Collection agencies as agents working on behalf of the bank?

[matzerath]

I was wondering if anyone had a good general source for looking up laws on how collection agencies' behavior affects Chex records. Specifically, I was ignored by an agency, which is making it rather difficult to close this matter. Googling is throwing up a lot of contradictory information, some of it from companies that just seem to be preying on Chex's victims.

 

My situation: a week or two ago I posted here that I had a validation request ignored by a collection agency, which I'm pretty sure is against the law. After six weeks, I disputed with Chex the other day, requesting the record be removed because the validation was ignored. I sent the Chex a copy of collection agency's initial letter claiming a right to collect the debt, a copy of the relevant page of my Chex report, a copy of the letter I sent the collection agency with relevant portions highlighted, and a copy of the certified mail receipt and return receipt. I'm not very optimistic that what I'm doing is going to work, but it does seem like I caught them in a flagrant violation of the law. The only question is, who can be held accountable and how? In my dispute letter to Chex, I somewhat argued that the agency is an agent for the bank.

 

I'm trying to look ahead now to the worst-case outcome, where Chex denies my request. What do I do next? Now, I'm guessing Chex has either 30 or 45 days to respond to me from the day I sent the letter. I don't know if this tactic will be effective, but it seems like it's worth a shot. Googling around, I haven't found anyone else trying it successfully or unsuccessfully. Collection agencies, for all their harassment, are actually really terrible about responding to offers and validation requests.

 

So, what is the law? Is the reporting bank at all on the hook for this type of behavior? Of course, they hire the collections agencies, so I don't see how their hands can be wiped clean of the matter, but collection agencies don't seem to have direct control over the record itself.

 

(As I said in my original post, I offered to pay the full amount in exchange for deletion. I at least expected a counteroffer or something.)

[Sandscrit]

Under the FDCPA, a CA is not required to send validation.

[matzerath]

Really? I do need to know who has a right to collect the debt - as I quite seriously am not sure at this point. Hopefully Chex will tell me.

 

(For what it's worth, they offered the validation anyway. Therefore, I accepted the offer.)

[ICANHASMUNY?]

the CA doesn't "have" to send validation, but they also have to stop collecting until they do.