Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

The Service Member's Relief Act (Soldier's and Sailor's Act, as amended) would not apply here. Why do you think it would? Ask your JAG officer to confirm, but I don't see how it would apply to acts which pre-dated military service.

You could possibly have disavowed the contract but you ratified it by paying it off. The time to ask for the item to be removed from your credit was when you paid it off, not now. Some creditors will change a debt from something negative like "paid collection" to something positive like "pays as agreed" or take off the negative reference completely but it depends on the circumstances.

You are in essence asking the credit bureaus and creditor to lie about what is on your credit report. It is unlawful for them to do so. Your report should reflect that the item was a paid collection and should show the item was paid in full. This should be of less importance as time passes as the debt was paid in full. The information can generally stay on your credit report for 7 1/2 years since the debt went delinquent, which should mean that if it went delinquent when you were 15 it should be coming off your report when you are 22/23.

The debt should not hamper you from getting credit because it is no longer an unpaid account. To see how the debt is being reported, you are entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. Order the reports at www.annualcreditreport.com. I recommend staggering the reports and getting a different one every 4 months. Different credit reports may report differently or not at all, so that is why you need to get all three.

You can play around with your credit score at www.myfico.com as there is a score simulator there. Your credit score is comprised mostly of how much credit you have available as compared to your debts (have no more than 1/3 of your available credit used - someone with one maxed out credit card looks worse than someone with 3 credit cards with small balances on each). Other factors are whether you pay your bills on time and having a good mix of credit (say a home, car loan and no more than 2 credit cards which have zero or low balances). To build/improve credit if you don't have a home, try having your landlord or utility company report your on-time payments of your bills. Sometimes they will do so.