This company is trying to collect on one of my husbands very old debts that they bought from the OC. The debt is almost 10 years old. I have asked them verbally to send validation and once I ask for it they are supposed to cease all collection attempts. One guy told me that that would be hard to get validation. I told him I also do not deal with CA's. Another thing they did was told me all about my husband account and I thought they could not do that. The man said they could since I was his wife. I asked him if he was sure he said yes. What I need is some good advice on how to go about getting these people to quit calling. I have yet gotten any letters from the company. I may have made a mistake but I gave them my most current address recently so I can send them proper validation. Or should I say my husband can. Is there anything I can say to get them to quit calling for a while. They are not mean or anything like that they just seem to think I am going to pay for a debt that is not validated not to mention 10 years old. Please any advice would help on how to deal with these annoying calls. BTW the OC is not even on his credit report anymore
Verbally requesting validation will not do you much good. Request in writing, CRRR. Request original creditor, original account number, date opened, date of last payment, balance when it went delinquent, and statements. Also indicate that it is inconvenient for them to contact you by phone, and that all future contact should be by mail. At this late date this should not show up on your husband's credit report, but you want to protect yourself from misidentification, or reaging or other misrepresentations by the CA.
Since you gave them your address, and they have contacted you by phone, they must follow up within 5 days with a letter including notice of your right to dispute.
ontrack.... Is there reference to a law or something that states that? If so can you give it to me so I can get their goat. I should not worry with it but I love talking to them and telling them what they do wrong. Also...........them telling me about my husbands account all about it is that illegal? They say it is not but I thought it was. I live in SC.
See the FTC site, FDCPA: http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm#809 This outlines both what they must do, and what they cannot do, while collecting a debt. The fact that they are attempting to collect on 10 year old debt, where they cannot legally use the courts if it is past SOL, and they cannot use the CRAs, since it is past the 7 year reporting period, makes it likely that they will attempt to use harassment that skirts or crosses over the line of the law. Basically if it is past SOL, and can't be reported, they can politely ask you to pay, and must cease all contact other than notifying you of any final action if you tell them to "Cease and Desist" contact. They may claim all sorts of nonsense, such as that they can put this on your reports forever, that if you do not pay them you will go to jail, that you have no right to dispute, that you have to send a fraud affidavit to dispute, that you made a recent payment that restarted the SOL, that the reporting date, or the SOL, was reset when they bought the debt, that they will contact your employer, that they can garnish your wages, etc. There is likely little benefit from talking to them on the phone, other than getting their address to dispute the debt, and they may even refuse to give it to you, or say they already sent you letters so you have no rights anymore, etc. All the above are illegal under the FDCPA. You may want to dispute the debt in writing, requesting the original creditor and account number (to establish it is even your account), date of original delinquency (to establish reporting period), date of last payment (to establish SOL), balance after last payment, copy of statement showing last payment, copy of original contract, etc. Basically you want to ensure they are not attempting to collect on someone else's debt, which may be within SOL, and preserve your rights in disputing it to prevent their continued collection until they validate. Alternatively, you want to establish that the debt is past the CRA reporting period and past SOL to make sure they do not re-age the debt and put it back on your reports, or that they knew or should have known that was the case so if they blatantly re-age you can nail them. If they continue to harass you without providing validation, you can then go after them for the FDCPA violations. Or you can send them a full "Cease and Desist" (see FDCPA), and if they ignore it and continue to contact you, you can also go after them under FDCPA.
