Landlord has put a damper on my credit

[MrsS]

Jurisdiction

Missouri

We rented a house from a private owner and lived there for almost 4years. After our first year the refrigerator stopped working. When I contacted him about it he said that the lease stated that he was not responsible for an appliance repair and that was something we had to take care of ourselves. We replaced the fridge and had the broken one picked up. Well when we moved out, he called and claimed we owed him $500 for the refrigerator. And now there is something on my credit (possible landlord collection) I don't remember how it's stated.
How or what can I do to dispute this and have it removed?

 

[adjusterjack]

he said that the lease stated that he was not responsible for an appliance repair and that was something we had to take care of ourselves.

Did you read your lease to verify that? What, exactly, did your lease say? Quote it word for word?

Did you check your state laws to see if that kind of provision was legit?

Well when we moved out, he called and claimed we owed him $500 for the refrigerator

So, instead of checking somewhere for your legal obligations you just ignored him?

And now there is something on my credit (possible landlord collection

How long has it been since the demand and the "now"?

How or what can I do to dispute this and have it removed?

You probably can't get it removed. If you write to the credit bureaus and say you don't owe and he says you do, it's likely to stay until you pay it and then the item will show paid.

Meantime, my guess is that you owe him a refrigerator. You should have left the broken one at the property.

 

[MrsS]

It's been a year now, I didn't ignore it but I had a baby days before the move and he called the day I got home from the hospital. He went back and forth with mailing the deposit,then deciding he wasn't. But he was always that way. One moment he spoke about how great of tenants we were then he would turn around and say because his brother was an attorney he didn't have to fulfill certain obligations. I only found out about the "possible collection" on my credit when I applied for something