Can I, an international student, have my adverse credit report by my landlord's collection agency deleted ?

Question

When I moved in, there were cigarette burns on the carpet, and the room was not clean. I cleaned up the mess and put all these in a checklist which they gave me. I paid my rent on time & left it clean on moving out. After a month I got a mail from landlord charging me 750 $ for damage to the carpet and 50 $ for cleaning! I replied saying that the burns were already there as mentioned in the check list and I left the apt clean. I did not receive any reply from him. Later I got a letter from a collection agency and they later started calling me and threatened me regarding dire consequences regarding my visa and alleging me that I am a fraud . I went to the university attorney (free) who told me to ignore this agency and not to respond to the letter because they can’t do anything without going to the small claims court. Contrary to his advice the collection agency reported it to the credit agency. I met him again- he told me not to bother. But my credit history is affected. Please help

Answer 1

That's terrible. I am not sure what country/state you are, but before you moved that check list they gave you...was it a condition report? The condition report is document stipulated that the landlord cannot rip you off. Are you sure your credit history is affected? If there is an administrative mistake, your history will not be affected.

Answer 2

Ask the collection agency to validate the collection. They have 30 days to prove that you indeed owe this debt. If they cannot validate it, they have t remove it.

Yes, if you had a copy of the checklist showing that the burns were already there, then this would be a closed case. You'll know for next time.

You may want to talk to a pro-bono attorney about your case. If this goes to court the landlord will have to provide a copy of the apartment checklist, this will prove your case.

If at all possible, try and pay the debt and if and when you go to court, you'll win and get it back.

Sometimes life is unfair, but its not worth ruining your credit over.