CCA Collection Company Of America They bought old, settled accounts and now demand proof or payment Denver, Colorado

I agree with Robert 100% and you should act on this sooner then later. That should put a stop to the harassment.

 However I have concern that they have put a mark on your credit report and marking it as recent.

You can dispute this with the credit bureaus as trying and time consuming that may be.

The important thing is that do not agree to anything or make/offer a token payment. Hopefully you have not done this. Since if you do this it will in effect reset the statute of limitations clock, which may be why or how they are marking this account as recent.

Of course if the account was settled long ago and you have no actual debt, you will need to contact the credit bureau regardless to get these bad marks off your report.

Send a letter via Certified Mail + Return Receipt to the debt collector stating:

Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, I am requesting written validation of this alleged debt, to include a copy of the original signed contract with my signature. A typed account statement showing an account number with amount due is not validation.

Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the burden to validate the debt falls on the debt collector. It is not my responsibility to validate this alleged debt. Sending a request for more identification or a typed account statement is not validation. If you have enough information to post negative info on my credit files then you clearly have my identification validated.

Either validate this alleged debt or remove it from my credit files. If this notation is not removed, I will file complaints with the Attorney General of your state. If this does not remedy the problem, then I will take legal action for Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act Violations.

Receipt of this letter is being officially time-stamped by the USPS. Refusal to to validate will be officially documented.
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If this process fails...file complaints with Attorney General of whatever state the collection agency is located in, as well as the BBB in their region. Send copies of these to the collection agency....If this also does not work, your only recourse is to pay their extortion or hire an attorney.

If they keep calling...next time they call, read the following statement:

Pursuant to state law, be advised that this phone call is being recorded. If you do not consent to being recorded, you need to terminate this call. Continuation of this phone call after officially being informed that it is being recorded implies consent to be recorded. This recording will be used to pursue Fair Debt Collection Law violations.

The burden is not on you, it is on them to show that this is a valid debt.

The best thing you can do is send them a Debt Validation Letter.  You can search the Internet for examples of a DV letter.  The key is that you must do this in writing, by certified mail with return receipt.  Also, DO NOT sign your name, only type it.

If they do not validate the debt, they not only must stop attempting to collect it from you they must remove their listing from your credit report.  If they refuse to do that you can actually file suit against them for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act(FDCPA), and the Fair Credit Reporting Act(FCRA).