<prompt> Human: I moved out of an apartment early and broke the lease. I was told that it was rented immediately so the remaining months wouldnt be charged but the early termination fee would be sent to me to pay. I never got a letter or anything. On my credit is a nearly 6,000 debt that was reported 4 years after I moved. I contacted the apartment place and they said the original company was bought out and the new company didnt have a copy of my old lease or the terms. I did the dispute on credit karma but it just says valid. I know there is a statute of limitations of 7 years from the time the debt was reported but it looks like it was re-reported in 2012 when they were bought out by another property management company. What are my options with this? I have read a lot on this sub about this but I couldnt find any posts with a situation like this where the companies have no record of my original debt and the original company is no longer in business. Whats my best options to get this removed or at least reduced? The apartment was only 750 a month back then so even if they left it unoccupied for the full 4 months remaining on my lease...there is no way it could be total up to 5900. Once it was rented back out, wouldnt that take the liability away from me for the remaining months on the lease?  <response>: I wouldnt even bother dealing with the creditor. I would go directly to the credit bureau and dispute it. Its been over 7 years since the first date of said delinquency. It should be removed anyway. 