Ok, I sent Validation letters to a bunch of CA that was on my report about 2 weeks ago. Now I am getting letters back from the CA basically saying I owe them money. Most of the letters just have the last four numbers of my SS # and my address and what the debt is from and how much. Another letter is saying I need to dispute this inaccurate on my report to the credit reporting agency within 30 days. So I am lost. My question is this? What is considered to be proof that the debt is mine? Just this letter with all the account info on it? I think they just want me to slip up and claim its mine with those letters they sent me right? My understanding was if you ask the creditors to validate the debt, they must send you the documents in support of the proof that you owe the debt to them such as a copy of the original contract between you and the OC and the proof that the creditor has sold the debt to the CA in addition to the outstanding bills. This is not what I have recieved from them. So whats next?
Your understanding is incorrect. The minimum they need to send you is the name and address of the original creditor. The next "minimum" is to get information from the OC and send it to you. This is usually the last statement they sent you that wasn't paid. But that's being generous. There is no obligation that the CA send you "contracts, proof of responsibility, etc." in spite of what you might read elsewhere on the Internet. However, if you know the OC, you can sometimes call them and try to work something out; however, if the debt is more than a year old, the OC is most likely not in the picture any more.
Thanks, so thi sletter from Franklin collection is all the proof they need to send? It says the original creditor which was At &t and there address, and account info. So thats proof its mine? I guess I am screwed then. I thought they had to send me real proof. So what do I do next?
They should furnish you with a statement sent from the ORIGINAL CREDITOR which would have on it al the statements for at least a year since a charge off or sold... So if your last payment was say June 06, you should have statements for that year, as far as I am concerned. If they are just furnishing you with the name and amount of the original creditor to me this is not validation and in court thankfully to a judge it isn't as well IME. Woofer Woofer
Just wanted to add something.IME CITI keeps their debt and never sells.Discover the same way IME. They DO however send it off many many times to different CA's.. Woofer
question Would you think it is unfair, and/or illegal, for a CA to answer a DV letter the day or day after receiving it by simply resending the fax of account balance from OC? In he same cover letter to those faxes they indicated that they had filled out papers that were ready to go to court. It seems fast. CA assigned debt 1-15-09 and is filling out papers to sue on 2-24-09 after I sent a letter of dispute to accuracy of charges.
Just to be clear. The information they have to send for verification is NOT what they would need to prove anything in court. It's only what they need to send to avoid violating the FDCPA. This is a much different standard of proof/information that would be necessary. What the CA sent you does not prove that you owe anything. It is just the information they have that led them to you. Now if you admit that it's yours, then they don't to send need anymore proof because you just said it was yours. If what they sent you is not familiar (e.g. your name with someone else's address, etc. or a different spelling of your name or something else), then the fun begins trying to convince the CA that this isn't your bill. To them they have a name and a voice on the other end of the phone. That voice probably has some money and that's all they want. The rest is not important. Also, if it's a cell phone bill DO NOT ADMIT IT's YOURS (even if it is) if it's older than two years old. The statute of limitations is two years on cell phone bills so if they are threatening to sue you on an out-of-statute bill, that could turn into a pay-day for you (not them) because that's an FDCPA violation. OTOH, if you admit that it's yours, well then it's yours.
WOW you learn something new all the time, here : )THANKS!! I did NOT KNOW that a cell phone SOL is two years. Just researched and it is FEDERAL so it includes ALL STATES.This really is something that we all should know and just want to write that one time Palisades sued me for an old phone bill that was NOT MINE. AT the time the OC had ceased cell phone business so there were in fact nothing as far as any proof one way or the other. Does anyone remember what phone company it was? This would have been in the early 90's. Woofer
Well thanks to you as well : ) You know perhaps this should be made as sticky.I know a lot of times I am not around as have things going on so sometimes I miss a month of posts and can't read them all so delete them. Anyway thanks again for this tidbit of info. Woofer
So if I am not admitting the debt is mine, Then what? They only sent me this print out from there office not the OC. So do I send a letter? What type of letter?
If you have asked for validation and all they sent you was a print out from the CA AND they are continuing collection activities then you have grounds for an FDCPA suit. (that's the good news) The bad news is that you'll have to adopt an adversarial legal stance and file a civil law suit for that to have any teeth. This takes more than just sending a letter (however, sending a letter is involved). How you proceed depends on what you want to accomplish. The rewards and consequences depend on the path you choose. If it's an out-of-statute phone bill, you can tell them to blow it out their (wherever) and all they can do is keep a collection entry on your credit report for the remainder of the 7 years that's allowed. Eventually, they'll stop calling and go on to find an easier fish to fry. If you want to get it off your credit report, then you'll have some work to do.
"Ready" to go to court? Dumb Bob supposes that's not a threat to sue but rather a, rather a what? You sure seem to think it's a threat to sue. First one to the pig trough gets the slop. Let's say you've got $5,000 in the bank. If you owe six people $10,000, the first one to threaten to sue and scare you into paying gets paid at least some of what they think they are owed. Dumb Bob can think of no advantage to waiting.
That much is true, even if the debt isn't yours. But if the SOL is up, then it doesn't matter if it's yours In fact, for purposes of suing if you defend yourself correctly and if the judge listens, that's the point. Dumb Bob doesn't take a position on whether or not the SOL for these things is preempted by federal law to two years as he's still not been able to find case law.
Read Chaudhry v. Gallerizzo, 174 F.3d 394 (4th Cir. 1999): http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/981024.P.pdf :
Okay its what the* creditor* say you owe!what if the creditor says you owe 6500.00 dollars and the ca says you owe 12,000.oo dollars,legal or nut,i ask because i don't know.
I want it off my credit report. So what kind of work is involved in that? I dont want to sue yet, is there another way to go?
I need to do a dv for a friend and its been so long so wanted to share this with you and critique it for me please... Received your letter dated yada yada and received yada yada concerning account number XXXXXX I am requesting validation of this alleged debt and this is not a refusal to pay this alleged debt but my rights to have you validate under FDCPA.. Please notify me only by USPS as telephone calls are inconvenient. Good ,bad what did I miss or should not put in? Thanks guys. Woofer
