If he was a minor, he shouldn't have been able to enter into any kind of credit/financing contract or agreement. Is HIS signature on the agreement? He "could" say that his mother entered into the agreement using his info, which happens ALL the time. But, last time I checked, if you dispute with EACH bureau online there's a specific list of dispute options and "not mine" is one of them. I would just select that and provide as little extra details as possible. Just say it isn't mine and I'm not responsible for this account. Keep it simple.

Unless they've changed the laws since I worked in the industry, the bureau sends the dispute to the creditor and they have 30 days to respond. If they don't respond in 30 days it must come off, even if they come back with proof after the 30 days, it stays off. Now, since so much stuff is electronic they MAY be able to respond faster BUT my guess is that people still need to process the responses and if that's the case I'd bet there's still a huge delay. When I was at Experian, about 70% of disputes came off because the creditor didn't respond in time. So, it can't hurt to dispute any and everything the worst that can happen is that it stays on.

Also, this is basically what those "credit repair" companies do. There is no way to legally repair your credit. They basically inundate the creditors and bureaus with disputes until something sticks and is removed. They don't do anything you can't do for yourself for free. Another thing they'd do is have someone working on the inside that would clean up people's reports.

I actually wrote the training program for Experian's 1000-seat call center that handles all calls from consumers nationwide. Some of the CSRs would work with these credit repair scammers. That's a federal crime and I've seen the FBI roll up in the joint and escort muthafuckas straight to the pen.
[Edited 11/7/09 7:24am]

Okay, thanks for the advice. I'll definitely tell him that.

Other than that account, that is the only thing on his credit report, he doesn't have any credit cards and he paid for his car in cash. Is it possible that he can apply for a credit card even though his credit score is low? I mean I guess it sounds like a common sense question, but you never know, and so thats why i'm asking. And is it true that if the credit card company rejects his application for a credit card that, that can go against his credit too? He really needs something else on his credit report to show that he can pay bills on time.

Two years ago, he'd have no problem getting a credit card with a decent rate even with a lower score. With lenders doing the fool lately, he may not be able to, not so much because of his score but moreso cuz of the state of the lending industry. If he's able to get a card, his interest rate will be higher, again because of the state of the economy right now. Even if he gets one with a high interest rate, it would still be worth it to use it ONLY if he pays it off every month, on time.

And yes, if he applies for a credit card, that will have a negative impact on his score, regardless of whether he's approved or not. Every time you apply for credit an "inquiry" goes on your credit report. Inquiries stay on your report for two years and do adversely impact your score. It's a catch 22, you can't apply for credit without generating an inquiry, but inquiries lower your score 5-15 points each. That's why, when people are applying for auto/home financing they can end up fucking up their score by applying too many times which may be unavoidable these days, again due to the difficulty in getting financing. A secured credit card is another option but I wouldn't apply for anything until he tries to get that account off his report. I'm telling you it's all some bullshit but unavoidable if you can't pay cash for big purchases.

Also, do we pay each place seperatly or can we pay through such things as debt consolidators???? Or can we pay our debts right off to clear our credit limit more quickly????

I have totalled up all our debts and they come to $1193, surely that small amount is not worth worrying about when other people owe 1000s, if not tens of 1000s of dollars to people and yet they seem to b accepted for things like housing????
[Edited 11/6/09 11:27am]

It's not how much you owe, it's your payment record that counts.

What others have said is true, they're mostly looking at your on-time payments for the last 24 months. If you have a bad debt (something that goes over 6 months past due) that remains on your record for 7-10 years.

If all of your payments are on time, then they will look at things like how many lines of credit you have, what types (car loan, credit cards, mortgage, whatever) and what your debt to income ratio is. That's when how much you are in debt matters, but it's only a small part.