Falsely accused credit

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone. I’m currently trying to rebuild my credit but I have an AT&T bill from a few years ago that simply won’t die. I never paid this bill because I was overcharged to begin with. I called and complained about it in which they told me I owe said amount even though it was untrue. It was during the time that AT&T got sued and fined for unlawfully overcharging costumers for internet access on their phones and ranking up hundreds of dollars in data fees. That is what happened to me; however, it is still stuck on my credit report. Does anyone have advice on what I can do to get it off of my report? Is this a good situation in which I can report this credit as false? 

[Anonymous]

If you dispute, At&T will verify that the balance reported is correct. Disputing this information wouldn't solve your problem.

You will have to talk to AT&T and see if they can lower the balance. Google AT&T CEO email and write them an email explaining your situation and how you were charged more. 

When was the DOFD? Who is reporting the debt, is it AT&T or a collection agency?

[RobertEG]

Assertion that a debt is false/not legit is an opinion until resolved.

You can begin by filing a dispute with the CRA, submitting your evidence and arguments as to why the charges may have been established as not legit based on some prior legal finding or settlement agreement. 

The CRA must then refer the dispute to AT&T for their investigation and response.  If AT&T verifies the accuracy, that then enables you to pursue the matter via a civil action, and get a court review of the evidence.

I would advise first filing a dispute and hopefully getting the inaccurate information deleted or corrected.

If that fails, you can then pursue civil litigation and get the matter resolved by the courts. 

See FCRA 623(c) for the requirment for intitial filing of a dispute via the CRA.

[calyx]

I had an issue with Verizon over fraudulent charges (that I also was not willing to pay for).

I started working on it before finding these forums, so I did it wrong to start - I went straight to the CRAs to dispute, and of course, Verizon told them all that it was legit, so they just said the charges would remain on my report and that's what will happen to you.

The way I finally got it off of my report was just calling Verizon *every day* (fortunately, I work an office job and just did it on my speakerphone).  Eventually I got a nice person who was willing to fix it for me.    They sent me a confirmation email, which I printed, and mailed with my dispute to all three CRAs.  It took months, but I finally got it.    If AT&T is being difficult, you just have to keep pounding on them, the CRAs will not resolve this for you.   I don't know if it will be helpful for you, but I got the best use out of asking for the "fraud" division - they seemed to be more knowledgable (it only took me two or three conversations with them, and they seemed to have access to more information).