Items not validated on credit report

I thought that was a violation of the fdcpa, once validation has begun, all collection activity and reporting is suppose to cease. I'm not positive though, I'm sure someone can either confirm what I said, or correct it. Hang in there. :)

The collection agency is supposed to validate the debt, and until that time must cease collection attempts ONLY. The item can appear on the report whenever they report it, but if you ask for validation, they cannot continue to report OR attempt to collect the debt from you, i.e., call you, etc.

If the item was already on your report before July, then it would have stayed there through the validation process, they won't "remove" it while they are validating... they should just stop calling/sending letters to you trying to collect.

If the item was NOT on your CR before they sent the letter in July, etc... then they did violate by reporting to the CRA before notifying you of the validated debt.

If this is a valid debt (from what the letter in December said), I would not try to dispute this if I were you. Perhaps you can negotiate a settlement based on the fact that they were in violation of the FCRA. This may give you some leverage.