invisible collection on report

[Anonymous]

this is a mess but long story short, i had a nightmare with verizon the last 6 mos, been trying to port my number and cancel the account from jan to apr........ finally in apr they let it port out only way i got theor attention was to quit paying them when the account was current they wouldnt let me leave..... last convo with csr , he saod for the inconvience you had the last 3 mos i will credit you for jan-mar on your bill for those charges any thing over that you may have paid will be sent back to you.... I had paid the bill in full a few days earlier.... well he was full of BS what he did was send jan-mar to collections took the $$ for apr and sent me back the surplus........ 2-3 weeks ago I am getting alerts left and right I have a collection added to my report. I called verizon they bounced me all over and said they do not see anything assocaited with me reported to the bureaus and that my account is paid in full.. also got a call from the CO verizon sent it to I wanted to do a pay for removal with them they told me they do not report to the bureaus i would have to call verizon and verizon has nothing to say and can see no bureau activity ..... I want this GONE....I looked at my bureaus on credit karma, cap 1 score tracker, none of them show a collection account all show 0 collection accounts ...... requested a CLI from discover and they declined with reason "COLLECTION"...... where do I even begin with this mess ???

thanks

[Anonymous]

i found it, its on my experian report under closed accounts it shows unpaid bal sent to col for 186.....wth

[Anonymous]

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Tread carefully with this one. We can't just decide we're not paying a bill, unfortunately - not for any reason. Those balances will show up in our credit history at some point. 

My best advice? Contact Verizon to find out whether they've sold the debt or whether the collection agency is simply managing it for them. If they HAVE NOT sold it, try to PFD. Tell Verizon you will pay the balance in full in exchange for having the negative item removed from your credit report. Then, do NOT make that payment until you have something in writing from Verizon.

However, there's something you must remember - you said you didn't pay it to "get their attention", which means Verizon has technically done no wrong in turning it over to collections. Neither Verizon nor the CRA is under any obligation to remove that negative from your CR, even if you do pay in full. All they're required to do is update that particular account as paid. 

Good luck to you! 

[Anonymous]

ALSO... do not admit the debt is yours.