I was on a lease with an apartment complex and broke the lease. They made me pay rent until the apartment was rented out. I was making payments with them but then was unable to continue. I recieved a letter from a lawyer stating they were hired to collect the debt ($1300). I then called the apartment leasing office and the manager told me if i paid they would tell the lawyer the debt was settled and that it will not show up on my credit report. My question is will the lawyer still send it to the credit bureaus and is the leasing manager lying? My main focus and trying to keep my credit report clean. What is the best move to pay directly or try to contact that lawyer?
Almostthere454, you neglected to provide the name of your US state, but I can give you general information.
Creditors, if they so choose, provide information to credit bureaus/clearinghouses on a monthly basis. Each month, they report whether your debt to them was: paid as agreed; 30 days late; 60 days late; 90 days late; or 120+ days late. So, if they chose to report your status prior to payment, that would put late payments on your report, and those would gradually move up a "grid" of 84 months for 7 years until they disappeared.
Once you pay the bill in full, there's nothing to report except
possibly "paid as agreed". I would not be concerned about what they might report after a payment; I would be more concerned about what they might already be reporting.
Also be aware that in many cases there are other credit/renter reporting agencies besides the standard "big three get your credit score here" bureaus. There are separate bureaus for reporting bank account status (most people are familiar with Chex Systems), rental, and utility bill history.
