I sent a certified letter to a ca last week, demanding they remove an entry from my file that they reported without me getting any kind of notification whatsoever. I don't even know what this bill is. They received the letter on Jul 31, 2001. I also said in the letter that I was requesting validation of the debt since they never gave me the opportunity. Today, some lady from the ca has called my house twice and my office once. How should I follow up with this if at all? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
When they call get the name of the person calling, note the date and time, and inform them you have written requesting validation and that as they have not provided it, they should not be calling you. As it was just received on the 31st, it is likely still being sorted/processed, so there is a chance no one has noted in their system your letter was received.
Well, the witch called again and I was home this time. She was calling because she "received my letter". She then told me what the debt was for, a emergency room visit in 1996. She also tried to get me to admit to owing this. I told her she had better read my letter again as it was also requesting validation. She proceeded to tell me I needed to call the original creditor. I told her she was the one trying to collect, thus, she needs to validate this. I was then told she will not validate anything until the debt is paid in full. At that point I just hung up on her.
Well, that is exactly what you should have done right from the git-go. Once she told you what she wanted and you found out who she was and who she represented and noted all the info down, you should have just told her that if she had anything to say that she needed to do that by letter because you were not about to discuss such matters by phone. Make her put it in writing. Furthermore, this affiant sayeth not! (LOL)
Am I correct in my assumption that the collection agency is the one that needs to validate this since they are pursuing collection? And am I correct that I don't need to send a validation letter to the original creditor?
LKH I used to think that it was best to send it to the creditor and forget about the collection agency since I basically didn't want to deal with them in the first place. Then when I woke up and realized how valuable the concept of always going to the source of the problem actually was, I got to thinking about the collection agency because they are usually the ones who put the hickey on the credit bureau files in the first place. So then I finally figured out that I needed to deal with the collection agency first if one or more of them existed. Now I would rather deal with the collection agency if one exists than the original creditor if one does not exist.Turns out the collection agencies seem to be more fun to deal with than the creditor anyway. But whatever.
Dealing with the creditor is the last resort. After all, do you actually owe the debt? Do you really want to pay it off? If this debt is from 96' it will re-age itself on your files for another 7 years from the date it is paid. At this point it would hardly benifit you at all from dealing with the creditor or collector for that matter. Depending on the urgency of your situation, that is how I would plan my attack. A lot of folks fire off these validation letters right away. Personally, I like to send out at least one round of disputes with to the bureaus, before sending out my validation letters. There are several reasons for doing this. First of all, you are building a nice paper trail that can help you later on in your dilemna. Secondly, sometimes the damn things fall off your report because the silly folks at the collection agency dont verify (or the CRA is too lazy) and it is deleted. THis can allow you to go out and get any credit you may need if there are no other derogs. Dealing with a collection agency is also a big mess in itself. You can trap them into doing really stupid things if you do it right the first time. But remember that the object of this game is to get them removed. Sending a validation letter is not always going to give the desired results. Some folks dispute over and over again. I have found this to be a waste of time. If it doesnt fall off the first time, I would attack the collector (or the source of the problem). The collector would be reporting it and this is the time to send out a validation lettter. Playing the game this way is much safer. Sometimes they actually can validate (although rarely)and this is where it can get tricky. So remember to verify first and validate after the first round of disputes.
Lizard King: What was that BS line about you having to pay before they will validate. That doesn't make any sense for them to demand that. It is as if they dont understand the law. Yeah! That would have me ROFLMAO for sure if some dumbo told me that. *************************** Be sure you are ready to explain it to her if she calls again. Personally, I'd rather make the same demand all over again, that she validate it. I'd do that with my trusty tape recorder going full blast. And then I'd ask her if she would send me a letter to that effect. She might actually get dumb enough to do that so I could really prove it on her if I had to. Request that a check for $1,000 be sent to you for the FDCPA violation. Yeah!! That would be a hoot too. Send her a bill for it with the mini-miranda at the bottom. (LOL) How would I actually handle such a phone call? Well, everybody has different ways of doing it and it always depends upon how they come at one what the responses will be and what one should do. So there aren't any real "set in stone" rules. Personally, I never let them get that far before I've told them that I'm not going to discuss such matters over the phone and that they are going to have to send it to me by mail and then already have hung up on them. I don't get that many such calls anymore. EMCC.INC/NCO still calls every few weeks asking for the wife and I give them the same song and dance every time. "gotta do it by mail" and then "Why can't I speak to her on the phone" And then "because she isn't going to talk to you on the phone either" & "Why not?" & "Because you would not be able to understand her" & "are you trying to insult me?" & "NO" & "Why wouldn't I understand her then?" & "because she doesn't speak english so you are going to have to send it to her by mail" & "We can't do that?" & "Why not?" & "because we aren't allowed to do that!" & "Well then, you got one helluva problem then, ain't you?" & HANG UP. It usually goes something like that anyway. And yes, the wife speaks english, but they don't need to know that. She is so busy with her beauty shop that she isn't home during the day much and then she's in her little clap & shout on Sunday's till about 2 P.M., so they got one hard row to hoe trying to catch her at home anyway. Gets to be a real hoot. They don't want to send her a letter over the X.COM deal because they know that if they put it in writing, I got them where it hurts most and they have no recourse. I just hope they get stupid enough to sue or put it on one of her credit repors one of these days. They will be dead ducks for sure if they do either one. Either way, they eat the X.COM debt just like they have had to do at least half-a-dozen other times. I love to deal with those birds. They are too stupid to walk and chew gum at the same time.
LKH, I have three entries on my various reports that I have never received notification on. I have disputed it with the CRA's. Should I have sent a letter to the CA first? First time I've tried to deal with this so I'm kind of in the dark.
Lizard, The problem is they have never notified me by mail. I noticed an entry on my experian and sent them the letter. She was responding to my letter. They as of today, still haven't sent me anything. Since she called me, as I understand it, she must now notify me by mail within 5 days. I sent another validation to them today as well as a copy to the alleged creditor. Supposedly this happened in 96, but I have no idea what it is. I sent copies to both ca and creditor just so I would have a "paper trail" when they don't validate it and I can sue her ass.
kbelle72 - I would have disputed with the cra's first also. But since you have disputed several times and the accounts are still listed, I would go ahead and send the validation letter now. do a search here for validation letter and you'll see how to go about it. Good luck.
LKH, I've only disputed once and am still awaiting a response. Hopefully, they will go away on their own. But thanks for the advice on how to proceed from there.
I can sue her ass. Have you seen any pictures of her? I don't think I'd be very anxious to do that absent a recent photo. Running and Ducking while LMAO
