It's me yet again.... Wondering about my first run in with the CA's The Account was an old HSBC account reporting as follows: Opened: 11/2005 - Last payment: 1/2008 - DoFD: 2/2008 - Status: Charged off ($250) - Remarks: Purchased by Lender The CA reports the following: Placed for Collection: 12/2008 - Balance $700 - Last payment: 1/2008 - DoFD: 2/2008 - Status: Collection Account - Remarks: "Dispute Resolved - Cust Disagrees" --------- The CA recently sent me a settlement payment plan laid out as follows: 1) $200 2) 6 X $40/per month ($240) 3) 12 x $25/per month (300) "must be received no later than 11/26/12" "your account will be considered settled in full after your final payment is posted" Issues: I don't ever remember admitting to this debt and the remark on my credit report states "dispute resolved- customer disagrees" if anything they may have called and i said "i don't know what your talking about". I never requested validation (only learned about this 1 month ago), so i don't know what "dispute resolved" mean for the CA or CRA! If they mailed something i had moved and i'm sure the 30 Day DV rule no longer applies. So, What should i do about a debt this old? Should i DV, even though they are reporting that some sort of dispute was resolved? Do i let the CRA know that this is inaccurate as i have never disputed anything with them nor agree it was resolved and request it be deleted on that basis? Or Do i counter offer for a PFD at the same $200 (or less) since they are settling up for 30% of what THEY think they owe? Yeah i might have messed up in the past but i'd feel ripped off knowing they probably bought this debt for $2.50 and now they feel entitled to $700 or even anything above $250. Sad part is i might have paid this small thing off but switching banks and moving i don't have records and i fear that if is sent a DV letter it will piss them off and the $200 offer will be gone! Any help or advice guys, Thanks!
Some CAs will automatically report the dispute notice to comply with the FDCPA, it's reporting false credit info to not report the dispute notation, if it has been disputed. I don't think that there has been a case arguing that reporting a dispute on an undisputed account was reporting false credit information.
So would it be best to assume that some where along the way they could have sent validation to an old address when they called on the phone and i said i din't know anythign about it.... Would it be bad to ask for validation again? would they even bother sending it out? or would doing that piss them off and they drop the settlement offer?
They're not required to send validation based on an oral "I don't know what you're talking about". They ARE required to send a letter stating your rights to validation within FIVE DAYS of the initial contact. If they didn't send that letter to you, (at your current address), they had better have on file the "RETURN TO SENDER" stamped copy of it, unopened in your file, because otherwise they have little defense to a suit for failure to provide the requisite MINI-MIRANDA, and VALIDATION notices; and basic information about the account, original creditor, amount, etc... The structure of the standard validation notice (and section 809 of the FDCPA) is important... So the "I don't know what you're talking about" on the phone call would appear to qualify under 809(a)(3) as being a dispute of the debt (but if it's not in writing, they'll argue that it never happened); but 809(a)(4) & 809(a)(5) require WRITTEN notification to enforce those rights, but it's conditional upon the debt collector sending the requisite notice to confer the beginning of the 30-day period. So if the debt collector never sent you the 809 notices, they are in violation of the FDCPA. Their only defense would be proving that they did mail the validation letter, and if it wasn't mailed to your current address, they would have the return to sender copy to prove the provision of the notice of your rights.
1) You never asked for validation, because they never sent you a notice of your rights to validation. 2) Doing anything to cause them work will "piss them off", that's their problem. IF they would attempt to retract the settlement offer, you could counter on a breech of contract... They made a WRITTEN offer, if you would choose to accept it, and they fail to honor their WRITTEN agreement, they are in breech of the contract, and that would be a unfair business practice, and a false and misleading representation in violation of the FDCPA.
THANKS a lot for you input Jam !!! Since this is settlement offer and my NEW address. and DID NOT state my rights to ask for validation anywhere on the letter. are they in violation of anything i should mention in a DV letter? or should i just send a normal DV letter (keeping it "sane") Lastly, Whats stopping them from saying "we sent it to your address xxxxx on ____ date already!" Sorry if i ask a lot of questions in one post but i seem to can't stop thinking 2-3 steps ahead when i haven't even sent a damn DV letter out yet. (probably a bad habit to have when dealing with credit repair!)
If they didn't provide you with the rights, they would be in violation, but keep it simple for now. Just let them know that their letter of xx/xx/xxxx was the first time you heard from them, and you have no idea what they are talking about, and you want complete validation of their claims.
