Hi, I am very new to this all and I'm not sure how to proceed with my situation. I am desperately hoping someone here will be able to help/steer me in the right direction. I received a phone call from a CA back in April claiming that I owe their "client" a balance for breaking my lease the year prior. They also claimed that they've attempted to contact me several times in the past. I did break my lease the year before due to inhabitable living environment, but this is the first I've heard from the CA. Therefore, I sent a letter requesting validation of this debt. I did receive the validation in the mail, and since I am a student I figured it's best to deal with the problem now and put it in the past. I've already paid the full amount to the CA, but my CR (which I ran on July 3rd) still reads account in collection, charge off, and presently past 90 or more days in delinquent. My question is where do I go from here? Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me to try to negotiate with the CA for a complete removal from my credit report before I handed over my money, so it's probably no use talking to them now. Should I send a letter of dispute to the CRAs since the information does not reflect my payment of the debt?
Welcome to Creditnet! I think it's a shame you already paid because if the living conditions were truly uninhabitable, then I assume the renter would have the ability to get out of the lease in many states. Anyway, you've already paid, so that's not the issue here. How long ago did you pay the CA? I would at least give them 30-60 days to update your CR before disputing through the CRAs. Has it been that long already?
Thank you so much! I'll take your advice and wait out the 30-90 day period. It's only been 30 days since the payment, but I got worried because I haven't heard or seen anything from the CA since then.
Yes, I would give it another 30 days to see if your credit reports are updated to a "paid" collection status. Let us know how it goes.
Personally, I would dispute the tradeline as being reported incorrectly ($0 BALANCE PAID), if they update it to paid, it at least looks better to an underwriter, if they don't you have a FCRA lawsuit against them for verifying false credit information, and an FDCPA lawsuit for reporting false credit information.
