In mid June, I received a letter from NY law firm Toback&Bernstein stating their intention to collect a 3.5K educational loan. On July 1, I answered their letter correcting my street address (they had used an old one) and simply stating "Additionally, I dispute the validity of this debt." It is now August 3rd and I have not had any reply from Toback. Does the 30 day requirement for validating a debt apply to a law firm as well as a Credit Bureau? Thanks.
No, they don't have to reply within 30 days. If you sent your validation request within 30 days of the inital contact, they have to stop collection activities until they validate.