I need some help/advice with a collection agency.

[fliphusker]

I have been fighting with Direct TV since December of 2008 over non payment.  Long story short, when they installed my dish, they put in it in the city right of way.  between the sidewalk and the street, as no other place would work.  City forced me to remove it, so put it at a buddies of mine.  He paid the bill, after a few months he decided to get his own service.  They came out, and took my box and replaced it.  He did not tell me this all happened for several months.  I had 4 months remaining on my contract, after they would not/could not return my box, I closed my account.  So for the past 6+ years they have wanted me to pay 2 month of service, 4 months of breaking my contract and the money for the box.  To say the least I have been fighting them tooth and nail.  So for the past 2 years they have been sending one collection agency after another at me.  I send them the same letter disputing the claim, and never hear back from them, until the next one comes. 

I check my credit score weekly at credit karma, and bam, there is a collection for this debt on there from a collection agency I have never seen.  No letter from them, nothing.  I have worked very hard to repair my horrid credit over the past 6 years, and was finally getting my credit over 720.  I am pretty upset it has hit my Equifax report, and dropped my credit 60 points.

So what would be my next steps to get this off my report, as was never contacted by them to even dispute their claim? 

Thanks in advance.

[RobertEG]

A debt collector is not required to contact a consumer prior to reproting their collection to a CRA.

There are two types of disputes that can be made.

One is a simple dispute of the debt, in whole or in part, under the FDCPA, which requires no documentation of on the part of the consumer, and requests validation of the debt.

That is called a DV letter.

The other is a dispute of the accuracy of their credit reporting under the SGCPA, which requires identification of a specific inaccuracy, and adequate docmentation to investigate the asserted inaccuracy.  That is generally referred to as a dispute.

You can send the new debt collector a DV request, which if sent without any prior dunning notice, places a cease collection bar on them until they validate.

Lack of validation on their part does not require deletion of their credit reporting.

You can file a dispute, either directly with the debt collector or via the CRA, if you have a basis for asserting inaccuracy.

A dispute under the FCRA requires investigation and response within 39-ish days unless it is rfivolous or irrelevant.

A disute can be held frivolous or irrelevant if you have previously filed a dispute, and the new dispute is substantially the same as a prior dispute.

If you have not obtained desired results from either a DV or a dispute, then you can bring your own civil action and get a detrmination by the courts.

It appears that would be your next step.