Michigan Reverse Mortgage
Every month, I have my electric bill (I live in Michigan; my
electricity provider is DTE) emailed to me. I usually pay the bill
online when I get email that it's ready to be paid. Unfortunately my
emailed bills got tagged as spam for 3 months, and I didn't realize it.
As a result, I didn't pay my electric bill for 3 months. I got a "last
resort" paper bill from DTE last week, and I promptly paid the bill.
But that isn't the problem. The problem is this: Because of the unpaid
bills, I'm almost sure that DTE has put some bad information on my
credit report. This is really upsetting to me, because until now, my
credit report was perfect, and was my bargaining chip for lots of
things. I have a 13-year credit history with a score in the high 700's.
What can I do to reverse this? Who do I talk to in order to explain
that it was a total mishap? To whom do I explain that my email is
fixed, and that it'll never happen again? Do I talk to the credit
bureau? (Which one?) Do I talk to DTE? Do I talk to the 3rd party
company that handles the ebilling, MyCheckFree?
I'd do none of this, for fear of risking ticking them all off further.
It's not the utility's job to notify you - that is merely a courtesy.
It's YOUR job to contact them if you have not rec'd a bill.
With that said, if you are working with a lender, then by all means
tell them what happened. When I went to secure my mortgage, I had one
blemish still on my credit report, from 5 years prior, and it was far
worse of a gaffe than yours: it was shortly after my divorce and the
day before xmas I bounced 10 checks. Ouch. It was the single and only
bad thing on my credit, but that's, well, sorta big!
I explained the situation to the mortgage lender - making no excuses.
The lender was understanding and gave me a great, highly competitive
rate despite it.