I have a CA who has sent me a letter about a bill they say I owe. I told them to verify it and if they could verify it I would pay. They told me I owed it and to pay up. I again asked them to verify it and they said that they would in court. 2 weeks later I got a supena. I would like to know can they serve me with a supena or do they have to verify it first. Or can they just come to court with verification and win the case that way. Thanks Mike
So what did you do, tell them to varify on the phone, or did you write? Explain. ??? Oh, and about how much is it for, and how old?
Was your letter send within 30 days of their first letter to you? Did you send it CRRR, so you can show when they received it, and did they receive it before they filed suit? Did they ever send validation?
Validation Yes on all points... They told us they did not need to validate because they had old statements that I paid on the card and that was proof that we owed the debt.
They can tell you anything, but telling you is not validation, and suing is continued collection. They may have old statements, which might support that you have an agreement with the credit card company, even in the absense of a copy of the original signed application, but you requested validation, and they did not send it. They did not even send copies of what they claimed they had. Even sending you copies of those old statements, assuming they actually have them, if they were not obtained directly from the OC, would not have been validation. Of course, they haven't even done that, so you have no way of even knowing if the statements are complete, account for all payments made and fees charged, are on the right account, or even exist. Since they have chosen to play poker, betting that you will not call them on the FDCPA validation issue, or that it will not cost them anything, how valid do you think their claim is? When your opponent says they have a strong hand, but they refuse to show it, it usually means there is something wrong with it. Maybe the OC is out of business, or was bought out and the records cannot be found, or the terms of the sale of the debt are that the buyer would not request records on the debt. Or maybe this is someone else's account, with a similar name but different address, and they can't prove it is you. How much are they attempting to collect, is it likely to even be your debt, and is the amount likely to be accurate if they were forced to produce documentation, or might they have added "fees" not allowed by the original contract? You may also want to run this by an attorney in your state with experience in defending consumers in debt litigation, as well as FDCPA and FCRA law. You want to know how their deliberate refusal to provide validation on your request received prior to suing will likely play out in court. If you sent your written dispute and validation request within 30 days of their initial contact, you have an FDCPA violation. If they told you they have the statements, but they can't produce them in court, you may have another. Note that FDCPA claims are due to the manner of collecting a debt, regardless of whether the debt is owed or not. Review this with an attorney.
Validate Thanks ONTRACK I do owe this debt I just wanted to know if they would loose this in court because they failed to validate to me and got a supena to take me to court. If they can validate the debt in court would they win? Or the very fact that they would not validate this debt to me cause them to loose? I have checked with severl attorneys but they know less then I do. Thanks for all you help Mike
At this point, you don't know what they are going to present in court as validation, if anything. You also don't know what a judge will accept. They only say they have it, and yet they would prefer to sue rather than send it in response to your validation request under FDCPA? How much do they say you owe, when was the last payment made, and what is SOL for this type of debt in your state? A violation of FDCPA is independent of their claim that you owe the debt; it is a result of the manner in which they attempted to collect. You should check with an attorney who has had experience in this area. You might check for attorneys in your state on: www.naca.net Look for those with experience in FDCPA and FCRA.
