About 20 years ago my wife and I were trying to buy our first home in Carmel Valley. Our credit report was great except for a small fee of less than $10 not paid to Sears. We never knew about it and would have paid them…
The bank had a problem with that and Sears stonewalled us in any attempts to get it off our report. Basically, told us to fugg off. Even after trying to pay it.