I HAVE A COLLECTION AGENCY THAT SAYS I OWE THEM 7K. I SUPPOSEDLY OWED THE ORIGINAL CREDITOR 4K BUT THEY CHARGED IT OFF. I'M THINKING ABOUT USING ONE OF THOSE "VALIDATION LETTERS" BUT I'M CONFUSED AS TO WHICH ONE I USE. SHOULD I USE THE CEASE AND DESIST OR THE VALIDATION. I WENT TO THE EGROUPS IN YAHOO AND THERE ARE SO MANY LETTERS THERE. WHICH ONE SHOULD BE THE FIRST ONE I SEND. PLEASE HELP ME.
Sure Read Michael kielsky's info first. That will explain a lot. It's all free. On this board, I posted "validation1" letter here too. Sent that one first. Wait 30 days. you prob. won't hear a thing. Sent validation2 letter. wait 15-20 days. Sent letter 3 demanding immediate removal of all credit bureau info. Some mailing instruction are here; http://mix6.com/credit/#mailing_instruction if you scroll up there's a treasure chest of info, letters, and instructions. If you never hear from the agency at all, send all 3 copies (plus copies of the proof of service) to the CRAs and to the FTC. You'll see some action then. Make sure to send all correspondence certified, return receipt requested. You have to have proof they received your letters or they'll lie and say they never heard from you. I spent several weeks extra time reading all this stuff before I used it, so I understand there is a lot of info and a lot of posts. But while you're sending the first letter, go read a lot. It's worth the time to understand it all. This became my hobby for several months... Regarding the cease and desist. Do NOT send a C&D while sending the validation letters: Why? Because: 1. While you're asking for validation the Collection agency MUST cease all collection efforts anyway unless they prove (validate) the debt with you. I'd bet my first born they can't validate. (your rights are in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, section 809 entitled "validation". 2. If you sent a C&D and then asked for validation... the collection agency would be violating the C&D in trying to contact you to validate the debt. See! I'm going to be completely unavailable to post after today. (sorry, gone for several weeks). Read the info and if you have more questions the experts are on the yahoo board. Good luck. Hope this helps.
First letter He has revised his letters to sound less formal. The first letter would be: Sample Letter 5 - Dispute Letter to Credit Collector If you read the letters, they make sense as to who you'd send them to and why. When you read the info above the letters he really explains the whole process.
TO MARIE THANK YOU SO MUCH MARIE, YOU ARE REALLY HELPFUL. ANOTHE QUESTION THAT I HAVE IS WHAT IF THEY DO SEND SOMETHING BACK? WHAT THEN?
Also, where are you on SOL? I was lucky so honestly, my expertise stops here. I've heard that they normally send back bs... printouts of computer screens, no signed agreements etc. If they send junk I do know it's not legal validation (although they'll try to back you down and intimidate you, likely). At this point I'm going to send you to the other yahoo site and to their subject experts. If they do try to validate, you're just beyond my experience.. but the guys on the yahoo board so know how to deal with them if this happens... good luck. By the way, as an aside, if your debt has gone up that much... I'm guessing it's pretty old . Are you aware of your state's Statute of limitations? They're only allowed to even try and collect from you for a certain time period past original delinquency (unless there's a judgment on you). While you're asking for validation, we've posted info on SOLs. Look them up. Your debt may be so old that it legally can't be collected. Then you're easily in the clear! If they have a judgment on you... it gets a bit worse for you. You'd likely have to settle.. but I won't go down that road right now.
