Need Help With This Situation Regarding Random Collection On Credit Report

[Anonymous]

I have a few questions regarding something that popped up on my credit report.   My credit report has been 100% clean for several years now as the only thing I had pop up on it was back in 2015.    It was some random $230 from Charter Cable saying I owed this amount from a bill.  I had no clue about the amount because the last timne I had used them, I was pretty sure everything was paid when I moved.

Anyways I emailed the CEO of Charter and basically explained everything to him about some random amount popping up on my credit report saying I owed $230.  I told him I had no clue about it and he responded back saying he would get me help.   

One week later, the collection was removed from my Transunion report and gone.  I even emailed him back thanking him and everything cause I had no clue what it was about.  

Fast forward to now and I noticed that another collection agency has popped up on my Transunion saying I owe the $230 and it's obviously Charter Cable again.    How can this happen and what can I do to get this removed?

I have actually had Charter Cable aka Spectrum in my name at my current place for 2 years now and not once was that amount even brought up when I got service with them.  I have no clue about it and how I would even owe it.

So basically my questions are..

What do I do this time to get this collection removed from my credit report?

Do i have to contact the CEO again and tell him some other collection agency has put this on my credit again?

Do i contact Transunion and tell them this is not accurate and see if they will remove it?   I can tell them about the first time it happened

and how I contacted the CEO and it was removed 1 week later.

I'm just lost because my credit report was clean and seeing this pop up out of nowhere really annoys me.   I have been waiting on the last few inquiries to fall off too so by the middle of this year, I will have 0 inquiries across all 3 reports!

Any info is appreciated!

[RobertEG]

The first question before commenting on a course of action is, what is your current state of residence?

The importance is that debt validation can be used to dispute the accuracy of a debt reported by a debt collector, but the federal DV process is limited, and generally does not require the debt collector to respond in any set period, or to provide any supporting documentation/evidence to support their validation. However, a few states have enacted enhanced debt validation practices statutes or regs that do provide requirements for some documentation.  Thus, it is preferable, if you live in such a state, to file a debt validation request under your state statute/reg rather than the federal FDCPA.

[Anonymous]

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@RobertEG wrote:

The first question before commenting on a course of action is, what is your current state of residence?

The importance is that debt validation can be used to dispute the accuracy of a debt reported by a debt collector, but the federal DV process is limited, and generally does not require the debt collector to respond in any set period, or to provide any supporting documentation/evidence to support their validation. However, a few states have enacted enhanced debt validation practices statutes or regs that do provide requirements for some documentation.  Thus, it is preferable, if you live in such a state, to file a debt validation request under your state statute/reg rather than the federal FDCPA.

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I live in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Thanks for any info!

[RobertEG]

Unfortunately, Alabama does not have any enhanced debt validation requirements, so you are stuck with the federal FDCPA or the FCRA.

You can, and should, send a DV request to the debt collector, which will impose a cease collection bar on them until such time as they send validation, provided you send the DV either prior to receipt of their collection ("dunning") notice, or within 30 days after receipt of dunning notice.  Have you received dunning notice?

Does the creditor still own the debt, with the debt collector only having assigned collection authority, or has the original creditor sold the debt?

The relevance is that if the creditor still owns the debt, then if you can pursuade the creditor that you do not have a delinquent debt with them, they must then terminate their assignment of collection authority to the named debt collector..

Once their collection authority is terminated, they are then required under CRA policy to delete their reported collection.

I would begin by attempting to get concurrence from the original creditor that there is no delinquent debt.