I was hit with a "Collection Department/Agency/Attorney" in September of 2006. What happened was, in a student housing apartment, I was put in a room with drug users / dealers. The landlord refused to let me move to a different apartment, and the police couldn't come in (if they came, one of the other roommates would refuse them access). I refused to stay in that unsafe environment and walked out on the contract. Unfortunately, apparently, the piece of paper I had to sign to live near campus, is more important than my safety and the law. They sued me for the rent. I settled and paid it off in full. The account is a "account listed negative". It is infact the ONLY negative mark on my credit report. To give you an idea, experian and equifax have that "negative" listed, and my credit score for them is a sub 650. Transunion does not have that report. My transunion score is a 710. Unfortunately, because of that negative mark I am being refused a credit card. The "Professional adjmnt co" (Collection account), started reporting in November 2007. From Nov - Aug 2007, they hit me with a key derogatory every month. In September, it was paid off in full and it was listed as "OK" The current status is "Current closed". It was "closed" 2.7 years ago. I am not sure if I am off base for wanting this off my report. Maybe it is supposed to be there. Is there anything I can do to have it removed? Like I said, I paid it off in full. Even if it is supposed to be on there. Do I really deserve to be punished for this crap? Not only did I get paired with drug users/sellers. I was sued because the lease was more important than my safety. I told the landlord, a week went by and he did nothing. Cops wouldn't come. I really had no choice but to walk out. By the way, I didn't handle much of the settlement. I don't know if it even went to a judge. (Maybe it should have?). Any way of removing that "collection department, agency, attorney (listed negative)" account? If I was to file a dispute, what should I state is the reason? Should I just try and call the company that collected?
Unfortunately people never learn that they should never pay a debt collector a crying dime until it is too late. Now you know why. The problem is that by paying the debt you have admitted that it is your debt, you owed it and were forced to pay it by a debt collector. You see the results of that. If you had not paid it the result would have been less harsh and over time it would have less and less impact on your credit score. If you had not paid it you would have stood a much better chance of getting it deleted. As it is now you are probably stuck with it. It is too bad we can't reach more folks before they too make the same mistake you have.
Bill and I differ a bit in our opinions on this, but that's OK. That's what forums are for. He's right though - there's not much you can do now. If you had negotiated removal of the negative mark or had them sign a non-disclosure agreement as part of your settlement, then you could have taken care of your debt while protecting your credit score at the same time. Unfortunately, most people forget to watch out for how their credit reports and credit scores will be affected by their actions.
