I came across this web-site while trying to locate the Zip+4 for CA that I needed to send a validation letter to: http://www.collectionsworld.com/ccrbuy/list18.htm It seems to have a few technical errors on the page but it has a lot of addresses. I found out just how hard it is to find the correct address for CA's when they don't want to be found. I was looking for "Premier Recovery, Inc" and had the street address, but found out that I also needed a suite number. I did find it on this page but nowhere else is it listed. Not only that, when I used that information on the USPS web-site to get the Zip+4, it gave me a listing for "Southern Ohio College". When I looked that up at yellowpages.com, it didn't exist! I think that the USPS meant "Southern Ohio Collections" which is the name that TU gave me. Very sneaky people........ Hope it helps some of you.
How did you come up with the screen name Parallax? It just so happens that is the name of a nightclub that is down the street from me. Just wondering....Good info by the way....
From the movie "The Parallax View". Big corporation turns people into hitmen through a brain-washing process right out of "A Clockwork Orange". It reminded me of the company I work for.....
Good Movie Choices!!! You will find that collection agencies use these alternate P.O. Box addresses to confuse us even more. Most of these debts are handled by the big dogs hiding under corporate-shields or psuedo-names....I don't think that they would like us consumers marching down there face to face with the FCRA/FDCPA hanging from our sides, ready to aim and fire... I actually did it once to a small collection agency here locally. They told me that they were not legally allowed to remove the negative data from my credit reports in exchange for payment. I asked the secretary where they were located and I walked right in and asked for the collections manager. He was stumbling, mumbling, studdering and stammering all over the place. Couldn't get the laws out of him that we would be breaking. I guess they dont exist. The only thing that does is the contract between them and the CRA that they are a member of...
Amen! I'm just thankful that I found the right address and that they actually accepted the certified letter as now I hear some CA's are refusing them. Better get your letters in now.....
Since collection agencies refusing to accept certified letters may become a huge problem in the future, I've been doing a bit of thinking about what to do about that. Seems to me that the answer should be quite simple. What would they do if you just ignored them or they sent you a certified and you refused to accept it? They would sue you is what they would most likely eventually end up doing. Looks like we might have to end up doing the same thing in time. Let's say you send them a demand for validation certified and they refuse to accept the letter. Seems to me the next answer would be to send it regular mail and give them exactly 30 days to answer and then sue them for violation of FDCPA with no further ado. What else can we do if and when that comes to pass?
Bill, It looks like it might just boil down to that. Is it possible to serve them with a letter by a third party other than through the U.S postal service? Are there any "processor services" that could possibly do the job? I'm not aware of anyone who does that type of thing, but it sure would be funny. They would think that they were being served with court papers and low and behold it was just a simple letter asking for validation...On the flipside you would have proof of receipt by a living person....I wonder if it could be admissable in court???
NO, NO! What I am saying is that if they refuse to accept certified you then send them a validation by regular mail and then give them 30 days and actually go to small claims and sue the pants off them. Have a real summons delivered by a real process server and make them pay up. I bet they start accepting certified letters like crazy after getting sued a few times because they didn't.
Bill, I understand where you are coming from. I just think that suing them is a whole lot of trouble on the consumers part (even though gurus like yourself have somewhat simplified the process). Anyone can file against them and it is as easy as filling out some simple small claims forms. I just think that it may be easier to find a way around there non-compliance in excepting validation letters that are sent certified. After all, we just need to give proof that will stand in a court of law. I am not afraid of threatening them with litigation, but I have learned that it isn't always the easiest way to go....
I most definitely hear you and agree with your thinking. I don't want to have to go that route either if it can be helped. If anybody has any ideas that would go around the necessity to sue them, I'd sure love to hear it and try it. But whatever it is, it has to build a proveable paper trail.
