Background. I am in the process of buying a house. Had an open collection account on credit reports. Mortgage underwriter said mortgage could not be completed till this was paid. I paid this off and got letter of settlement in return. We should be closing within the next 2 weeks. I just received a letter from another collection agency representing a Credit Card account has been CO'd and sent to collections. The funny thing is that this account is not reporting on my CR's. They are attemping to collect about twice the amount of the original CO. I sent a validation letter. They responded with a copy of an OC statement showing the CO amount and a bogus looking "Affidavit of Indebtedness" referencing State of OHIO County of Hamilton ss. ( what that is, beats me)with an illegible notary seal. This debt is mine, and I do intend on settling it, but I want to close on the house first. I do take issue with thier attempt to charge 24.99% interest from the bate of CO, since they just recently purchased this debt. The original CO debt was $14,000. I have about $5,000 to use for settlement. Should I request further validation or make a settlement offer contingent on continued non reporting to the CRA's? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
This is a recent 'trick' which JDBs have decided to try to use. You are demanding conclusive validation of the amount, character, and legal status of this debt, and that this alleged debt is in fact your debt. Their illegible documentation does not provide any validation of this alleged debt. You need to get the challenge of their validation out ASAP, because technically the second they put the aff. in the mail, they can claim that they believe that they satisfied their requirements to validate the alleged debt, and could resume collection activity. Is this account within the statutes of limitations for your state? The list on this site can help you decide. http://www.carreonandassociates.com/articles/statute.htm
