I had a $12 bill from a podiatrist that got lost in mail issues (we recently moved after 30 years at one address). They never called. It finally went to collections and we finally got a forwarded bill, paid it immediately but too late. It’s on my report. Really dropped my score, which Re entry was well over 800
Recently
There oughta be a law. These medial billers are too quick t send things to collections, when often it's a issue with the insurance company. I had to threaten a collections law firm with a counter suit to get them to cease and desist after providing them with proof positive documentation of payment. But here in NY our AG is too busy harassing Trump to actually protect citizens from this sort of abuse.
“I had a $12 bill from a podiatrist “
Call the podiatrist and ask them to remove it. Also dispute the bill on your credit report. If they don’t respond and confirm in 30 days it gets removed. If the debt collector or podiatrist have closed, there is no one there to confirm. Or if they have crummy records and can’t confirm, it gets removed. All those options will cost you nothing so it a free shot.
with the new changes that paid 12 dollar collection should vanish as it’s under the 500 dollar limit.
that said, if it’s old (couple of years) dispute it as “should not be on my report”
Collection companies “generally” don’t do much research on paid collections. No one will go down in the basement and look in a box for the records and it’ll likely vanish.