I've been reading the boards for a while now and would really like some advice on what to do. I am about to graduate college and get married this summer. My future wife and I are beginning to plan on buying a home. My problem is this: Four years ago, I signed up for a Capitol One card on the campus of my university (I plead being young and naive). The only things I ever used it for were to pay for my Internet service and occasional meals out. The bill was never more that $40 and I paid in full each month. About a year after that, I moved to a new address with several friends and we opened a DSL account, so I called my ISP and canceled the Internet service and also canceled the credit card (because I had come to realize that it was a terrible deal with regards to fees and such). The problem came when the ISP never canceled my service. They continued to charge Cap1 for my service for 6 months. Because I had moved they no longer had my address so the bill notices never came to me and I never had any cause to miss them because I had canceled the service. About 6 months after this, the matter was turned over to a collection agency and the bill was about $400. The collection agency tracked my down at my new address and demanded payment. I was 21 years old and had heard terrible stories about these people so I paid them the money. Now the account is showed as $0 balance and closed, but it is a terrible mark on my credit report. I can't even get a credit card to help rebuild my credit, much less finance a home mortgage. Right now my score stands at 580. The only bad thing on my report is this thing, but there really isn't much else on the report either. Any advice that you can give would be greatly appreciated.
