PANIC Mode... Closing in July!! and now disputing a collection that isn't mine!

[Briden]

We are in the middle of obtaining our mortgage for a house that we put an offer on. Both my husband and I have scores well over 760.  Yesterday I received the paperwork from the bank for our application and my transunion score dropped to 690 becuase of a collection that was just added.  I know it is not mine. I checked with the original creditor and then the colelction agency.  I am up to date with o.c. and the collection agency could not find me by name, social, address or anything. I called transunion and filed a dispute. I am not sure what to do next. Our closing is JUly 19th, so it's a bit of time, but I don't want to get denied on a collection that is certainly not mine. What can I do next? Should I write a letter now to the bank explaining hte situaiton? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[tammyjk]

You have two issues.  1st the collection is new and second you have a dispute on your credit.  I had a collection company try to tell me I had a collection on a card that is in my wallet to the tune of 10k lol.  Have you called the collection agency and found out who the origanl creditor is?  If it is with a company you are current with, obtain a letter from them saying you do not have a collection with them.  ect. 

Next you will have to have the disputes removed.  This can be as simple as faxing the collection company something that says " I am not currently disputing this account please remove the dispute comments from all three credit reporting agencies.".  DO NOT ELABORATE.  By law they must remove the dispute.  Since you are less than 30 days out you need to get this done asap. 

Its a long shot but if you can get a letter from the original creditor saying you do not owe this collection, the bank may accept that BUT you will probably still need the dispute remarks gone.