Consumer complaint received 2015-04-12
Product: Debt collection — Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)
Issue: Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed — Debt was paid
Company: ERC (FL)

My wife and I were never able to see our credit scores, for years we would try to check them and we were told that we must have had the wrong information because the information that we provided was not linked to anyone 's credit. Since it was XXXX of us having the issue, bankers usually just concluded that it was because we were young and had never really built our credit so it must just be that we had no credit at all, and that was why our findings were so inconclusive. 
So my wife worked on her credit where she could, and I helped where I could. Once her credit score was good we looked into buying our XXXX home. She had established a credit score through small student loans initially and then on to a {$200.00} in-store credit card. So we could see that her credit was a XXXX which we were very impressed by, but I still had no credit score at all. I checked back often on credit sites and was never given a number, just an error message that I must have the wrong information. 
So in XXXX of this year ( XXXX ), we spoke with a mortgage broker about buying a home. He had me check my credit again at which time I found that I had a derogatory mark on my credit that had been posted years prior from a phone bill that had went to collections. I was previously unaware that I had had any outstanding fees of any kind, as I had never gotten this bill, in the mail, via email, or even received a phone call about it. 
The initial bill is from XXXX and we moved in XXXX of XXXX, and forwarded our mail accordingly and immediately changing our address on file with any and all financial institutions. We never received a bill to our old address or our new XXXX in XXXX. 
I had no idea that I owed any money to anyone and thought everything was fine. 
So in the beginning of this year when we had worked on our credit and were trying to buy a home, I suddenly had this old derogatory mark on my credit that had never come up before and it said it had been posted in XXXX. As soon as I saw it I immediately ( within 24 hours of discovering it ) called the company that it said I owed and paid it in full, asking that it be removed. They complied and took the charge off, leaving the derogatory mark on my credit. I have called the collection company time and time again, trying to have it removed, as it was so many years ago, it should n't even be there.I pay my bills and the XXXX I found out that this XXXX existed, I paid it. Despite all of my efforts to have this mark removed from my credit I was told by Enhanced Recovery Company , LLC. that they would not remove it as that is not something they do. I paid the bill two months ago and the original date XXXX gave me over the phone tonight was well over six years ago in XXXX so it is my understanding that the debt has expired long ago. I am not asking for money back I am just asking for this to not be on my credit as it should not have been able to go on in the XXXX place having been expired. This is something I hope to get resolved soon as the impact it is having on my credit is severe and preventing my family from buying our XXXX home.