I was checking my credit a few months ago and found an unfamiliar collection account for $210. It was reported by Pierce Hamilton and Stern on behalf of my old apartment building. Turns out there was an outstanding utility bill when I left (unbeknownst to me). They hired PHS to collect the money from me. I was never notified by the apartment building or Pierce Hamilton and Stern of the utility bill or the collection account. I did not receive a single phone call or letter; I only found out about it by seeing the reference on the credit report. Not familiar with how the system works, I paid the CA thinking the listing would disappear (didn't happen, of course). I tried calling PHS to explain the situation and they rudely said that since I paid the account there was no error and there was no way the listing could be deleted. What do I do now? Contact the OC? Simply dispute with the CRAs and hope for the best?
Just dispute it with the CRA's. A lot of the time the CA won't bother answering (they already got their money) and it gets deleted.
