Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
Negative Entry on Credit Report
I have a nevative entry on my credit report apparently unpaid gas bill for $18.00. First, I seriously did not want to pay this amount because believe that this is not mine. This is scheduled to stay on my credit report until 2011.. Recently, I have been denied of credit because of this.. I decided I just want to go ahead and pay (eventhough I don't think this is mine) but is collection agency going to remove this negative entry once I pay??? I will still not going to admit that this is my debet (because it isn't).. I just want to be off my record.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Negative Entry on Credit Report
The item will not come off your record, unless the creditor voluntarily agrees to do so. The record will now show as paid in full, however, the past late derrogatory remarks will remain in place. You are going to need to do some tap dancing with the creditor to try to convince them to remove it from your report as its entirely up to them. Asserting the position that its not yours and you are somehow paying it under protest isn't going to go over well with the creditor as you are trying to sweet talk them into removing it. Alternatively, you can dispute it with the credit reporting agencies, and if its truly not yours, then sue them under the Fair Credit Reporting Act for refusing to remove an item that doesn't belong to you. For $18, I'd try the pay and sweet talk approach first.
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Re: Negative Entry on Credit Report
The report will show that it was paid. You can add a comment that you paid it even though it wasn't you debt just to clear it up.