1990's Credit Card Charge-off

If you haven't already, send him a letter demanding validation of the debt certified, return receipt requested (CRRR). Also state in the letter that they are only to contact you by phone - they must honor that request. Then pull your credit file and see when the DOLA is. Then check the statute of limitations in your state, and then check it again. Be careful telling him to pound sand until you know he can't touch you.

Poochie

 

"Also state in the letter that they are only to contact you by phone "

You probably mean that they should be notified that your employer does not allow you to receive his calls at work, and that they should only contact you by mail.

 

See if it is showing on your credit reports. If the date of first delinquency was in 1998, then it should not be on your current credit reports. If it is not on your current reports, do you have reports from a couple of years ago, that might show a date of last activity?

In your request for validation, include a request for statements on the account, and a full accounting showing all amounts paid and the dates of payment.

"He claims I made a payment in 2002, but I don't think I did. Hasn't the Statute of Limitations expired on this?"

What is SOL for CC accounts in your state?

Were you contacted by anyone on this account after the payments made by the debt consolidation firm? If not, how could you have made a payment to anyone? He may be trying to panic you into making an additional payment now to restart SOL. Since his claim that you made a payment in 2002 is at this point only verbal, request an accounting for all payments made in your validation request. Make them put their allegation of payment in writing, in their response to your validation request.

If they fabricate something, they run the risk that you may have records showing no such payment was made, or that you might request the records of payment in discovery, in which case they will have been caught fabricating their validation reply, and using deception in the collection of a debt. It is easy to lie on the phone, but riskier to put it in writing, where a judge might later not allow it to be explained away as a "misunderstanding".

If they send you an accounting of payments made that does not show their claimed payment from you, you will probably establish from their records that it is past SOL.

If they send you incomplete validation, failing to account for any payments from when it originally went delinquent, their numbers shouldn't match the amount they claim is due, including not accounting for their alleged payment.

 

"When I make my request for the payment accounting, should I bring up his mentioning that I had made a payment in 2002?"

I wouldn't. I would just include in your letter that the debt is disputed, and ask for validation as I described above, including details of all payments made to date. He is the one that claimed a payment was made in 2002. Make him claim it in writing, including how much, and on what date, and paid to who. And make sure your validation request is sent timely, within 30 days of their initial contact, or initial contact letter, and sent CRRR.

If it was still within SOL, why would he have to pressure you? He could just sue, and probably collect his attorney fees as well, and although $1600 is not a huge amount, it is probably enough to make suing worth it. The more he pressures you, the more likely that indicates he thinks pressuring you is his strongest hand, or there is something wrong with his ability to collect; perhaps the records are not available.

Is CA the state whose SOL applies? Was the account opened while you resided there, and are you still a resident there? In other words, is there no issue of any other state's SOL?

 

If it makes a difference, they might be able to claim either the CA or SC SOL applies.

 

I think you should shorten your letter, for clarity.

Your audience is not just this debt collector, since if they ignore your request for validation, including legal explanations will probably not change that, but ultimately your letter may end up in court before a judge deciding: 1) Did the consumer dispute and request validation? 2) Was it in 30 days? 3) Did the debt collector provide validation, or continue collection without doing so? 4) Was FDCPA violated? 5) Was it deliberate? 6) Are they liable for damages?

Keep in mind your goal:
This is a debt that is probably both past SOL and past reporting, and you either want to force them to stop all collection, provide validation that supports a later C&D based on SOL, or allows you to sue if they violate FDCPA by continueing collection. You want this to cover your bases, should you have to drag them into court. Send all letters CRRR, save copies, green cards, and postal service web site delivery confirmations.

I do not believe California requires licensing of debt collectors, but check.

You should including in your letter that, in addtion to your work not allowing their phone calls, "all telephone contact is inconvenient". See FDCPA for the wording.

Look up Giove Law Office to see what their usual tactics are. There are lots of reports on the net.

Where you refer to validation of the debt, include that such validation must be obtained directly from the original creditor and forwarded by them to you. Since they probably know their legal position to collect is weak, due to SOL, they may instead use threats, claims of recent payments, claims that you are lying or broke the law, irrelevant affidavits by their own employees with no first hand knowledge of the OC's records, etc, to avoid actual validation that might support your SOL defense, or they might file suit anyway, without providing actual validation, hoping to scare you into a payment agreement.

The most eggregious abuse will probably be attempted by phone, even if you request no phone contact, since it can be easily denied, so use caller id, log date, time, and what they say, notify them that they have not sent validation, and that you requested communications only by mail, and hang up. The quantity of calls, carefully logged, can support the intent to harass and abuse.

Be prepared to seek an attorney to remedy any illegal activity.

 

This is the first I've heard from you on this matter, therefore, I dispute this debt, and request a validation of this debt, as provided under FDCPA.

...

· (1) Name and address of the original creditor
. (2) original account number
. (3) validation of the debt obtained from the original creditor
. (4) date and amount of debt when charged off by original creditor
. (5) date and amount of last payment made
· (6) verification or copy of judgment, if any
· (7) an accounting of all payments, including amounts and dates, made by myself on this debt, including all interest charges or fees, and their dates, up to the present amount you claim due.

I request that you cease calling me at my place of business, as I have already requested*, as it interferes with my job responsibilities and is against company policy. As telephone calls are inconvenient, all further contact between us shall be via U.S. Mail.


(* if you did already request this in his phone call, and want to memorialize that earlier request)

(or something to the above effect)

Have they sent you anything in writing yet? They should send you the FDCPA required letter notifying you of your right to dispute, request validation, etc, within 5 days of their first contact.

 

"They've sent NOTHING to me in writing."
They had 5 days from their phone call to mail it.

 

I would both FAX and mail, CRRR. You might also mail one, not CRRR, so they can't refuse to sign for it.

I would not wait for their letter, nor would I leave anything out of my request even if their letter comes and already includes it. You want their response to your request for FDCPA validation to be in response to your request, requiring it to be "obtained and forwarded from the original creditor", as opposed to made up or just from their own electronic records.

Don't cite their violations. Just collect them. You are not trying to teach them legal compliance. That is already their responsibility.

If you have to file suit for re-aging, erroneous reporting, harassment, etc, their failure to also comply with the routine requirements may be useful in showing that their other violations were not accidental, and probably intentional, and that they are not maintaining the normal systems of training and record keeping required to ensure compliance.

Document, and if appropriate, memorialize any violations as they occur, in your next letter. For example, if they call after receiving your letter that said not to call, tell them that you have already notified them that it is inconvenient to call, and send them a followup letter memorializing their failure to honor that request, referring to your earlier letter doing so, CRRR. Build up a paper trail of their violations, and their awareness they are violating.

Do you know when you stopped paying any creditors thru the debt negotiating company? Are you absolutely certain no payment was made recent enough that this is still within SOL?

 

It is their choice whether they "play nice" or not, not yours. I think you can see from what you have read what game they are likely to play. The fact that their opening move is to claim you paid in 2002, when you know you didn't, should tell you what else they might pull.

Keep in mind that your response to their response may need to be to sue. If it looks like they are not dropping collection, are re-aging and reporting on your CR, are failing to validate, are falsely claiming a recent payment to reset SOL, or are otherwise harassing or suing without providing validation, see an attorney quickly. In that case, the more complete your documentation of their violations, the better, so that your attorney can collect his fees from them. It doesn't take many violations to raise the possibility of losing more than they expected to gain.

As far as paying them, that would require that you either roll over, or they sue and win on an out of statute debt that they can't even legally report.

Note: I am not an attorney.

 

I assume you are familiar with this:

http://www.fairdebt.com/pr03.htm