Received a collections letter from Federal Credit Corp. They are attempting to collect a debt. I gave them a call to ask some questions. They varified my identity by giving me the last four of my social security number. They informed me that the original debt is from Commercial Credit from the year of 1993 and that it was sold sometime later to bank one and then sold recently to federal credit corp. I saved all credit reports from the year of 2000 from the big three credit reporting agencies and pulled them out. I went though them all and there is no account on any report for Commercial Credit or Bank one. The name of Commercial Credit does sound familar, but I cant remember what the debt is for or even if I paid it off completly. The new collection agency is threating me to report to credit reporting agencies if I dont pay the debt off in 30 days. I am not sure what to do.
First, send off a debt validation letter to them. Next ,what state are you from? Statue of Limitations (SOL) may be past for this debt. Depends on when you stopped paying for it.
Yes, definitely send a validation letter. Keep it simple. Say you don't recall any debt from Commercial Credit and you'd like proof that it's your debt and you would also like an accounting of how they arrived at the balance. Commercial Credit used to be involved in a lot of in-store financing such as furniture. Anything ring a bell? And yes, the SOL may be past. But we need to know what kind of debt it was. If it was a revolving (charge) account, the SOL is probably different than if it was an installment loan for something like furniture.
I am in Arizona now, however I am not sure if I was in Florida at the time of the debt. So Arizona or Florida. Do you have a copy of the debt validation letter that I can send? Please send to BKSinAZ@yahoo.com if you got a draft
"They informed me that the original debt is from Commercial Credit from the year of 1993 " "The new collection agency is threating me to report to credit reporting agencies if I dont pay the debt off in 30 days." If the last payment was in 1993, or even more than about 7.5 years ago, they can't legally put it on your credit report, and they know it. If it was even your debt, that would be why you haven't seen it on your reports. Since they can't legally put it on your reports, they have already violated FDCPA by threatening to do something they can't legally do. This shows you what type of company you are dealing with, if the fact that they were collecting on a debt from 1993 were not enough. Did their collections letter say you had the right to dispute the debt and request validation, the right to request the name and address of the original creditor, and that if you did not dispute the debt within 30 days, they would assume it was valid?
Dont recall Dont recall. Funny though...if they had been attempting to collect a debt, why is it not on any credit reports going back to 2000? The 2000 reports would report bad debt from 1993.
Maybe not, depending on the month. You would be right at the seven-year reporting limit. Some CRAs even drop them a month or two early.
You don't want a copy to send. That's what I was trying to tell you. Just something short, in your own words, saying that you really don't recall what this debt was for. Ask them to tell you what the original debt was for and to send some proof that it is yours. Tell them that you would also like an accounting of what was the original debt and what has been added, and when.
Hey bksinAZ. I'm in AZ too..Hotter than ___ today too I might add. Anyhow, this is not First Federal Credit Control is it??? That is usually medical I think. For what its worth, as old as it is, Debt validation is going to be hard for them...period. Go to the beginning of this board...there are all kinds of DV letters there. Do it, send it CMRRR and I feel pretty sure you will get this resolved. I have had three debts removed by DV since finding this board and I know it wouldn't have happened any other way. Best wishes! Remember, you are NOT the bad guy here. If they are reporting inaccurate info...THEY should have to take it off.
Further, including the word "FEDERAL" in their name is very likely to confuse a "least soph. consumer". There are numerous cases where the word "bureau" was misleading. : )
How true, Butch. I just didn't want him offering to pay. Now we can start to play "count the violations." Isn't there something about not being able to use federal in the name, or am I misremembering?
Not exactly. The letter stated .. "Please be advised that your account has been assigned to Federal Credit Corp. You have thirty days to make arrangements for payment or further collection efforts will commence. This is an attempt to collect a debt, and any information abtained will be used for that purpose. Unless you notify this office within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of the debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid." How long will this debt(I dont remember) follow me?
Since they notified you that you had 30 days to dispute or they would assume it was valid, that letter was their initial FDCPA notification letter. It lacks some of the required language, and it may even be overshadowing your right to dispute with their statement that you have 30 days to arrange payment or they will commence further collection efforts, since if you do dispute within 30 days, they cannot commence anything until they send you validation, whether that takes 30 days or they never send it. Was there an earlier communication than this, either by phone or letter? Did they already provide you with the name and address of the original creditor in this or an earlier communication? When and in what manner did they threaten to put this on your credit reports?
There was no earlier communications. Therefore, no name and address of original creditor was given. The letter does not exactly say that they will put it on credit report, instead it states that further collections will commence.
Then make sure you send your validation request timely, within 30 days of their first letter, and send it Certified, Return Receipt Requested, so you can show it was sent timely, and that they got it. In your letter, dispute the debt, request validation, and request the name and address of the original creditor. Request the original creditor's account number, date of the last payment made, a copy of the last statement showing a payment made, and a full accounting of how they arrived at the amount they are collecting from that point.
If this debt is more than seven years old as it seems to be, they cannot legally put it on your CR. Threatening to take an action they cannot legally take is another FDCPA violation. Along with the use of "Federal" in their name I count two so far. In your dispute letter, ask them if they are a gov't agency because "your use of the word Federal in your name makes ir seems that way." Watch them scramble.
They haven't threatened to put it on the CR, it seems. They have threatened to take further legal action. Unless the state has a SOR (Statute of Repose) which basically says the debt is no longer valid after a certain time, they can still take further colletion action. Even if it's out of SOL. And if you pay and it's out of SOL, shame on you. If they sue, you have to go to court and assert the SOL. But the CAN take further action, so it seems that they haven't violated in that respect. There is a bunch of case law posted here, and if you go read through some of the cases, you'll find that the judges look at things like this. Read through a lot of the cases, there's very good information there. They haven't said they'll file suit, they haven't said they'll put it on your CR, they've just said they'll take further action. That could be phone calls, letters, or any number of things. In the DV letter, you should state that it is inconvenient to receive phone calls and they should contact you only by mail. If they do, in fact, put it on your CR, then you have a cause of action.
