Can I still Validate

Sure, you can still request validation. However, it's much better to request validation within the first 30-days after you receive the first written communication from a CA or DB.

You also have good reason to now request. You have been making payments for quite a number of years and it is your right to see where the accounts now stand.

Send DV notices to each of the three who hold the debts, explain that you have become educated about your rights and that besides validating the accounts, you would like to see a full accounting of the debts with an eye for paying them off upon proper validation.

You could pull a one-two punch to give yourself some negotiating space as well. What that is in a nutshell is you send the DV requests, then once you get the green card back, you dispute one item of the credit reports on each of those accounts. If the company verifies or updates the listings, then you have them since the FTC has determined that any reporting to the agencies is considered continued collection activity.

CA's typically report all wrong to the credit reporting agencies, such as terms, type of account, past due, etc. When you dispute with the CRA you want to just dispute one wrong fact, such as the amount for example. That way, it leaves you room to dispute again at a later date on a different item and it not be deemed frivolous.

Once they get validated properly, you can then negotiate for pay for deletes to get them off your credit reports, or perhaps settle for less (but be VERY wary of this, since now CAs are required to issue 1099's for tax purposes...so that nice settlement may come back to bite you on the butt come tax time)

If they DON'T validate and instead come at you with threats of legal action and such (some of those you mentioned might..they don't have very good track records). Stand firm. Do not let them bully you. You can respond to any such threats with your right to validate. If they do try to take you to court, you can break out the letters as proof that you were trying to settle out these accounts and wanted an accounting...since they couldn't prove they owned the debt, or were entitled to any monies, you stopped paying them, after all...you shouldn't have to pay a debt that can't be proven.

goldenbast basically has it right--

it isnt only a good idea, but a necessity to validate now. this is because the debts get sold so often, and if youre paying a company that no longer owns the debt, a lot of them wont turn around and be honest with you--they will keep your money.

Validation requires the debt collector to prove three things:

1--that the debt is legitimately yours.
2--that they have the legal right to collect the debt, meaning that they either own it or it is assigned to them by the current owner of the debt.
3--that the amount they claim you owe is legitimately owed, that they havent charged you illegal fees or more interest than the law allows and that all your payments have been applied.