Can they put this on my credit report? is there a waiting period?

I lived in an apartment for 4 years. when the time came for me to move out i gave the proper notice that i wouldnt be renewing my lease and i left my new forwarding adress and contact information. i had a cat and a dog who acting like a cat and dog did a little bit of damage around the apartment. (cat liked to chew on the blinds) (dog liked to scratch the moulding) i figured they would take it out of my security deposit and if it wastn enough would contact me. well they did contact me they sent me a certified letter and said they took my security deposit and said there was a remaining balance of $180 which was fine. i received the letter amybe a week or so after i had moved out. so the day i recieved the letter i called them to make arrangments to pay them. They told me they had already sent it to collections???? so i went down there and payed it that day i told them that it was rediclous that they didnt wait to inform me that i owed the money before they sent it to collections? i didnt even have a chance to pay it first? it really got my blood boiling. but i payed it and thought it would be the end of it. but now i checked my credit and i have this on my credit report collections. is this even legal? is there a waiting period before they can send it to collections? dont they have to inform me first that i owe them money? id really like to know if i have some kind of legal stand point please dont just give opinions im looking for legal facts. thank you|||Doctors do this all the time. You get a statement from the insurance company stating it is not a bill but you can be billed by the doctor for $X. The doctor never sends a bill, they just send it to collection. Makes no sense to me but it must be legal.





It will show as a paid collection and is only $180 so it may not have a huge impact on your credit if the rest of your credit is good. You can still dispute it with the three bureaus but it may do no good.|||you'll have to file a complaint with the credit agencies to get it removed





you could possibly try to sue for liable or something probably not worth the trouble