I had a capital one account. Stopped paying in June 2001. Got a letter today (non certified mail) from a local legal firm threatening to take me to court. They sent a legal looking letter with a copy of my last Capital One Statement. They are saying they will take me to court unless I respond back in 30 days. It has an address I have not lived at in 3 years. Should I respond? Should I ask them to provide an orignal creditor signature? Should I set up a debt settlement? I thought I almost made it through this one. Looking for advice thanks...
That is the #1 question... You need to know what the SOL is... The SOL you are looking for is an OPEN account. Also, you definitely want to dispute during this 30 days... Chances are what he's trying to do is bait you into creating a 'new' 'account stated' for the close-to or post-SOL account. This is one of the newest tricks in their arsenal. Also, you need to have a good chronology in mind for the history of the account, was there a dispute about the account which was unresolved, etc...
Last Activity on Account (Update) I checked my credit reports. Some say last activity was 09/00. Others say 02/02. Does the collection Agency have to provide an original signature from me for the loan to validate it? Is a Capital One Statement with my name and address enough? What if my crazy roommate opened the account back in 2001 behind my back? BTW - Statuate of Limitations in MI is 6 years
If the last payment was made in June 2001, then 5.5 years has passed, not 6. Did you, or did you not, open and use this account?
You want to *ASK* for validation of the account. Validation has two purposes... #1 - to ensure that the amount of the account is 100% accurate, verifiable, without any additional fees which aren't allowed for under the agreement, or your states laws... #2 - to ensure that they have the correct person. My point of view is that you always have a strong argument asking for an application, contract, and all statements on the account (not just the last one). I'll give you a case-in-point... I've seen an account where when I asked for documentation, the amount in the cover-letter sent by the company, and the statements never matched; and every time I asked them to account for it, they would provide yet different amounts which didn't match the documentation. Over 6 months, they provided 4 different amounts which couldn't be collaborated, which ranged over 50% from the amounts that they claimed. Even if the amount on the statement matches what the lawyer is claiming, you may find a different amount in credit reports which would show that sometime after the account was charged off, they performed some type of unverifiable off-the-books transaction which wouldn't appear on the statements itself because no statements are made after charging off. Especially if you are talking about an account that you used for magazine purchases, or ISP fees, because I've typically seen that some major companies in those industries force credit card transactions through a back-door, if the authorization is denied.
I think my Xwife may have opened the account. In court would they have to produce my signature to get a judgement? Or is just producing an old bill good enough?
It depends... On almost anything... including whether or not the judge is having a good day if and when the case would go before him. Ask for validation, including requesting the application and contract, if they exist...
"What if my crazy roommate opened the account back in 2001 behind my back?" "I think my Xwife may have opened the account." Why argue SOL, when the account was opened fraudulently to begin with? It is not your job to investigate and prove who opened fraudulent accounts in your name. That is the job of the police and district attorneys, who have the power to subpoena records and investigate, should they choose to use their resources for that purpose. The debt collector is not going to assist you in proving it isn't your account, and in fact if they thought it might not be your account, they would probably try to defeat your attempts to prove it, since they have a better chance collecting from you than from some unknown id thief. If you did not open this account, and you did not use this account, then file an id theft complaint with your local police, and get a copy of the police report to use in getting this removed. The burden of proof then shifts further onto the CA or creditor, and in addition, under FACTA both the DF and the CRAs must respond within fixed time limits to remove fraudulent accounts when they are notified of them along with a police report and fraud affidavit. Reported fraudulent accounts also cannot be further sold.
