. If you move to an area that does not have
service, (according to their map), you can get out of the contract. No
carrier guarantees service in a building. If you meet their criteria
ask to be let out of the contract. If you get no satisfaction, tell the
phone jockey you want to escalate the call and speak to a supervisor.

"Bob Ward" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 13:57:16 GMT, "RobR" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>One thing you might consider is trying a phone that has
>>known excellent RF abilities. There are many Cingular
>>phones I can't use where I live. When I moved I had
>>to try several different phones before I found a couple
>>that worked at the new house. Give just about any
>>current Nokia phone a try (I've had good luck with
>>the 6620 and 6230) or the Motorola RAZR.
>>
>
> So you have the option of spending $200 on a new phone to avoid paying
> $150 in early termination fees?
>

No, just buy one of the Nokia pay as you go phones for $40 and swap
in your SIM if you don't want a higher end phone.