Ok Russell Agency claims I owe them $135 for some medical bill. I have sent them a validation, estoppel, and a final demand letter. Each time, they have ignored the letter and continued collection actions - such as calling my home, sending collection bills. They also verified this debt with Trans Union. I did get it off EQ and EX through disputing. It has been 3 months since I've started demanding validation out of them. The final straw was yet another form collection letter that came today. I have five of these notices that all have been sent in response to my demands for validation. I have three return receipts for these letters. I have the credit report of TU where it says the creditor verified the account as correct. What do I do now? Do I have a good case? How should I word my lawsuit? For how much money? Can I say the account has to be deleted? Should I even bother sending a settlement letter as these people clearly cannot read and I wouldn't mind having some money for my grief?
Yes, I believe you do have a good case. If doing this in small claims. just word it that you are suing for numerous, deliberate violations of the FDCPA. Each violation for $1,000. And yes, I would demand deletion as part of your suit. You can send a settlement either with the lawsuit when it gets served, or you can send an intent to sue with an offer of settlement. If you send the letter of intent, you might want to get a small claims form and fill it in as if you were going to file it at the court. Make a copy to send with your letter as well as a statement like: should you choose to ignore this offer, the next contact you will get from me is when you are served with this lawsuit.
How do they get served? Is it mail or like a sheriff's deputy? If they don't respond or show up, then what happens?
You'll have to check with the court for your local rules. But usually, you can have them served by certified mail to the authorized agent or statutory agent. Or, you hire a private process server and in some places you can have the sheriff serve it. If they don't respond then you win by default judgment, but don't expect that to happen. Good luck.
Am I allowed to use the collection agent assigned to my case who has been disregarding my letters as the named person in the suit? They are in MI, I'm in VA - does that matter?
Yes it matters. You must serve an authorized agent of the corp. ie: a corp. officer, statutory agent, etc. You can find that most likely on Va. secretary of state or corp. commission website. You can ad the agents name to the suit as a defendant if you like.
Virginia does not have any particular laws about CA's. They don't have to be licensed, and I don't believe they have to post bond or have an authorized agent in the state. Sue them the same way you would sue any other business, I guess.
