Trying to remove delinquent accounts from my credit report

I was recently trying to remove past 30 day 60 day 90 days late on my credit report and ran into one account that I could not pay. I could not figure out who had the account so I tried calling the initial company (AT & T) and could no teven get a human to talk to me in all of the united states. Finally I found out who had the account and called them and was told that the original company took the account back. After getting contact info for the original company I contacted them and was told that they did not have my account and that it was probably sent to another creditor. After contacting the 2nd creditor I was told that they had no account for me. After contacting the original company and the original creditor that they sent my account to neither one would claim they were currently in possession of the account and neither one would take my money. I was willing to pay the full amount right then and there over the phone but no one would take my money. I don't feel it is ethical to just brush me off and am tempted to report them both to the Better Business Bureau but I am worried it may complicate things further. Have you ever run across this situation? I would appreciate any advice you can give. I am sorry to email you directly but I am not "Blog" savey and could not figure out how to contact you through your blog. I thank you in advance for your time and consideration in this matter.
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you hit a gold mine and do not realize it
if you cant find it
neither can a bureau

so

dispute it