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Question: In US: To what extent does a collection agency filing by landlord affect my currently excellent Credit Score?

After I moved out last month, my apartment management is unfairly(in my opinion) asking me to pay $1200 for painting the apartment because of some crayon marks on the living room wall. I have always paid rent on time and have had no other issues with them. How will this affect my credit if I refuse to pay and they send it to collections? Thanks for input.

Answer: I like Mike's advice...start with that.

Send the landlord a letter demanding to see all bills and documentation related to the damage you did. By the way, you did do a walk-through when you signed the lease, didn't you? Landlords love to find damage to apartments so they can screw you out of your deposit or more money.

If you think you can defend yourself against the lawsuit, then don't pay the bill. Send the landlord a letter protesting the charge, and a warning that any attempt to collect the debt, or post negative informtion to your Credit Report, will result in a lawsuit under the Fair Debt Collections Act. Unless he can prove you owe this money, (and be prepared to do so in court) he better just drop the issue.

I recently helped someone with a similar problem. Landlord was billing them for damage to some cabinets, along with some other stuff. The idiot forgot that they did a walkthrough and we had the paperwork to prove the damage was there when she moved in. By this time it has gone to a collection agency, and they were harrassing her something terrible. Once I got involved, the collection agent sent the debt back to the creditor, and the credit history was fixed in 15 days.

Amazing how a couple of letters, and an understanding of how the collection laws work, can get things resolved.

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