Unfortunately, as you have found out, simply paying debts won’t remove them from your credit report. In order to get it removed, you will need to dispute the listing.

If the collection agency is the one reporting the debt on your credit report, you have a great chance of getting it deleted! This is for 2 reasons:

1) Collection agencies rarely have the proper documentation to make the listing “stick” if you were to challenge it. The law requires that if you dispute a listing, whoever is reporting the item must prove that it is accurate. If they can’t (very common with third party debt collectors), they must delete it.

2) You have already paid them, therefore they have nothing to gain by wasting time on your dispute. They may just delete the listing rather than take the time to dig up the proof required for them to keep it on your credit report.

Please see this page for information on how to dispute the item:

http://creditrepairanddebtsolutions.com/how-to-dispute-a-listing-on-your-credit-report/

Remember not to get discouraged if the credit bureau doesn’t delete it on your first try. If they respond claiming the listing is “verified”, they must provide you with the contact address of whoever supposedly verified the listing. At that point, you will need to go after the collection agency by demanding, in writing, that they provide proof of the accuracy of the listing, otherwise they must remove it. That usually makes it disappear :)

If you have any other questions feel free to ask!