I don't really care what banks think, I have as much credit as I'd ever need within my circle. If I buy a house, I have family that would even take a loan in their name because they know I'm good for my word and money.
Even with my bad credit as a result of being unemployed for six months and the dispute with Verizon, I was able to buy a house - but I had to do it through a credit union, regular banks wouldn't touch me.
I have two more payments and it is paid off, never having missed a payment.
Congrats on almost having paid off your home. Out of curiosity, what interest rate did you have to pay for the mortgage?
12% fixed.
Yes, that's high, but I really had no option.
I probably could have gotten lower from bank if Verizon hadn't screwed me over, but I don't have the assets needed to sue them.
My opinion on the whole credit rating thing is that it's all a big scam, there is no recourse when the customer is f***ed over like I was, nothing I could do. It's basically legal extortion - you either bow before corporate America when there's a payment dispute and pay them or they screw up your credit rating.
What's funny is how much Verizon could have made off of me by now had they simply done the right thing. I don't get it.
Over a matter of $60 (last bill) when I had a $500 deposit - they lost me as a customer for life, and by now I've spent several thousand dollars with their competition that they could have had.
Sounds rough. In the UK you could take them to small claims (after amassing plenty of correspondence showing you tried to avoid it - this is often key to winning favour from the judge/magistrate) for the princely sum of £80... maybe its gone up now I dunno. Provided the contract doesn't say they can do that (does it?) and/or you have evidence of what the rep said. You wouldn't need legal representation, they aren't gonna waste their time hiring some hot shot lawyer - they are probably likely to settle if you start making serious noises about going to court. If you do go to court they probably wont even bother showing.
You can find plenty of examples of the legal system failing, but they are all anecodatal. On the whole it works for stuff like this. worth a shot if you want to save your credit rating.