Is the collector updating each month that the debt is still outstanding or has it gone unupdated for awhile? What I would do is get a letter on company letterhead from your former employor stating in it that you do not owe them anything and that this item was placed for collection with out their knowledge or permission. I would have them even spell out the collection's agency's name and the account number in their letter and include the title, contact information, and fax of the person authorizing and signing the letter. Then send a copy and fax of that letter to Transunion as well as the collection agency. If they still do not comply then puruse legal recourse.
Starting Score: 07/2010 TU 541 EQ 593 Exp 529No, they aren't updating. They just put it on my credit last month after a two year hiatus from first contact, and backdated it to 2 years ago. So technically the collection is reporting as a 2 year old collection. My previous employer is huge, worldwide, and to be able to achieve a letter from HR stating all that information is impossible. Two years ago I had to jump through hoops to even get someone to look into this for me to see if I owed them anything and I was still current in their system. I've already been archived for two years. They have no obligation to help me nor take the time to write anything up. I think that's why I'm going to have to go the lawyer route. At least a lawyer can make things happen. If the lawyer can't fix this then I know I'm doomed with this collection for another 5.6years. I'll be back to my home office a week from tomorrow, so I can get all the paperwork together and call the lawyer the following week to see what miracles they can provide. Thanks for the feedback! 
@bbb925 wrote:No, they aren't updating. They just put it on my credit last month after a two year hiatus from first contact, and backdated it to 2 years ago. So technically the collection is reporting as a 2 year old collection. My previous employer is huge, worldwide, and to be able to achieve a letter from HR stating all that information is impossible. Two years ago I had to jump through hoops to even get someone to look into this for me to see if I owed them anything and I was still current in their system. I've already been archived for two years. They have no obligation to help me nor take the time to write anything up. I think that's why I'm going to have to go the lawyer route. At least a lawyer can make things happen. If the lawyer can't fix this then I know I'm doomed with this collection for another 5.6years. I'll be back to my home office a week from tomorrow, so I can get all the paperwork together and call the lawyer the following week to see what miracles they can provide. Thanks for the feedback!
The multiple moves make this difficult - if challenged regarding violating the cease collection bar, they will claim they sent validation to your last known address. Proving they didn't is difficult at best. Your best bet is getting your former employer to verify you never owed them anything.
First contact was September, 2014. They received my validation letter and signed for it within my 30 day window. I lived at that address almost 9 months after. In Texas they are given 30 days to reply and 5 days to remove any activity on the credit reports and also cease any further action and it can't be active again with them or any new collector they may sell it to if they don't validate it or do it in a timely manner. If they have a certified letter receipt with the date on it within the 30 days, like I do, then I would like to know why I never got it or was offered a chance to sign for it. I have all my documentation trying to get this rectified but no validation was ever done. I know in my heart they don't have anything to go off of but my name, number and previous employer. I gave them my address to send the information to me. If I was trying to avoid them I certainly could have ignored their calls and not cared. I can't imagine a judge would look at them and say they are in the right when they can't provide anything stipulating why or what this debt is owed by me for. The fact they wanted me to obtain the documentation from my previous employer and send it to them with my payment makes me believe they don't have it and can't obtain it just like I can't. They are grasping at straws and because I'm not versed in the legalities of bill collecting I can't get anywhere thus the reason for the lawyer. If this was mine I would have definitely paid it. My company had access and signed permission to deposit and withdrawal from my checking account if they ever needed to exercise their rights to get any money owed by me or overpaid to me. I left on great terms. It's not like I bailed out. I was with them almost 10 years. I gave a two week notice, had all my retirement, investments and stock transferred as well as benefits. My company had my new address so no reason they wouldn't have sent me a bill if I actually owed them. I think any judge would see my due diligence as I don't want bad credit especially with my job and I have done everything by the book to take care of this. This collector is not going to relent unless I can get someone with knowledge and can legally go after them. I see why so many people just give up and let it hurt their credit. It would be much easier to ride out the time left on my credit than to go through all this time consuming, money losing, stressful process to get it removed. But I'm a fighter and I don't give up, especially with it not being mine. I will take every action I legally can to get them out of my life. Maybe by me doing this it might help other people from being screwed in the future. We could only hope! Thanks for the feedback and your time, it's much appreciated.
@bbb925 wrote:First contact was September, 2014. They received my validation letter and signed for it within my 30 day window. I lived at that address almost 9 months after. In Texas they are given 30 days to reply and 5 days to remove any activity on the credit reports and also cease any further action and it can't be active again with them or any new collector they may sell it to if they don't validate it or do it in a timely manner. If they have a certified letter receipt with the date on it within the 30 days, like I do, then I would like to know why I never got it or was offered a chance to sign for it. I have all my documentation trying to get this rectified but no validation was ever done. I know in my heart they don't have anything to go off of but my name, number and previous employer. I gave them my address to send the information to me. If I was trying to avoid them I certainly could have ignored their calls and not cared. I can't imagine a judge would look at them and say they are in the right when they can't provide anything stipulating why or what this debt is owed by me for. The fact they wanted me to obtain the documentation from my previous employer and send it to them with my payment makes me believe they don't have it and can't obtain it just like I can't. They are grasping at straws and because I'm not versed in the legalities of bill collecting I can't get anywhere thus the reason for the lawyer. If this was mine I would have definitely paid it. My company had access and signed permission to deposit and withdrawal from my checking account if they ever needed to exercise their rights to get any money owed by me or overpaid to me. I left on great terms. It's not like I bailed out. I was with them almost 10 years. I gave a two week notice, had all my retirement, investments and stock transferred as well as benefits. My company had my new address so no reason they wouldn't have sent me a bill if I actually owed them. I think any judge would see my due diligence as I don't want bad credit especially with my job and I have done everything by the book to take care of this. This collector is not going to relent unless I can get someone with knowledge and can legally go after them. I see why so many people just give up and let it hurt their credit. It would be much easier to ride out the time left on my credit than to go through all this time consuming, money losing, stressful process to get it removed. But I'm a fighter and I don't give up, especially with it not being mine. I will take every action I legally can to get them out of my life. Maybe by me doing this it might help other people from being screwed in the future. We could only hope!
For a texas DV to have any standing you MUST specifically state you are invoking Texas law as a texas resident - otherwise it is treated as a normal DV under FDCPA. Despite any return address given, they have no way of determining what your state of residence is, they are simply not going to make the assumption. I don't doubt your sincerity one bit - I'm simply pointing out the realities of the situation. As you said this just recently showed up on your reports, so if challenged they will claim they sent validation to an old address to try to weasel out of the collection bar violation.
You need to read up as much as you can on this stuff - I would suggest googling phases like "sue your collector" and such. You may not even need to hire a lawyer. CA's do not like to be dragged into court, many will simply capitulate when sent a summons for their violations.