There is a false statement against me on my credit report. A former apartment management company claimed I owed them a $500.00 clean-out fee after I left. I didn’t. We went to court and I won.
Fast forward about five years, and I run my report and see a $2,000+ claim against me. Apparently this management company sold a parcel of bad debt to a collections agancy, then promptly went out of business. The collection company then began tacking service charges and interest etc. onto the debt, with noone having made any attempt at all to let me know that they believed a debt existed.
About a year ago I sent a copy of the judgement in my favor to the credit reporting agencies, thinking this solved the problem. And it is noted on my file, if you run the long form. But most rental agencies only run a truncated version which only shows the (now nearly $3,000) claim against me. There is no way to get a written admission of error from the Apartment Management company, because they’ve gone out of business.
I keep getting turned down for rentals because of this. I’m in a real hurry - for complicated reasons irrelevant to this thread* I would like to nail down a new home (i.e. know my new address, but not move for thirty days) within the week if possible.
So, what can I do? How do I get this thing actually removed form my report? and is there any possible way to make this happen within a few days?
*To those who may be tempted to get personal or try to pick apart the problem: Please note we’re in GQ. I picked this forum purposefully. Looking for very specific and factual information on how to clear a false problem from my credit report.
Don’t just send a copy of the judgment to the credit bureaus and hope they know what to do with it,* start a formal dispute with the specific line item on your credit report that relates to that 2k debt* and submit a copy of the judgment as part of your evidence packet for that specific dispute. It sounds like what the credit bureaus did previously was allow you to tack on a personal note to your report.
If even the most dimwitted individual who holds an advanced degree in hyperbolic topology can see that the judgment you have relates to the debt shown on your credit report, you could take a certified copy of the judgment with you when you apply and show it to the person processing your application and hope that the apartment complex has a shred of reasonableness in the way they work.
Sue the bastards. IANAL, not your lawyer, YMMV, not legal advice, etc:
The collection company has slandered your credit which is a tort. The credit bureaus are reporting knowingly false information about you which is libel/defamation of character, and a tort. The management company libeled you by reporting to the collection agency that you owed them money (but since they are out of business, good luck on trying to collect). Plus there are all sorts of laws allowing you to collect. You can probably even win attorney’s fees depending on your state law.
Going from zero to lawsuit is a bit extreme. The dispute process mentioned (and linked, in the FTC link) upthread is the way to go. The problem is, of course, that it’s not going to get removed in “a few days”, but a lawsuit would have a similar problem. You’ll have to go with robert_coumbia’s advice and hope that wherever you’re applying is run by human beings.
But we aren’t at zero. The OP has already contacted the credit bureaus and the collection agency, disputed the account, and nothing is happening.
It is the collection agency and the credit bureau’s fault for not doing research before publishing defamatory information about him. Anything he does pre-lawsuit is simply a courtesy to them, and IMHO he has morally done enough.
Plus, these bastards need to be hit with a few lawsuits like this to change their policy. Credit reports can literally damage a person’s financial health and they should have more safeguards in place before doing that.
My interpretation of OP is the same as robert_columbia’s: There hasn’t been a formal dispute process initiated on that item, only a note of sorts placed on it.
TruCelt, can you be more specific on this point? It does change things a bit if you initiated a formal dispute and it was resolved in favor of the collections agency.
*smacks head. Agreed. The dispute process is the easiest path. I’ve done that a few times. For some reason a medical provider in a state that I have never set foot in kept reporting an outstanding balance of $122.73. I would dispute it, it would come off. The next year, back it was.
I finally called the company and they said that someone with my same name owed them money, but agreed that it wasn’t me. Their system, however, kept “renewing” old write-offs every year and that was the problem.
I was polite, but told them that the system needed fixed or else I would have to escalate the situation. But anyhoo, everytime I disputed it, it was literally a couple of days before the ding came off.
I filled out the dispute form online (which only allows a ridiculously low number of characters, but I did my best) on two occasions. The first time without attaching the judgement, and then again a few months later attaching the judgement as a .pdf.
This is why I’m so confused that it still shows at all.
Send a strongly worded dispute to the collector themself with a copy of the judgement - I’m sure there are examples on the web - instructing them that the derogatory marks should be removed from the CR and any further attempt to collect this non-debt will be challenged under the act in court with penalties being assessed as appropriate.
Send copy of same to yourself - along with copies to the reporting agency - via certified mail.