I received my credit report recently and there was a collection on my report that I did not recognize. I immediately disputed the collection and contacted the collection company. The collection company could not verify any of my personal information. They informed me that the collection was from Columbia House and it was filed 6 years ago. They said that I owed $88.00. I argued that I did not know what the collection was and that whoever the collection belonged to, It wasn't me. I contacted my parents once I got off of the phone with them and my parents told me to just pay the collection and have it deleted from my report, the amount was so small that it wasn't worth fighting.
I contacted the company back and they let me know that if I pay in full the $88.00 that they would have the collection completely removed (deleted) from my report and my score would go back to what it was prior to the collection. I was actually going to pay the collection because it was such a small amount and it effected my credit score so much but then I googled the company and found that hundreds of people had the same experience as me, even down to the $88.00 payment to have the collection removed.
The thing that really got me was that I called Experian and found that the collection was already removed from my credit due to the dispute I had opened. Then I called the collection company to verify if I still owed them and they told me that the full amount was sill due. If the collection was already removed, then why would I still owe? The company is obviously a fraud.