<prompt> Human: TL;DR is at the bottom but basically what happened was about 2 years ago, around the week before christmas, I decided to rent a car to drive back to see my family in Virginia. I live in Philadelphia and did not have a car because it got stolen a couple months prior yay philly. I rented the car from a major car rental place and yes, made the mistake of not getting the optional insurancei know i know. I had never gotten into an accident in my life and have a perfect driving record so i decided to save the money since it was christmas and i was already mostly broke. I get the car, pack up all the presents i have wrapped to bring my family and start on the road. About 60 seconds into my drive i end up rear-ending a work van and disabling the rental.I called the rental agency and they gave me an address to have a tow truck tow the rental car to and they would get me another car so i could get home for christmas. I didnt realize it at the time since i was relatively new to philadelphia or any major city in general but i guess shady tow truck drivers just wait around on police scanners to hear about accidents then all rush in to get the business. By the time the officer arrived at the scene, there were 3 tow trucks all bartering to tow my car. I felt a little awkward and overwhelmed and just picked the friendliest one because i thought i legally HAD to get it towed ASAP. I fill out the report with the responding officer and also make the arrangements to the tow truck driver for where the rental needs to be towed. I sign his slip saying where he is towing the car and off he goes.I take a cab back to the rental agency and get a new car this time with optional insurance of course and drive home to virginia to try and salvage an enjoyable christmas even though i know i fucked myself by wrecking the rental without optional insurance. I spent christmas eve and christmas day with my family and then the day after christmas i feel like its odd that i havent heard anything from the rental company about the next steps. A few days later i come back to philly to drop off the rental and i am then notified that the rental car never got to their specified lot they told me to tow it to...WTFI give them the paper that i have verifying where it got towed and they said they would call the tow company to find out. A day later i find out that the tow company took it to THEIR lot, not the rental lot i had told them to tow too and kept it at their tow business for over a week. You know how i found this out? Because i randomly get an alert from my bank telling me i have overdrafted my checking account so i look at my recent activity and there is a charge for 2,300 from the rental car company..WTF? btw, yes i did rent the car on my debit card not a credit card since i dont own any, another stupid mistake i no longer do The rental company ended up getting charged by the towing company for storage fees which i have since found out is a VERY popular tow scam in philly and instead of the rental company arguing the fact that the tow company didnt tow it where they said they would. They didnt ask ANY questions, they just charged MY PERSONAL DEBIT CARD for the full amount WITHOUT MY PERMISSION..WTFFFI called them and told them they couldnt do that because i didnt authoraze that charge and that the towing company is DEFRAUDING THEM ANYWAYS..they didnt care and basically told me to eat a dick. I escalated it up the chain of command of the rental company and was finally told by a manager they didnt care and i have to eat the cost. I told the manager theyre commiting fraud and i am going to call my bank to have them investigate. The manager then told me if you do that we will just put out a collections on your identity in a snarky tone.I immediately called my bank bank of america and explained the situation. They launched an investigation that took 1 month and i have to send them my rental agreement, my towing receipt and everything, and in the end they found in my favor and issued me a full refund and took the money BACK from the rental company. I felt great. I had fought the good fight and i had one. Its also worth noting that i had an AMAZING insurance company whom i was in touch with and they assured me that even though i opted out of the rental insurance from the rental company, they would pay out all the damages to the rental and other vehicle..AMAZING. It was over..i was relievedFast forward 1 year and i decide to check my credit i have had poor but not terrible credit because of a credit card i had when i was 20 and have been working to correct it. Low and behold i have a collections out on my name for 2300 from the rental company. The manager wasnt bluffing. I have since thrown any documentation i have from the incident away since its been a year and i had one and the case was closed...I was crushedDo i fight this? Even if i want to would it really even be cost effective to fight it or should i just figure out how to pay the debt and move on? Its probably worth noting i only make 50,000 a year and live in the city so i typically dont have 2300 just laying around..that will take quite a while to save for me unfortunately. I am also very stubborn when it comes to my scruples and i HATE letting the bad guys win... I am hoping for some friendly advice on what i could potentially do to correct the matter, or should i just eat the debt and pay up and be out from under this shitty incident?TL;DR- wrecked a rental car, tow company scammed rental company out of 2300, rental company then charged my checking account without authorization for said 2300. I filed a fraudulent charge against the rental company with my bank, the bank found in favor of me and returned my money. The rental company then filed a debt collections in my name without my knowledge for over a year and now my credit is suffering. I dont know what to do Assistant: Contact all three credit bureaus and provide documentation and explain your case. You must contact each bureaus. Mail everything certified mail. Keep a log of events.Also, lawyer up.IANAL.Human: thanks for the response. the problem is its been over a year now so i dont have my documentation anymore  <response>: Hopefully youve already discovered this, but in the future save all of your important life paperwork. At the least, buy a filing cabinet container and just throw everything of interest in. Sorting would obviously be better, but just having things saved in a central location will save you a lot of trouble over the years. 