Not to detract from what other posters have said, but there is a federal statute on point here. No one needs to pay a creditor to remove inaccurate adverse information from your credit history.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the onus is on a consumer to find and dispute incorrect adverse items on his credit rating by contacting the credit reporting agency and requesting that it does an investigation. Once this happens, the reporting agency must either delete the disputed information or conduct a “reasonable reinvestigation” of the information's accuracy within 30 days. 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(1).
To dispute inaccurate items, you're first going to need to request a copy of your credit report. This can easily be done online. Once you have a copy, you're going to want to draft a written dispute to the three major credit reporting agencies (included below). Your dispute should include the following information:
1) Full name
2) Current address and all addresses held within the last 2 years
3) Date of birth
4) Telephone number
5) Social security number
6) Name of spouse, if married
7) Current employment information
8) Clear description of the item that is being disputed, along with a copy of the consumer credit report in which the disputed item has been circled
9) An explanation of why the consumer is disputing the information
10) A request that the credit reporting agency delete or correct the information
11) Copies of any documentary evidence supporting your dispute
A copy of the dispute should be sent to each of the 3 major credit reporting agencies at the following addresses (recent as of June 2011):
Experian
NCAC
P.O. Box 9556
Allen, TX 75013
Equifax Information Services
P.O. BOX 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374
TransUnion
Customer Disclosure Center
Trans Union Consumer Relations
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022-2000
It might seem like a lot of work, but it probably beats shelling out even more money to satisfy an already-satisfied debt.
