I have watched my credit reports to be sure they were spotless and waited for my score to be plenty high enough before applying for the USDA direct loan to be sure I would quailfy. I applied last week and now suddenly see what I believe to be a bogus debt posted to two of my reports. It is some sort of medical bill from appointments the week of Nov 20th 2011 and in my state the SOL is 6 years and so even if somehow the debt was real, the SOL would have ran out prior to this being listed, since I know I have not interacted in any way with the medical office since late Novemeber 2011. I do not believe the collection agency is technically legally allowed to report it now, but clearly they did and I am sure getting it off fast wont happen.
I am now very worried this $800 medical collection (it seems to be they claim it was about $400 but have since added fees) is going to halt my ability to quailfy. My credit report says it can stay until Aug 2018 and having it removed from 2 reports is likely not going to be any faster, and so it seems it will be there through out this process. In my state they have up to 6 months after SOL expires to remove them and so even by that math it had to be reported after SOL ran out if it can only stay for 3 months once it was reported.
Does anyone have any idea if this will stop me from being approved? Any suggestions for dealing with this quickly? I am weary of even speaking to the collection agency at this point as I do not want to give them anything that could make them feel justified in restarting the clock. Thanks for any advice or insight others can offer.
