I know that a CA must send you written notice of a debt telling the amount owed and the name of the creditor. However, I have yet to see any posts dealing with CAs calling but never putting anything in writing. How does that change dealing with them, if at all? Can they simply continue to call with no reference to the actual debt?
Within five days of initial contact they should send you a letter with all of the mini-miranda information and notice of your right to dispute.
Is this a legitimate debt? Are you sure it is yours? As in there is the possibility this is a scam...
I don't know what this particular debt is for but yes, it's probably mine as I have a couple of charge offs from a year or so ago.
If they haven't sent you a notice within 5-days of initial contact (e.g. by phone), that's a violation of the FDCPA. See if it's being reported on your credit report, if it is, dispute the trade line. Wait a couple of days and if it's still being reported, or if it was never reported, send them a "don't call me" letter along with a dispute and validation request. If they don't answer that and they continue to report the account on your credit report, there's another violation. If they call you after they have received your "don't call me" letter, each call after that is another violation. so it goes. This doesn't get you off the hook of paying a debt you owe, but it can give you grounds to sue for violations of the FDCPA and maybe get a little back from them. If this is your debt and they could conceivably come after you in a lawsuit for it, then while you're doing the above, you should plan how you want this to turn out: e.g. negotiate a settlement, go to court and defend yourself, run and hide in a cave, or whatever so you're ready for the next step.
Thanks for all the info. Just wanted to mention that this is United Recovery Service and from what I've read they are bad to deal with.
All the more reason to read up on the FDCPA to know what your rights are as well as what their responsibilities are. Good luck!
If they call you again, tell them that you will only respond to WRITTEN communications from them, and then say that you are/will be recording the phone call. Collectors get paranoid when you mention that the call is being recorded. But don't start out with the recording when you first pick up the phone, save it for the end - by the way I just recorded our conversation.
Make sure that you are in a one-party state before you do that. If you're in a two-party notification state, you are required to tell them before you start recording.
I suppose that how you tell them you are recording makes little difference but the way I think is best is to ask them at the earliest opportunity whether they are recording or not and if they say they are then simply say that you are sure they won't mind if you are recording as well. I'm sure some of them will try to tell you that they don't want you to record them or that they don't give you their permission to record them and that gives you the opportunity to tell them that if they don't want to be recorded then they should not call your number.
You'd have to look up the law for your state, but if they say that the phone call may be recorded and you both continue the call, then you both have implied consent to being recorded. Note that you have to record the consent/warning message.
