Understanding FICO® Scoring

[thick]

How do I clear my name when my brother ran up a utility bill in my name for almost $2700.00 and the agency knows it's not my bill?  He called to have it taken care of and have it removed from my name but they insist on keeping it on my credit report when the past 2 months I have been paying off everything on my credit report.  My score just got to the low 600's and now with this it will take away all the work I have just done.  What do I do now?

[Noah_Bodie]

Dispute it with the CRAs as not mine. When the CRA contacts the utility company to confirm, they should not verify and it should then drop from your CRs.

Sometimes, even when the OC knows they have something reported incorrectly, you have to use a hammer and whack-a-mole the TL with the CRAs.

[dog]

a couple of questions:

---

How do I clear my name when my brother ran up a utility bill in my name for almost $2700.00 and the agency knows it's not my bill? 

did you open the account in your name or did he open the account in your name?

and if he did, did he have your permission to do so?

[thick]

I was unaware that he used my name and information to open up  the account.

I was living in Illinois at the time, while he was living in MD.

The CA is willing to settle the bill by almost half, if I pay them today...

[dog]

in that situation, i am going to dv.  no way in hell i would pay that.  and i would make sure to get proof that your brother opened the account....even better, a written admission.

[thick]

My brother has verified that he opened up the account and the CA has spoke with him, he refuses to pay it, cuz he doesnt care about his credit.  In the meantime, I am trying to buy a house, and afraid this will impact my chances.

[dog]

do you have tangible, independent evidence to support his admission?  when things start to get hairy, he may change his tune.  and if the ca believed him or cared, they wouldnt be pursuing you on this. i would dv this one, and also try to get your brother to admit on record that he opened the accounts without your permission. 

[thick]

I am just going to pay the **bleep** thing off tomorrow.  Now I become the collection agency, funny how that works huh?  They are settling for $1100 less but didn't want to give me a receipt.  I demanded a receipt as proof of payment or no payment would be paid.  They said they would give me a receipt at the time of payment.  Can they have payments deleted off of my CR, they are saying it's illegal to do that.

[Lori344]

Don't you think that a "pay for delete" letter is in order here? Paying it will not take the collection off your CR, it will just state paid collection.

[Noah_Bodie]

---

Lori344 wrote:

Don't you think that a "pay for delete" letter is in order here? Paying it will not take the collection off your CR, it will just state paid collection.

---

A paid collection won't help your credit, it might even hurt your score, and you'll be asking later, "How do I get this paid collection off my credit report. I mean I paid it, so ..."