It makes perfect sense to put in writing that you are disputing the debt, and demanding that they either remove, or provide proof, sending it CRRR. You may still want to proceed in preparation for what action you may need to to take, should they refuse to provide proof, and refuse to remove. Get a copy of your police report showing the reporting of the stolen cards. Use that, along with the court dismissal and their dunning letter, to file a current police report for credit card fraud/id theft. Use that police report, and a fraud affidavit, thru FACTA, to force the CRAs to remove the TL. They may, or may not, comply, but demanding removal as fraudulent, with accompanying police report, is your first step in taking action against a CRA for removal. Use that police report, and a fraud affidavit, thru FACTA, to demand that Citi/Associates provide copies of records. They may, or may not, comply, but you will start to re-establish a paper trail of the original fraud, which may be usable both in getting removal of erroneous CR TLs, or forcing MCM to put up or shut up. OCs commonly claim you have to go thru the JDB who bought the debt, or that they turned over all records to the JDB. OCs also commonly validate debts when a JDB must obtain it in response to a request for validation, and the OC would still have to have control of the records to do that, or to produce an affidavit supporting that those are their accurate business records. Hence, OCs must commonly be lying when they say they don't have the records anymore. Telling you something that is false, or outright lying itself, is not illegal, even if the CSR you talked to even knows it is false, unless they have some legal obligation, either due to fiduciary duty, compliance with law, or making a statement under oath. They have no liability for lying about this unless you have a legal basis for demanding those original records, such as provided in FACTA for fraudulent reported accounts, a court subpoena, a request from a regulatory authority such as FTC, state AG, etc.
HOLY CRAP IT WORKED!!!!! I just got off the phone with the Attorney who was representing MCM. MCM agreed to drop the collection and clear it from the credit bureau's. What a pleasant Friday surprise that was. The attorney said that they had just gotten notified that I had filed an online dispute with the credit bureaus. I'm also assuming that they just got my validation letter, as I just saw that they signed for it, though the attorney didn't mention it. Is there anything I need to do, request, or follow up with to make sure it is done properly and doesn't come back to bite me in another 4 years? Thanks to everyone here for your help!
Have their attorney FAX you a letter confirming that they will do what he claimed they would do, for your files. Since you disputed thru the CRA, you should get a reply from the CRA investigation, which should confirm that they removed.
SAVE EVERYTHING! Keep copies of everything you have so far and any additional correspondence you can obtain. Keep a copy of your credit report(s) and anything that shows the item was deleted due to your dispute. Write yourself a quick little outline of everything that has happened, to refresh your memory in a year or two in case this pops back up with a different CA. Put it all in a folder and put it in a safe place, somewhere you keep your tax records and such. You never know, Midland might try to sell this off to an unsuspecting CA in the future and you don't want to have to start over from scratch. Just my suggestion
You might also research your state laws to find out whether they require a collection agency/attorney to be licensed and bonded to do business in your state. That can prove a simple and effective added inhibitor to out of state collection efforts in some situations. State laws and SOL: http://whychat.5u.com/ Additionally, you can check your states SOL here, yet another possible inhibitor.
