For the past 3 plus years I have working on rebuilding my credit from below 600 to the 740 score I have now. This past weekend I received a Fico credit alert notice about a collection account with Experian. My heart sank because I knew there was NO way this was possible.
I was shocked to find a utility account I had from a year and a half ago with a balance of $200 had gone into collections. I never received any notice from the utility company after moving, no phone calls, nothing. Perhaps they sent a bill to the apartment when I moved and it was never forwarded but had I received a call I would have taken care of it right away. My score plummeted 100 points because of this.
I contacted ConEdison right away and was able to pay the balance through them but now am receiving a notice that Equifax and TransUnion are reporting the collection as well. What is the right way to take care of this? I'm hoping that because I satisfied the balance with the original creditor this will be resolved in next month's reporting but things are never this easy. It seems like I shouldn't speak to the collection agency yet.
Any advice would be appreciated.
