If you have a Charter Communications collection on your credit report, you might feel like it’s holding you back and you need to pay it as soon as possible.
The problem is, this can be a huge mistake that could end up hurting your credit score even more.
In this article, we’re going to cover the two biggest myths you might believe about Charter Communications collections, and how you can overcome them to improve your credit.
The telecommunications industry is one of the leading industries for the creation of collection accounts. According to a study by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, over a five-year period, more than one out of five consumers had a telecommunications-related collection on their credit report.
Charter Communications, which operates as Spectrum, is a major contributor to this through its in-house collection department and the use of many third-party collection agencies.
The good news is that many of these collections are riddled with errors, lack documentation, and violate procedural requirements, making them ripe for disputing. Knowing your options and how to navigate the process can be the difference between living with damaged credit for seven years and having these accounts deleted altogether.
Charter Communications is the second-largest cable provider in the United States, providing service to nearly 28 million customers across 41 states as Spectrum. You may see a collection from Charter Communications on your report under any of the following names, depending on who’s collecting the debt:
Charter Communications
Charter Communications Collections
11 Charter Communications
Here is some key information about the company:
Business address: 400 Washington Blvd., Stamford, CT 06902
Collections department phone number: 888-438-2427
Main phone number: 314-965-0555
Years in business: Over 30 (founded in 1993)
Parent company: Charter Communications, Inc.
Alternate names: Spectrum, 11 Charter Communications
Charter Communications (Spectrum) has been assessed over $210 million in regulatory penalties since 2018 alone, including the largest consumer settlement against an internet service provider in history. In Dec. 2018, the New York Attorney General reached a settlement with Charter for $174.2 million after the company was found to have knowingly advertised internet speeds it could not deliver.
In just three years, Charter Communications has had almost 15,000 complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau, with a customer review rating of just 1.08 out of five stars. Among these complaints are accusations of problematic collections practices — U.S. Congressman called for a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau investigation into what he referred to as Spectrum’s “unfair and sneaky debt collection practices.”
Most of Charter’s debt collection practices are handled through an in-house collections department operating under the name 11 Charter Communications. The numerical name can confuse consumers into thinking a different entity is attempting to collect the debt. As an original creditor collecting a debt directly (rather than a third-party debt collection agency), Charter is not subject to the same restrictions under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that limit the activities of third-party collectors.
Myth #1: I Have to Pay Off Collection Accounts to Improve My Credit
Why Paying a Collection Account Can Make Things Worse
It’s easy to understand why you might think you need to pay off a collection account as soon as possible to improve your credit. Paying the debt seems like the fastest way to put the problem behind you and clean up your credit report. Unfortunately, this can often have the opposite effect of what you’re looking for.
When you pay a collection account, the status of the account is updated to “paid collection.” The problem is that this account can still remain on your credit report for up to seven years from the original date it became delinquent, which means paying it can do very little for your credit score.
Most consumers aren’t aware of this. When the collection agency calls or sends you a letter demanding payment, they may claim that you need to pay the account to fix your credit. The reality is that it’s having a collection account on your credit report at all that’s the problem — just paying it doesn’t mean the account will be removed.
Think about it like this: Once your original debt has been sold to a collection agency or assigned for collection, it ceases to be a debt in the classic sense and becomes more of a commodity. Buyers purchase collections for mere pennies on the dollar — sometimes as little as four cents per dollar of debt face value. While it’s true that you always “owe” a debt you’ve incurred, if the entity demanding you pay it purchased your debt as an investment, the moral obligation to pay becomes less clear.
The Dispute-First Approach
Rather than making a decision about whether to pay a collection account, consumers should always start by disputing the collection account through the proper procedures. According to a study by U.S. Public Interest Research Groups, 79% of credit reports contain errors or other significant mistakes. Charter Communications collection accounts are no different.
When you dispute a collection account, the collector must verify the debt. This means providing proof that they have the legal right to collect the debt, that the amount of the debt is correct, and that the debt in question actually belongs to you. If the collector cannot adequately verify the debt or fails to properly respond to the dispute, the item must be deleted from your credit report. Many consumers are shocked at how often collection agencies fail to verify debts.
What’s more, simply going through the process of disputing the account and forcing the collector to verify means that you’re more likely to uncover any potential errors that could help you have the account removed altogether.
Myth #2: Charter Communications Collections Are Always Accurate
Equipment Charges and Billing Errors
Many of the complaints filed against Charter Communications are the result of common billing errors that have led to improper collection accounts. The most common issue consumers face is charges for equipment that they’ve returned. Consumers return modems, routers, or other equipment to their local Spectrum store and aren’t provided documentation to confirm the return. Then, months later, they find the equipment fee has been added to their relatively small service balance, resulting in a collection account.
In one consumer complaint, a $47 bill became a $125 collection after Charter added an unreturned equipment fee for a modem the consumer had been instructed to return via FedEx. Another consumer was sent to collections for what should have been a $39 final balance after Charter improperly added a $78 equipment fee even though the consumer had returned all equipment in person.
Another frequent issue is Charter’s practice of not prorating the final month’s charges when a consumer cancels service. If you cancel your service one day into your billing cycle, you’ll still be charged for the full month. We found multiple complaints from consumers who claimed they were told at their local Spectrum store that their final balance was $0, only to find later that Charter had reported them to collections over a disputed final billing period.
Identity and Account Errors
In addition to issues surrounding billing errors, we also found complaints surrounding improper collection accounts resulting from misidentification and accounts consumers claim they never opened.
In a complaint posted to a credit forum, one consumer writes: “Spectrum is attempting to collect for an account for which I was the ‘authorized person’ and not the actual account holder … Harris and Harris investigated and closed the case, stating that the DOB and the information is not mine, it is my ex-husband’s. Regardless, Spectrum is refusing to remove my name.”
The information disparity between consumers and collectors puts consumers at a disadvantage. Collectors maintain records of account history, payments, and internal documentation that isn’t easily accessible or verifiable by consumers. Collectors know that most consumers won’t take the time and effort to dispute collections, so they use this information disparity to their advantage.
This is also why initiating a dispute is an effective strategy. By forcing the collector to verify the debt and provide documentation, you may be able to uncover discrepancies and errors that you wouldn’t have otherwise been aware of.
Myth Three: Goodwill Letters Will Fix Everything
Why Collection Agencies Never Respond to Goodwill Letters
If you’ve done any research online, you’ve probably read a lot of advice about sending a goodwill letter to the collection agency explaining your story and asking for a goodwill deletion. Almost all the time, this doesn’t work with a collection agency like Charter Communications for a couple of reasons.
First, collection agencies don’t have a lot of room for profit on most accounts so they’re not very motivated to grant goodwill deletions. Second, granting a lot of goodwill deletions would be bad for business. They make their money when people pay collections. If they were known for granting a lot of deletions, their recovery rates would plummet. There’s just no incentive for a collection agency to grant goodwill.
Another reason is that collection agencies process accounts by computer. There’s no way to include your story about having to miss work because of medical issues, losing your job, or the recent loss of a loved one in a computer program. If you need to see this for yourself, here is what one of our reviewers went through:
I called Spectrum and confirmed they would do a pay for delete. I was very specific with the representative and she confirmed that once I pay it, within 30 days it will be deleted from credit. I paid it and a few weeks later, to my frustration, it was marked paid in full, not deleted. I called Spectrum back and they are now telling me that there is nothing they can do.
What Does Work
If a goodwill letter to a collection agency almost never results in deletion, what does? Your credit repair strategy should focus on things the credit bureaus and collection agencies have to do.
If the collector has failed to validate the debt properly, reported the account inaccurately, or violated any of your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act or the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you may have grounds to have the account removed from your report even if the collection agency doesn’t want to.
You’ll need to take advantage of the 30-day window after you dispute an account. The collection agency has to verify the debt within 30 days or the credit bureaus may require them to remove the account from your report. A lot of times collection agencies can’t verify an account within 30 days because they don’t have all of the information about the account.
Another strategy is to not talk to collection agencies. If you don’t communicate with them at all, you can’t say the wrong thing and give them more information than they had before. You can’t do anything to resurrect an account they had forgotten about.
Myth Four: I Should Just Handle This on My Own
They Play on Your Emotions
Collection agencies know how people feel when they get collection notices. They feel guilty and anxious. Sometimes they feel desperate. When you’re in an emotional state like that, you’re not going to make the best decisions for your situation. You’re going to do what it takes to get the agency to stop contacting you even if that’s not in your best interests. You may make a hasty payment arrangement or accept a settlement offer that isn’t good for you.
Charter Communications and the collection agencies they use to collect debts have been accused of going so far as to threaten people into calling them. A columnist with the Los Angeles Times discovered that Charter was sending letters to people who had cancelled their service that said they still owed money to Charter and it would be put on their credit reports if they didn’t pay it.
When the columnist called Charter to ask about the debt, the customer service representative couldn’t find any balance due on the accounts. When the columnist had several other reps call in and ask about balances due, they were told there weren’t any. The columnist characterized what Charter was doing as a shakedown.
If you have a credit repair professional helping you with your account, you don’t have to talk to the collection agency directly. The credit repair company calls the agency or sends them letters. They don’t let the agency get to them because they’re not emotional about the situation.
Knowledge of the Law and Procedure
Credit repair professionals know what your rights are under the FCRA and FDCPA and they know the proper procedure to dispute a collection account. They know which technicalities are likely to result in the removal of the collection account from your report and how to word your dispute letters to maximize your chances of having the account removed.
Charter Communications uses a number of different third-party collection agencies including Enhanced Recovery Company; Credit Management L.P.; CBE Group; Amsher Collection Services; Sunrise Credit Services; and Harris and Harris, Ltd. They all behave a little differently and all have their own quirks. A credit repair professional has dealt with them before and knows how they’re likely to react to different disputes.
It’s more complicated than that because Charter Communications is an original creditor and the law applies a little differently to original creditors than it does to third-party collection agencies. Unless you have experience with credit repair, it’s likely to be more than you can handle on your own.
Myth Five: If It’s on My Report, I’m Stuck With It
Reasons for Removal
There are several reasons you may be able to have a collection account removed from your report. Is the information on the account inaccurate or incomplete? Is the debt unverifiable or fraudulent? Any of these things could be grounds for removal of the account.
Inaccurate could be almost anything including balances and dates. It could also mean someone else’s account is on your report by accident. Incomplete just means that some information that’s required is missing.
Unverifiable just means that the collection agency can’t verify that the information on the account is accurate. Fraudulent accounts are those that were opened in someone else’s name as a form of identity theft.
Given Charter Communications’ history of charging for equipment customers didn’t fail to return and not applying payments to customers’ accounts correctly, you may have one or more of these issues with your account. You don’t know if you don’t dispute the account and find out.
The Verification Process
When you dispute a collection account, the credit bureau will request verification from the collection agency. They have to prove that the account is accurate and legitimate. Most collection agencies can’t do that because many don’t retain all of the information about the original account. Many accounts are sold to collection agencies for pennies on the dollar without much supporting documentation.
The collection agency has 30 days to verify the account. If they can’t or don’t within 30 days, you may be able to have the account removed from your report. Even if they do provide verification within the 30-day time limit, you may still be able to dispute the account and have it removed.
You can go back and forth with the credit bureau disputing the account until they don’t have any more verifications to provide. It’s a process but it may be worth it if you end up having the account removed from your report.
Conclusion
There’s a lot to learn from Charter Communications and their history with regulatory agencies. They’ve been penalized more than $210 million for not following the rules. There are a lot of myths about dealing with collection agencies and some of them could cost you money or damage your credit. Paying a collection account will damage your credit less than having a collection account on your report but neither is great. It’s better if you can have the account removed altogether. It’s not always easy but it may be worth it in the end.
Do You Need Help with Charter Communications?
If you have a collection account on your report from Charter Communications or Spectrum, you shouldn’t give up. You shouldn’t pay it because it’s on your report. You shouldn’t waste your time on a goodwill letter that probably won’t be answered. You shouldn’t try to deal with the collection agency on your own and subject yourself to the tactics they use to get you to pay them money.
Instead, contact us at FightCollections.com. We’ll take care of everything for you. We understand how Charter Communications operates and the types of issues their customers typically have. We understand what verifications they can and cannot provide. We can help you clean up your report and start fresh.
There’s no charge for calling us. We’re in your corner. Don’t wait any longer. Every month, you have a collection account on your report it’s hurting your credit score. Every month costs you money. Stop throwing money away and take the first step toward a cleaner report today.
