I've received my second letter from Debt Recovery Solutions concerning a 5 year old phone bill in the $300 range. I've pulled my reports and there is nothing on them regarding this account. Should I try to be proactive and DV DRS, or should I just hope that they don't report to the CRA's? I've heard some horror stories about DRS so I'm leaning toward 'flying under the radar' and doing nothing. Should I only take action when/if the CA shows up on my reports. Always been confused about this one. Thanks for any advice on this.
There are different schools of thought on this. My personal belief is to always choose the path that exercises your rights with the least amount of attention. In this case, send the DV CRMM. Then wait. I never send a "followup DV" or anything else. Given that most CAs are using automated back-end systems, there's a better-than-not chance that they'll report you to the CRA. At least by exercising your DV, you're opening the possibility of that not happening -- or being delayed.
Thanks for the advice. I know it's a gamble either way. I have had CA's send me things letters in the past and it has not made my CR. I'll most likely send the a DV. Is it the norm that if you do pay a CA before it hits the CRA that they do not report it? Should I try to get written confirmation of that should they validate it? I'm guessing that they will tell me that they won't report it if I pay up.
I doubt it's the norm, but it does happen. You can always ask -- the worst possible outcome is that they say "no" and report it, which might happen anyway. When I DV a debt, I always say something like "I am disputing the above-referenced alleged debt. Please validate said debt and provide proof of validation to my address above."
You mentioned that the phone bill was about 5 years ago... have you checked to see what the SOL is in your state?? What state are you in?
6 years here. Doesn't the SOL just mean that they cannot sue you and win? I see conflicting info on whether it needs to come off your CR should the negative mark be past your state's SOL.
Once the SOL expires, a lawsuit against you is legally barred. HOWEVER, you MUST STILL GO TO COURT to raise this defense. An expired SOL doesn't mean they can't sue you, nor does it mean they can't win. All an expired SOL does is give you an affirmative defense against the claim. With an expired SOL, you're basically telling the court that even if the debt did exist, it doesn't matter because the plaintiff's lawsuit is barred under (insert relevant state statute here). Again -- and this is critical -- even if the SOL is expired, you absolutely, positively, unconditionally MUST go to court if you are sued. If you don't show up and raise your SOL defense, the plaintiff has a 99.999% chance of winning. The SOL you're referring to has nothing to do with credit bureau reporting. Credit bureaus will keep most debt (credit cards, for example) on your report for 7 years, regardless of the SOL on litigation. So even if the debt is four years old and the SOL is two years, that debt will remain on your report for another three years.
Thanks for clarifying, Sparq. I wasn't 100% sure about the CR aspect, but knew that you must properly defend yourself in court should you be sued.
The same thing happened to me. I have a credit card from JCP but received a letter from a CA. I'm not sure if I should DV the CA or contact JCP and ask them to delete it if I pay.
