CA KNOWINGLY called a family member and not me

I have been trying to negotiate a PFD with ER Solutions who is collecting a debt for Dell. Dell shows up on my CR as a CO about a year old and ER Solutions does not show up anywhere. The original amount when I first stopped paying was a little under $1500, the amount shown as charged of was $2,119.

They have all my contact information. They offered a 2/3 settlement, I wanted a PFD which they wouldn't agree to, so we stopped speaking. They found out from my wife that we are buying a house in a few months and think I need to pay this in full anyway in order to secure a mortgage. I have confirmed with my mortgage broker that he has me approved for a 100% financed mortgage with my scores 30-60 points (depending on the CRB) then they currently are today with no need to repay Dell.

I informed ER Solutions of this and they still wouldn't agree to a PFD.

So they called me again about a week and a half ago and left a message to call them back. I have not had the time nor the inclination to call them back.

I just heard from my brother today and they called him looking for me (spoke to my sister in law). She informed them that I have never lived at that address and never could be reached at that number. They gave her my current number and she confirmed that it was my correct number. I live in TX, incurred the debt in VA and my brother and his wife live in NY (I haven't lived in NY since April 2002).

So obviously ER Solutions knowingly called a family member when they had no reason to believe I could be reached at that number and already had my current contact info. From my recollection, isn't this a direct violation of the FDCPA? Is it time to take them to court? I imagine that will get them motivated to get me a PFD, but am I correct in thinking that is a blatant violation?

 

Not sure what they disclosed to family member, sis-in-law called my mother, who called my wife, who called me.

I did not request validation, but that's because I didn't know what validation was until I joined here a few months ago, but they sent their initial notices back in January, so I was well outside of the 30 day validation period before I ever heard of it. Can I still request validation? At this point, what will that do?

The only thing I care about is getting a deletion. I'd pay 2X what they say I owe in order to get it, have offered 100% for it as opposed to the 66% they offered for a "Settled In Full" TL.

They have refused to even consider asking Dell for a deletion in exchange for 100% (and Dell won't even speak to me about the account). But I was hoping that if I have them by the short and curlies for a FDCPA violation, they'd suddenly be very motivated to try to arrange a deletion for me...

 

I'm sure they did. The usual "If we don't hear from you in 30 days we will assume this debt to be valid" etc.