“who specifically would I send this dispute to?”
In writing, you send the fact of your dispute to the credit reporting agency, eg. Experian. But don’t expect magic. They will only confirm that a relationship existed and that there is a claim for money. They will NOT explore the righteousness of the claim.
“Would they actually look into the charges to find if they were over and above what should've been charged?”
This is the key detail - NO!
If, in truth, there is really no proper basis for this credit report entry, you’ll have to do one of two things - file for a Declaratory Judgment on the issue disputed or file a Small Claims Suit for return of the deposit. **IF** you win, you can use your copy of the final ruling to eliminate any entry in your credit file. But, be very careful. If you don’t prevail, the judgment - a lot harder to argue than simply a landlord’s claim - will follow you for seven years.
“My question is, do I have any way of getting a new place prior to this being resolved, or am I pretty much SOL until it gets resolved?”
I answered a very similar question in a previous post. While the question was about eviction, the answer is the same for a credit report entry from an old landlord.
https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?threadid=77610
“My other question which is related is if I do go ahead and pay the full amount to get it off of my credit record”
Unless you negotiate specifically, paying the debt will only change the credit file entry to paid. It won’t disappear.
“is that an admission of guilt when I get around to filing small claims paperwork?”
In most states, no. But since paying the debt won’t eliminate the historical entry, you possibly would be better served by filing the lawsuit - **IF** you are firmly convinced you will prevail. Otherwise, pay the amount and move on.
Gene
