In the state of Illinois I was charged with burglary(counterfeit check) in 2000. I was given 18 months conditional discharge(CD). My public defender told me that although I was given CD that I was still convicted. The order of the CD was that I pay off the $700 restitution. I was informed by a person from court services that I had to pay off the money and that I would soon be a convicted felon. However, he never told me I had to pay it off through the courts. I assumed that I had to pay off the debt directly to the bank. So I paid it off through a collection agency that the bank submitted my debt to. I never got a receipt for my payment because I thought it would show up as paid. Well now 7 years later I found out that the court still shows that I owe this restitution because I was suppose to pay it off through the courts! To make matters worse the bank is no longer the same bank, they have changed their name. So now they are saying they have no record of me paying off the debt. The collection agency I made payments to said they only keep records for five years and they also had no record of my payment. My question is does conditional discharge mean that I wasn't or was convicted? I've been doing some research and I have read that conditional discharge means that no conviction is entered if the conditions are met. My second question is what should I do about the bank situation could an attorney help me with this issue?
I am also going to get my rap sheet from the state police and I want to know how will I be able to tell if I was convicted or charged with the crime?

