I need to dispute a rent debt

Hey, have you been through eviction process? because, even after the eviction you are responsible for any unpaid rent and the owner can keep your security deposit towards any damages done to the rented property. An eviction is an enforcement of the lease agreement signed between the parties and may not be considered as a release form all the obligation of the renter.

Can you just elaborate your problem little more for the members to have a better understanding of your case?

No it was not an eviction. We turned in a 30 day notice and then the lease was up and then we moved out.
About 6 Months later I received a notice from a debt collection agency saying I owe $150 to the apartment complex for cleaning. They never returned the security deposit of $350 which is listed on the contract.

I checked my credit reports and on one of them there is the cleaning rent debt and there is an opportunity to dispute it. So I am trying to make the best of the opportunity cause I only have one chance. I understand if the collection agency does not respond back in 45 days, the negative item will be removed.

So, I want to know the best answer (120 characters) considering my situation to give to equifax. All I can think of is that they did not return my rent deposit and it should have been used for the cleaning. I was not notified directly from the apartment complex management and had no clue about a cleaning bill. I think if they sent me an invoice of what needed to be cleaned would have been a better notice then getting mail from a collection agency many months later. let me know if there is anymore information I could give you to help.

"Equifax:
Things to know:
You can dispute an item by selecting one reason from the dispute reasons list that best explains why you feel the item is incorrect. Be sure to read the 'tell me more about dispute reasons' information. If you wish, you may use the additional information box to send your creditor important details (up to 120 characters) about your reason for disputing."

I am not sure if this applies to every state or just in WI. But you are supposed to get your security deposit back within 20 days. Then if there are any charges for anything then they take that from your deposit but are supposed to send you a reciept showing how much was applied to what. So if you never got anything like that I would first contact the person/company you rented from and request that. They have to keep a copy of it. Plus if the deposit is not recieved within 20 days you can go after the landlord for even more.

I just want to mirror what puddljmpr said. My town ordinance say too, that if a landlord intends to keep any portion of the security deposit then they must provide itemized receipts for any amounts withheld.

If they kepy your $350 and charged you $150 on top, then they should have receipts totalling $500. That's a lot for some cleaning. There are other things that are "routine maintence" that a landlord usually shouldn't bill for, like a fresh coat of paint or patching nail holes.

First you should send a DV to the CA and demand an accounting showing all just credits due and any other charges.

Then send in your dispute to the bureaus. Dispute your account ownership - not mine. Anything you write in the comments just appears to the CA as a memo when they receive your dispute from the bureau. You can write to the effect that you had no knowledge of the debt and request verification.

Out of my own stupidy and not knowing about how credit works I went and paid the debt that I supposedly owed. I though it would help me out so I could start building credit to purchase a car. I noticed that I have one chance to dispute it and though I would give it a shot and get that one and only negative item removed from the one credit report that its on. So would entering this online in my credit report help? Maybe I have a small chance of removal?

"I had no knowledge of the $150 cleaning debt prior of paying for it and request verification. The apartment management never returned the $350 security deposit or sent any itemized receipt for any amounts withheld."

You then need to go after the management for the security deposit back. Now that it has passed the allowed amount of days the law requires for the landlord to either give you your money back or send you the itemized list, you can (which you need to check your landlord/tenant laws) get more than what you paid. Check your laws and send the management a cert. letter (with return reciept requested) and state the laws about the security deposit refund and that you never recieved anything, and before you pay the $150 for the cleaning you want a copy of the reciepts that used up all your security deposit.

"XYZ Apartments failed to return the $350.00 security deposit????and never sent any itemized invoice/receipt for any amounts owed."

Tell them the date you moved, and that they never returned the security deposit or sent an invoice of any subtraction from the security deposit or even an invoice for the apt. cleaning. Then also put in the letter the laws for them returning the security deposit.