In addition to all those fine congressmen and women who are voting for the anti-consumer bankruptcy legislation, does the credit industry also have the FTC in its hip-pocket? http://www.ftc.gov/os/2002/06/ftca.htm If you don't have time to read the entire report, here is the part I'm concerned about. See the "clarification" towards the end of this excerpt the FTC has suggested to Congress. "Federal circuit courts that have addressed this issue recently have arrived at the same conclusion. In a 1997 opinion, the Seventh Circuit stated that "[t]he debt collector is perfectly free to sue within the thirty days; he just must cease his efforts at collection during the interval between being asked for verification of the debt and mailing the verification to the debtor."(20) In the most recent federal appellate court pronouncement on the subject, the Sixth Circuit stated that "[a] debt collector does not have to stop its collection efforts [during the thirty-day period] to comply with the Act. Instead, it must ensure that its efforts do not threaten a consumer's right to dispute the validity of his debt."(21) Although these courts have been consistent with the position taken by the Commission and its staff, some continue to argue that the thirty-day time frame set forth in Section 809 is a grace period within which collection efforts are prohibited, rather than a dispute period within which the consumer may insist that the collector verify the debt. The Commission therefore recommends that Congress clarify the law by adding a provision expressly permitting appropriate collection activity within the thirty-day period, if the debt collector has not received a letter from the consumer disputing the debt or requesting verification. The clarification should include a caveat that the collection activity should not overshadow or be inconsistent with the disclosure of the consumer's right to dispute the debt specified by Section 809(a)." How does this affect the procedure to use for validation, if at all? Also, why do they call it "verification" rather than "validation". Did I misunderstand that verification was for CRA's and validation was for debt collectors?
Honestly, the law should be they collector should have to send the first initial letter CRRR and most of the problems would be solved. but they will never make it that simple.
