Problem with Experian Report

[JBoswell]

I recently ordered my annual credit reports from annualcreditreport.com, over the past 5 years I worked very hard at taking care of any problems I had with my credit, I paid off all debts, paid down all my credit cards, and took care of the two collections I had. I've been very diligent with my finances in order to maintain the good scores I was finally able to get... and then today when I pulled my new reports I noticed a negative item on my Experian credit report. There is a collections accounts listed as being opened in April of 2010 in the amount of $828. The original creditor is National Grid, but it's listed under a collection company now. When I pulled my report in August of 2010 this item was not there. The account that it's referring to was an electric bill from an old apartment... I paid this bill off IN FULL in January of 2005 (although prior to January, 2005 it was very VERY late)... how is it possible that a paid/closed account is being sold to collections 5 YEARS after it was resolved? I do still have documentation of my payment to National Grid. Is there anything I can do to get this removed? How can a company sell an account to collections thats already been paid? I really don't understand what happened here but would like to get it resolved ASAP. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[GregB]

I would suggest calling the OC. Have all your paperwork in hand when you call them including proof of payment, last statement, etc.

[LIGHTNIN]

I agree with GregB,  It may just be a mistake with the OC, giving the CA the wrong info.

Just a quick question......Is the amount  of $828 the same as you paid fro in Jan 2005?

[JBoswell]

Yea, the amount is the same I paid back in 2005. I will try and contact National Grid, I just wasn't sure if they could remove an account when they technically aren't the ones listing it. thanks for your quick replies!

[Booner72]

They can prob assist getting it back from the CA though.

[LIGHTNIN]

If the DoFD was prior to Jan 2005, then it should be dropping off your CR soon.

How old is this debt? older then 7yr?   if so, it should not be on your CR, because it's pass CRTP.

[JBoswell]

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@LIGHTNIN wrote:

If the DoFD was prior to Jan 2005, then it should be dropping off your CR soon.

How old is this debt? older then 7yr?   if so, it should not be on your CR, because it's pass CRTP.

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It shouldn't be on there at all though, the original debt never went to collections, it was paid off before it did, I was 2 months late when I moved out in 2005, National Grid called me and I paid them directly... you mean that they can report a non-credit utility account that never went into collections as a collection years after the fact just because I was late on a payment 5 years ago? ... it isn't 7 years old yet, 6 I think, does that mean this will be on there for another year? And why didn't it show up until now? I can't believe they can just decide to do that whenever.

[GregB]

They probably did not credit the payment correctly at that point. You should always make sure that you have one final statement on any account that shows a $0 balance. Make sure their statement agrees with your statement in your bookkeeping.

[JBoswell]

I did, I have a statement that shows a $0 balance and I also have a copy of the cleared check. I kept all of my documentation just in case. Haven't had any problems on this since then, (until now). No idea what happened.

[GregB]

That is excellent. Call them up and say "My last statement date XX/XX/XX shows paid in full. My last payment was $x.xx, paid by my check #xxxx. This was cashed by your bank XXXXX on XX/XX/XX.

Sounds like they screwed something up. Duplicate account, entry error, computer error. They should bend over backwards to fix their error.

Good Luck!