There is a $67 debt on my credit report due to a balance on an old Adelphia cable bill from 2003. I wrote to the collection agency that now has the debt and requested that they validate it. I received from the cable company copies of the last bill and last payment received, therefore validating the debt. My question is what should I do now? I was hoping there was some way to offer to pay the balance in full in order to have them delete it from my credit report? But do I pay the cable company directly or do I pay the collection agency? Also, is it better to send a letter or to call and try to talk to someone? Does anyone have any sample "pay for delete" letters for cases such as mine? Any advice is much appreciated.
If you are attempting to negotiate a Pay-for-delete, then you would do so with whomever is reporting. Mixed opinions on phone calls, but if you do decide to talk to someone, and you come to some sort of agreement, the agreement should definitely be reduced to writing.
Technically, they haven't validated the debt If you want to be picky, if you received the "validation" from the OC, then it doesn't comply with the letter of the FDCPA. According to the FDCPA, the procedure is: You validate with the CA, the CA gets the necessary information from the OC, the OC sends it to the CA, the CA sends it to you. If you received something from the OC directly, how do you know you should pay the CA and that the CA isn't trying to scam you? You have no paper trail connecting the CA to the debt. Should you pay to someone who just calls you up and says you owe X money so pay US! In the worst-case scenario, you could pay the CA only to find out they kept the money and you still owe the OC. How big of a deal you want to make of this is up to you, but it might help give you some leverage when negotiating the PFD instead of suing them for an FDCPA violation.
This is CMI, right? Presuming I'm right, I will say that they're a tough nut to crack. We, on occasion have some luck by invoking the TFC and copying their bonding company.
Yes, CMI is the collection agency. Sorry, I'm new at this and do not understand what TFC means. After reading the posts I went thru the documentation I was sent. It looks like Adelphia (now Time Warner) took screen prints of the old account and mailed them to me and to CMI. They also included copies of the last two bills from this account. There is also a printout of what looks like CMI's information on me (name, address, account status). Does this constitute compliance with the validation? There is nothing that really shows CMI has a legal right to collect the debt from me. What do you think is the best plan of action for me to take at this point? Should I try to get them to do a pay for delete or challenge the debt validation like "ccbob" mentioned? Thanks again.
I live in CA. The statute of limitations on written agreements is 4 years. The last payment on the account was made 3/19/04.
