How do you address mistakes in the info given to credit rating agencies?

[Hubbs]

I've found out that my credit score has been damaged because the Bank of America card I used to make automatic payments to DirecTV was inexplicably and randomly canceled while an older one was re-activated. I still don't know why that happened, but I have more than enough in my account to pay DirecTV for the months I missed. Does anybody know if there's a way to get my credit score repaired because I never intended to stop making payments? Also, I have a secondary issue - according to the debt collector that called me, DirecTV says I owed them for 6 receiver boxes from when I moved, but I never had 6 boxes, I only had 4. If I can clear things up with DirecTV, is there any way to get credit score damage undone because I never owed the money for the extra two boxes in the first place?

[chipwhich]

DirectTV can submit a delete to your credit report to fix the issue.

Other than that, all you can do is add an explanation to your file.

Pay Direct TV and beg them to remove the negative information

[Kosher Ham]

Should be able to clear that up.

Has it gone to collections ?

[THEREALTOR1]

Once you have evidence that everything has been cleared, (ie copies of receipts paid, letters of explanation, etc) you can contact the credit reporting agencies that are reporting the derogatory credit. It may be all 3 of them (experian, equifax, and transunion), or it may only be 1 or 2 of the three. They have toll free #'s to contact them and they should instruct you as to what you need to do.

[Hubbs]

Should be able to clear that up.

Has it gone to collections ?

Yeah, that's how I found out about it. (For some reason I still have TV.)

[techboy]

You can dispute derogatory items directly with each credit agency, and it's free, not $30 per item. Assuming DirecTV doesn't verify, it's gone. If they verify, it's a more complicated process, and it's possible you might not be able to get them removed at all.

DirecTV can indeed have the items removed as well, so working with them is a good idea as well.

You can find everything you need to know at CreditBoards in their forums (you might even start a thread there), including a variety of techniques that sometimes work (through loopholes in the Fair Credit Reporting Act) to remove items even when they are legitimate (one such is called the "one two punch").

The other sport you might be able to engage in, since you have collectors coming after you, is counting violations of the FCRA, since you can often collect $1000 per if you complain.

[THEREALTOR1]

You can dispute derogatory items directly with each credit agency, and it's free, not $30 per item. .

My mistake, edited.