I'm here to ask for advice for a friend, and would greatly appreciate any ideas that anyone may be able to offer. A friend of mine has received a letter with a threat of going to arbitration. The CA/lawyer is Scott Lowery in Colorado. I'm unsure of the OC, but either Bank of America, or Capital One. I advised her long ago to send a validation letter to a previous CA, but she put it off until now. The biggest issue I can find is that she says the last activity on the acct was around 1998 or 99, and is quite certain that she hasn't paid on it since then. The credit report is showing last activity as of 2005. I've read through many posts regarding arbitration, and it seems like she has painted herself into a corner there, but is there any chance of her still trying to dispute this entire mess based on legitimate reaging claims? And if so, would I be correct, or close, in thinking that she would want to dispute the debt with the CRA (which I believe she already did, but didn't fight when they confirmed all info as correct), send a notice of intent to sue to the OC, and copy that letter to the CA and NAF? Or would there perhaps be a better way to go about this? Any help is sincerely appreciated. Jeff
Based partly on what I have read here on creditnet I would first of all send a validation letter certified mail return receipt requested to the debt collector. I would then go to USPS - The United States Postal Service (U.S. Postal Service) and enter the tracking number in their data base, click on the option to receive updates by email and when the notification came that they received the letter I would send a dispute letter to the credit bureaus. If that listing actually came from Scott Lowery and the credit bureaus confirmed the listing then I would advise your friend to sue both Lowery and the credit bureaus in federal court. In any event I would sue Lowery if he continues to arbitration without providing a proper validation of the debt. Lowery knows full well that the debt is well outside the statute of limitations and that is why he is taking it to arbitration where he will get an award from NAF even if the debt is beyond SOL and he will get the award then get a local lawyer who will file a suit locally to reduce the debt to a judgment. The local judge will have little choice but to grant the judgment because the local lawyer will present a RES JUDICATA argument to the court. RES JUDICATA means that the matter has already been settled in another forum and the judge has no other option but to grant the judgment. Then they will proceed to the garnishment stage and start enforcing the judgment. The federal lawsuit is about the only effective way to stop the process. If your friend fails to do that she will end up with that judgment hung around her neck. She will have to pay.
