By mistake I paid a collection agency

[joshua m]

It affected my credit score. What can I do? I had a problem with Nextel, never got the service but was billed for it. Try for a year to fix it by phone. I thought it was ok and then the collection agency started to call everyday. It was only $100 so i paid...now my credit score is destroyed...what can i do?

[CHRIS V]

Dispute it on your credit report since you never received the service. By law, if they don't respond with verification in 30 days, it is deleted from your credit report. Nine times out of ten, a collection agency won't respond. If they do, dispute it again the following month, they will stop responding. Good luck.

[vic91106]

You have paid the debt, so it causes the status of the entry to be the same as new one, in terms of its age. This means that it will be there for 7 years from the date you paid it. That is the downside.

The upside is, as someone else mentioned, it will show up as paid. As for disputing the entry, that is always a good practice as there is always a chance that the verification will fall over somewhere along the line and you can get the entry removed.

Be sure you dispute the entry with ALL THREE major credit reporting companies: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

It's a hassle, so be patient and persistent!

One word of warning: If a company fails to verify your debt within 30 days, the entry has to be removed from your report by law. But that doesn't mean the company can't re-report it!

Some companies don't bother, others will. It seems less likely that a company would do so for 100.00, but it happens.It all starts with getting a copy of your credit report.

By law, you are entitled to one free copy from each of the three major credit reporting agencies every 12 months.