Is a returned check a consumer debt after payment?

If the check that was returned has been made good you should ask the collection agency that reported it to the credit reporting agency to send a letter to that effect the credit reporting agency along with a request that they delete that from your credit report. They might only be willing to say that the bad check has been paid but that should help.

You can remove false information from your credit report. However, if you wrote a check and it bounced, it is a bad check... even if you replaced it with a good check later.

Long story short, they're entitled to report what happened accurately. But if the report is false or misleading, they are not. If the report is false or misleading it, then 1) a dispute to the credit reporting agency is in order under FACTA, and 2) a dispute directly to the collection agency under the FDCPA.

The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you to dispute any item in your credit file at any credit bureau. If you file a dispute with the bureau they must, within 30 days, get verification of the debt. If the creditor has been paid, they are not likely to go to the trouble to verify and for most the 30 day requirement is problematic. If no response is filed verifying the debt, the 3 large credit reporting bureaus will delete the matter from your credit file after 30 days. If the debt is verified, you are allowed to place a 500 word statement in your credit file, explaining the negative credit reference.

You can dispute the validity of the debt directly with the credit reporting agency. You will have to do this in writing.