paid account in collections in full

[Anonymous]

i apologize if this is in wrong spot.  i recently saw an old account in collections for a $11 balance.  i paid that balance in full to the collection agency.  it just hit Equifax  this morning , but my score dropped 28 points and that was the only factor.  so i go and look a little further and the agency marked it as "closed" not paid in full or what ever.  so i now have A derogatory for a$11 account i paid in full.  collection agency mailed me a receipt.  my question is can i dispute that with EQ or do i need to contact the collection agency.  here i thought i was helping myself by paying a $11 balance...and i dropped 28 stinking point.   any ideas or thoughts on how to handle this? I've tried starting a dispute with EQ but every time i can actually get past the info page without getting the "info doesn't match" and on to the security questions...it tells me those don't match when i know they do

[RonM21]

I'm not sure that caused the 28 point drop. Usually the damage is already done, and you paying it would have just updated it to "paid/closed" without anything else happening other then the updated status.

You call them and have them updated to paid and closed. If they won't do that (they should though), then you move on to the dispute if you'd like.

[RobertEG]

It is not uncommon for paid accounts to have incomplete reporting in the first month.

Sometimes the left hand does a partial update of reporting, such as closed, then it passes to their financial dept who may post the new balance, etc.

Give it one more month to clear and update before disputing.

As for drop in points, until the updated reporting effectively extends the date thru which the collection was unpaid, thus extending the period of delinquency of the debt

Again, it is common for upated reporting by a debt collector to negatively effect scoring.

However, once closed and paid, additional reporting must cease, and then the collection can begin to age in the eyes of FICO as no longer being delinquent.