Can unpaid XBox Live hurt my credit score?

November 30, 2007 5:15 PM

Can Microsoft put anything negative on my credit history if I owe them $8.30 for a month of unpaid Xbox Live Gold membership?

Can MS hurt my credit for unpaid service charges of their XBox Live service? I've given them my full name, phone number, address, and credit card number (now expired). My SSN was not used when I signed up for the service, although I'm sure MS can find it as I use them as an ISP.

It was my understanding that XBox Live Gold was a pre-paid membership and not anything they can bill for. In fact, I have received no physically mailed bills. All that I have received as of now are in console messages, and a service rep that I called who has told me 'I owe them money and that I have received email notifications'. I do not have any email notifications of this in that particular inbox, maybe a spam filter ate it.

Long story short:

* Credit card expired in the beginning of July. MS could not charge me for my Live account in July. Account works fine throughout July and I receive no in game messages that action must be taken.

* In August I cancel my membership and ask the service rep to move my account to Silver level membership before the next billing cycle takes place. No problems from service rep. Everything should be fine, and is throughout August.

* In September I had to move. After moving, I did not have Internet hooked up at home so my XBox 360 was not hooked up to the Internet. I played my games with my profile offline.

* In November, I reconnected the XBox. The XBox persistently asks for a credit card number or else I can't login with my xbox live account. I didn't enter a CC# and did not want to as I thought I was on Silver membership.

* Call support rep. I have an unpaid balance of $8.30 cents. I beg with her to just credit the account, she is persistent at saying no. I get upgraded to Tier 2 support. Again persistent about not crediting my account the $8.30.

* Ok, so I tell her I'll pay the $8.30 if they will re-enable my account in XBox Silver Membership. She tells me I can pay my balance, but my account is no longer available, has been deleted, and can not be restored due to the outstanding balance.

* All my XBox Live Arcade purchases are reverted back into trial. All my Live Marketplace purchases are no longer valid. None of my saved games for any game under my live account are accessible.

* I don't plan to pay them the $8.30.

Can MS hurt my credit at all because of all of this? Should I just pay the $8.30?

posted by nickerbocker to work & money (15 comments total)

Yes and Yes.
posted by vonliebig at 5:32 PM on November 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm pretty sure the answer is no, they can't hurt your credit record, because they never extended a line of credit to you.

Which is worth more to you: sticking to your guns on principle, or paying $8.30 so you can play video games? That'll give you your answer.

I am kinda surprised that they're being such dicks about this. Wait, no I'm not.
posted by mpls2 at 5:34 PM on November 30, 2007

Yes and yes.
posted by Count Ziggurat at 5:35 PM on November 30, 2007

This is such a trivial amount of money you should just pay it to ignore the issue. Your time is worth more than dealing with this, and the principle you're defending here (though I'm not totally sure I see what it is) is hardly that compelling.
posted by heresiarch at 5:36 PM on November 30, 2007

I think they pown you now. However FWIW I never heard anything from AOL about the 250. they claim I owe them.
posted by Gungho at 5:37 PM on November 30, 2007

or paying $8.30 so you can play video games?

I was willing to pay the money. The support rep told me that even if I did I wouldn't get my account back.

This is such a trivial amount of money you should just pay it to ignore the issue. Your time is worth more than dealing with this, and the principle you're defending here (though I'm not totally sure I see what it is) is hardly that compelling.

They jacked more then $8.30 from me in Live Arcade Games that I purchased and am no longer able to play even if I did pay them the $8.30 I owe them. That is why I do not intend to pay them for such bullshit.
posted by nickerbocker at 5:42 PM on November 30, 2007

Pay them FFS.
posted by fire&wings at 5:44 PM on November 30, 2007

I used to have a job where I had to pull credit reports, and it isn't unusual to see small unpaid debts listed. Cell phone companies are notorious for sending you to collections and getting negative information posted on your credit report. You can dispute any negative information that appears on your credit reports and file a 50 word explanation if you want, but it won't change any negative factor that ding will have, it will only tell a prospective creditor your side of the story. When I would see small amounts on an otherwise pretty clean report I wouldn't pay too much attention to it.
posted by 45moore45 at 6:05 PM on November 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

They jacked more then $8.30 from me in Live Arcade Games that I purchased and am no longer able to play even if I did pay them the $8.30 I owe them. That is why I do not intend to pay them for such bullshit.

If that's true, that might be grounds for disputing the charge with the credit reporting agencies. I disputed a late payment on one of my credit cards with Experian and they took it off. YMMV. If I were microsoft, I wouldn't bother arguing with the credit bureaus over $8.30, especially since it won't make any difference to them at all

On the other hand, the "correct" thing to do would be to pay them, and then take them to small claims court over the extra money.
posted by delmoi at 6:05 PM on November 30, 2007

You can dispute any negative information that appears on your credit reports and file a 50 word explanation if you want, but it won't change any negative factor that ding will have, it will only tell a prospective creditor your side of the story.

That's not true. They will do an 'investigation', and if they decide to take it off they will. They only add your note if they decide not to take it off.

(Because, duh, if they removed it, how would you know about it?)
posted by delmoi at 6:07 PM on November 30, 2007

I think that is what I said--dispute/add explanation. Since I am clarifying, I will clarify that cell phone companies are notorious for reporting tiny amounts, like even under $3.00. Obviously it costs them more than $3.00 in manpower to get it posted to a credit report, but to them it is the principal of the thing. It may very well be the same thing with this company, but my point is that if the rest of the report is relatively clean it won't matter because anyone with half a brain reviewing the report will chalk it up to a disputed charge.
posted by 45moore45 at 6:15 PM on November 30, 2007

They can't directly harm your credit report since they do not have your SSN. They can turn over the debt to a credit agency who will contact you by mail or phone however - I surmise you'll have an opportunity to pay them before anything negatively affects your credit report.

I really doubt that one hand of MS knows what the other is doing. Therefore, I don't think they will cross reference the ISP information to obtain your SSN. Their standard procedure is probably to use a debt collecting service. They probably won't even go that far for such a small amount.

If you don't ever want to use Xbox Live again, you're fine.
posted by dendrite at 6:42 PM on November 30, 2007

Pay it. The mere hassle of what could happen is not worth $8.30, let alone the trouble of what will happen when they pursue in even the least capacity.

If you feel like you're screwed, just remember that eight bucks and thirty cents beats those terrifying red lights.
posted by Saydur at 7:27 PM on November 30, 2007

dendrite: "They can't directly harm your credit report since they do not have your SSN."

That's incorrect. They've got more than enough info, including his old credit card account, to identify him, and companies routinely report small sums to the credit agencies.

Have you checked you report? They may have already reported it, in which case your credit score is going to be hurt for the next couple years whether you pay it or not, so if they have already reported it, it's up to you whether you pay it or not, but it won't improve your credit to pay it nor make it worse to leave it unpaid.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 11:17 AM on December 1, 2007

Yikes, guy. If you agree to pay a certain fee for a service, you're obliged to pay it regardless of whether or not the company "forgets" a month. There are no get-out-of-jail-free passes with this stuff. They will remember and they will come looking for their dough. Furthermore they absolutely can send this to collections who can absolutely affect your credit rating. Just pay the freaking eight bucks.
posted by loiseau at 4:18 PM on December 1, 2007