<human>: Can you condense the text into three sentences or less?

So I was in financial straights in college. The typical credit cards used to supplement what financial aid didn't cover and things got out of hand. I was stupid and made mistakes.

It's six years later, and it's past the SOL in my state for those cc debts. However, it's not past the 7 years from the date of first delinquency for items to drop off my credit report. I only have 1 more year for that. Aside from those early credit card mistakes in my college days, I have managed to handle the rest of my finances swimmingly and haven't had any other late payments or issues. (aside from Verizon not telling me they charged me for 2 days of service when I changed my accounts and I didn't receive any bills grrrr different story)

My husband and I have the emergency fund taken care of, next step is debt. Unfortunately 2 accounts have illegally re-aged the DOFD when they were sold to another collection agency, setting back the clock a few years. Now, I know that I fe'd-up and it's my fault I have the debt, but I also know that since it only has a year to actually fall off from the actual DOFD, it's better that I let the debts fall off (not here for the moral shaming, but practice advice). We are doing things to simultaneously build up credit (cc's with low balances), but I also need to fix these bad debts that have re-aged illegally.

I have read that you need to maybe do a debt verification letter, but have seen little else on what happens after. I'm not sure where to begin on a verfication letter, and what to expect. I am afraid of writing a letter that implies I own the debt or want to make payments. Also, how likely are those debts to be verified? What if they DO verify I owe the debt, but don't make that date correction? What if they can't verify it, how do I make sure they remove it?

Has anyone (in CA if it matters) successfully removed re-aged debts from their credit reports and can walk me through the process or refer me to some helpful and specific articles? I can't find anything detailed that really walks it though besides "do a debt verification letter."

Thanks!
<bot>: Specifically how do I remove illegally re-aged debts from my credit report. Is it via a debt verification letter? How do I do that without screwing myself and what comes after? How do I ensure agencies follow through correcting errors?