How to remove a negative item (mistake of the collection agency) from credit report?

Question

I had a bill for a doctor's co-pay of $20 in Apr 2007.

I moved in May of 2007 and I had not received the bills until someone from the doctor's office called on 16 Mar 2008. I paid the bill electronically (sent a check) to the doctor's office on 18 Mar 2008. I have a copy of it and also a letter from the Bank stating the same.

In May 2008, I received a call from collection agency. He was pretty rude. He mentioned that I was due $20 and I paid the bill immediately, again.

In June 2008, I check my credit report to find a negative remark on my credit report because of this collection.

I'm planning on buying a house in a couple of months. Before this incident, my credit score was 780. Now, it has dropped to 657.

I spoke to the collection agency since then and they were not helpful in resolving this issue.

What can I do to take this off my credit report?

Thanks

Answer 1

Send copies of proof of payment made to the original creditor (the doctor) to the CRA's to dispute the entries or you can try to dispute this on line at the following address

Equifax-800-685-1111

www.equifax.com

Experian-888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742)

www.experian.com

TransUnion-800-916-8800

www.transunion.com

Here is a link on how to do this

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/cr...

Download a pdf file regarding how to dispute with CRA's

I would also report this collection agency to your state attorney generals office.  They owe YOU $20

Hope this answers your question

Answer 2

Send copies of your payments (cancelled cheque/bank statement etc...) include this will a dispute letter, either hand written or downloaded from the credit bureau web sites and send them directly to the 3 credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Transunion). They have 30 days to respond to you. If they don't write to the FTC and provide a copy of your dispute letter. Always keep copies of your written communications.

Answer 3

You can use credit repair agency to fix your credit - for example this one - http://creditreport.fateback.com - They can clean lots of such bad stuff from your credit report - and do it much faster than yourself, so your credit will go up fast.

Answer 4

Good morning,

I was also in a similar situation, and there are a couple of things you can do.

Call the doctor's office to see if your bill has been credited for your payment.  If it has, they can notify the collections dept. that the debt is settled.

Why they sent a $20 bill to a collections agency is a sign of a greedy doctor.

Since the original was an electonic payment the bank should have records of this, and when it was payed.  

The doctor's accountant or billing person went over the line reporting this incident.  The doctor should be able to have this settled on his end.

You can also call the better business bureau to report this incident. They will investigate it for you and notify you of their findings.

Good luck.

Ken