First, I did not start out the correct way. I've had myFICO 3b for three or so years now. Since then, I've been workng very hard and haven't missed a payment in a couple years. Started off with scores in the 510 range and now average 680. It has been a slow steady climb but worth it.
I had a debt from AT&T for $350 get sold to Diversified Consultant in May 2017 and show up on my credit report June 27, 2017.
Was it my account? Yes. It was a Cable TV account that my sister was using while I was overseas in Afghanistan working as a contractor for a year. She had always paid the bill on time with her fixed income. Low and behold Jan 2017, she moves out with the flavor of the month and doesn't tell me or pay the bill.
Obviously I learned some very valuable lessions from this experience but I'm wondering if I have any chance of disputing this.
Yes I called AT&T that very day (June 27, 2017) they said they could not take payment and referred me to DC. I told them that I had not received an email, phone call or anything from them notifying me that the monthly bill was not being paid. At the time I was paying them $250-300 a month for phone service, so they knew my phone number, email address and contact information but stuck to (we dont link accounts). The paperless billing that went to my sisters email address was acknowledged by them but I was ultimately responsible because my name was on the account.
I call DC and told them the situation. They told me they could not take it off my credit report (found out later after reading here and other places that is a complete lie), So I paid it that very same day it showed up on my credit report.
Yes it was almost 3 years ago but its the only collection I have and irks me to no end every time I see it. It feel its dishonest and they could have helped but chose not too.
I appreciate the expertise on this forum. Any advice other than, "You should have...." is welcomed. Like I said, some hard lessons were learned. but I'd like to fix it if at all possible.
Thank you!
