Hello guys read a lot complaits online about this company. Have sent 2 DV letters both certified and faxed them copies also with no response yet they keep gettting verfied with CRA'S but won't verfie with myself? Not even my account. Should I seek an attorney?
Yes, if it's not your account and you have some damages. Even without damages it is a certain FDCPA violation. An aside, were your requests timely?
As Apex points out, as long as your DV demand was timely, you have a COA against them. In my experience with Arrow it takes them being served to wake them up.
yes Hello thanks for your response. I would say was very timely never even got a letter from them I contacted them before was even on my account as I check credit everyday with truecredit.com. I noticed an inquiry by them so i called to find out what they were trying to collect from that day on I began letters and calls trying find out what is going on. All they say is I owe for a Friedman's account $871 never even dealt with Friedman's
Should I file in local court or do you have file in federal court? As they based on Ohio I'm in VA Also I just got settlement offer from Capital Management they said they been assigned to collect on behalf of Arrow now do I need send Capital Management a DV Letter now?? FDCPA Section 809 (b), Collection agencies if they have not validated your debt and they still continue to report to the credit bureaus this is what I was going try file for in small claims court correct?
I don't think an inquiry counts as "collection activity" (although it might). A collection trade line, of course, DOES count as collection activity. If they have entered the collection trade line and not responded to your validation OR sent you the letter that describes your rights under the FDCPA, then you could have a couple of violations. RE: what court? Wherever you think you'll get the most sympathy. I filed in Small Claims and settled out of court, I had a strong case evidence-wise but figured my chances at arguing pro se in court at 50/50 so I took the money and ran. In Small claims, it's still a court that can produce a judgement that's as enforceable as a district or federal court judgement but the judge may or may not understand the difference between not paying your bills and the CA violating the FDCPA so you have to decide that on a case-by-case i.e. judge-by-judge basis. Federal district court certainly will get someone's attention, but it is more expensive than small-claims or district court. One advantage is all the cases are available online so you can see how other cases fared (My CA always settled out of court which is one reason why I decided to go the small-claims route). It's also going to cost the CA more money to defend in Federal court if that's a consideration. Also, the federal judge is more likely to understand the difference between the debt contract and the collection activity, however, in more than one case, the defendant (CA) has tried to confuse the two in a countersuit. Again, there is lots of precedent you can research and follow in a federal case. I posted this thread (http://consumers.creditnet.com/Disc...e-success-stories-post464453/postcount25.html) a while back detailing my experience. It was a pain in the but, but I can be a bulldog, when necessary and I wasn't about to back down from the suit after I was, um, sufficiently motivated. But even then it was a rather exhausting and tiring exercise.
If you're in VA as you say, file it in Federal. The general district courts and circuit courts would not have very favorable posture to such an action. Conversely, the E.D.Va. is very progressive. Len Bennett and Consumer Litigation Associates are very good if you need an attorney.
Thanks guys I'll be doing a lot more research on this this week as It has now been 40 days since they got last letter. CCBOB it's not just inquiry now showing up as an collection account however the inquiry had made me contact them and try find out what is going on. I'll try talk to some lawyers but according the their violations would only be $1,000 each only 2,000 total that's why I was thinking small claims or going without a lawyer because know lawyer fees going be huge want try find out if I can also sue for lawyer fees. Thanks for all your comments has put in a better direction for more reading etc.
It is only a FDCPA violation now but, you can raise the stakes so to speak. Dispute the tradeline on your reports. Sustain some damage. If verified across all three CRA's, you will have up to 3k in violations. Also, throw in common law counts. No caps on those (at least none you'd reach in VA).
If you win, the FDCPA provides for reasonable lawyer's fees. In fact, if your goal is to get the agency to behave, the lawyer's fees might be their biggest money risk.
This is a good point. Fee shifting is nothing to joke about although in this case, I doubt either party would push the envelope too far absent damages. In my opinion (and looks like Bob's as well), it is worth retaining counsel.
