I sent a Validation Letter to Frederick J. Hanna & Associates on 3/11/2008 via Certified Mail, RRR. My letter was received by them on 3/17/2008, I have not seen any validation of any sort on my account but received this correspondance dated 4/2/2008 from them: Dear..... I had previously written you regarding your debt obligation placed with my law firm for collection. I had hoped that you would have satisfied this matter to avoid any additional past due interest, attorney fees, and court cost that may be added to your account should this matter proceed to litigation. It is not my wish to refer your account to local counsel in your area in order to proceed with litigation, but you may leave me with no choice. In order to resolve and settle the account without litigation, our client is offering to settle this debt. The offer is for 70% of the above unpaid balance payable and received in our office within 15 days from the date of this letter. Upon receipt, my client will be notified of the funds received and they will mark the account settled. My cleint may be required by law to report this settlement to one or more taxing authorities. The client makes no representation about tax consequences this may have or any reporting requirements that may be imposed on them. You should consult independent tax counsel of your won choosing if you desire advice about any tax consequences which may result from this settlement. This is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose. They have not provided validation to date and are continuing their collects efforts. What should I do now?
Do you actually owe this debt? Did you EVER get anything from them prior to this letter, as they claim by starting out the letter with "I had previously written you...." ?
I do owe the debt. No question there. I received the 1st letter from them on 3/5/2008 and sent a validation request on 3/11/2008. I have not heard from them about the validation, only this second letter dated 4/2/2008 which was after they received my validation letter on 3/17/2008.
From what I've read online about this company they are the bottom of the barrel when it comes to collections. What should I do next to try and protect myself? Send the 2nd Validation request?
But we should ask what are the goals of the poster who is sending these validation letters. If they are to spend a lot of money to help the US Post Office continue to provide every American with six day a week home delivery, I for one applaud the effort. On the other hand, if they wish to sue the CA for violations of the FDCPA, I think an overall plan is in order. In court, is it better to have a green piece of paper with an illegable signature on it that you claim is from the company you sent a validation letter to, or maybe would it be better to have someone there, or his affidavit, stating under oath that he mailed the validation letter to the last known address of the CA? Or maybe he can testify that he called them on the phone and asked for their current address and used that, he'll include the Post Office receipt which includes the zip code he sent the letter to, This could be done by ten friends for the Post Office price of one certified letter.
Ok...here is what I'm going to do next. I will send the second request for validation. I always photocopy their most recent correspondance on the back of my request and I put the #'s from the Cert. Mail on both sides. I have a second company, NCB, who has also ignored my request and sent me another letter. If I don't hear from them and they then send me additional correspondance...what do I do next? File suit? Or get someone with more experience to help me with this? If so, who?
Should you get someone with more experience to help you? If you mean, should you get a lawyer, yes. 1. I still wonder what your goals are. 2. FDCPA lawsuits filed pro se don't have the risk for the CA that they otherwise would because you can't ask for lawyer's fees if you win. If you screw up, they will certainly ask for their lawyer's fees to be paid by you. How much will that be? 3. There's no way that people on the internet can be enough help to get you through what you seem intent on doing. You must be your own advocate, you must stand before the judge and argue. Are you ready for that? 4. If you are ready for that emotionally, you need to prepare. That means long hours in the law library. What you must have is not available on google. And it's also not available here. Sure there are many things that you can get here, and from other forums, but it's not going to teach you to be a lawyer. You need to become a lawyer, if only for this one case.
Anyone doing this for the first time should read this and then read it again. When I filed my suit in small claims court, I don't know how many long nights I spent reading up on similar cases, civil procedure, etc. And that was just for small claims court. It's a long and potentially treacherous mine field when you file pro se. It not an impossible journey, but it's hardly "free money."
Ok..I'm convinced now more than ever that I need a professional to handle this for me from here on out. What type of an attorney do you look for? Someone that handles bankruptcy? I've read about Consumer Advocates but I assume they help people that can't afford to pay them...is that true? Any recommendations as to what to do from here? Should I still send the 2nd validation request myself?
