$30 medical collection from 2012

[Anonymous]

Back in 2012 I had some lab work done, paid the co-pay and forgot about it. They apparently had the wrong address and were sending a $30 bill to it. 5 months later and they reported me to a collection agency who then calls me. I dispute the charge because I know I paid it months ago. I asked if it would hurt my credit score and they said no. They go off to talk to the lab who billed me who still claims that I owe the $30. I dispute it again and they said they will look into it more. 42 days after the initial filing they call back and still maintain that I owe the $30 so I just pay it so that they would leave me alone. Fast forward to today and I am trying to buy a house only to see that there is a negative collections on my credit report from this collections agency. I call them and they claim that there is nothing they can do. What are my options? Would a dispute potentially work?

[RobertEG]

Paying a debt collector does not require deletion of their reported collection.

They are requried to close the collection, and update to paid, $0 balance.

There no longer is a debt.  An after-the-fact dispute of accuracy of a debt that was voluntarily paid will likely lead to verification of its accuracy.

The best course at this point, in my opinion, is to pursue a request for their good-will deletion of the collection.

A dispute may kill any good-will deletion on their part.

Any legal action contetsting the debt will likely be dismissed based on lack of any debt.