I have two CA situations I wanted to get opinions on how to handle from all of you. First I have a letter from West Asset Management that showed up offering a settlement for an account. First letter I have received from them. It reads, WAM has been authorized on behalf of AFT to offer you a settlement on the above referenced account. Then goes on to state that payment must be received by Sept 29 (letter dated September 22 sent from MO to CA) or offer will be null and void etc. All it says re mini miranda is "This is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose." Is that all they need to say re: mini miranda? Should I VOD it? How would you handle it? Second, I have a Citibank account that is not mine. I had no clue it was on my report until I received a call from a CA. CA gave me Citibanks number and I requested they send me some verification. They agreed to send me statements from the past 5 years. This account has supposedly been open for 10 years. Anyway, twice I've requested this info, twice they've said they sent it. As of today, I have received nothing so I am sending off a CMRR letter requesting info or deletion. In the meantime, this CA calls weekly to see if I have the info from Citibank. He has never sent a letter. How do I handle this CA? Send a VOD? Thanks for any and all suggestions, I really appreciate it!
Request validation of both in writing. Send CRRR. If it is not in writing, it might as well not have happened. ----- The first CA should have included your right to dispute. Request validation from them anyway. At this point you don't know if they are just sloppily violating FDCPA, or if they are trying to discourage your dispute to later claim you have no right to do so. Even if the account is yours, you want to know whether the amount they are attempting to collect is legitimate. ----- The second CA should have sent you a letter within 5 days notifying you of your right to dispute. their failure to do so was a violation of FDCPA. You would then have disputed the debt with the CA, who would have obtained any information from Citibank and forwarded it to you. Technically Citibank doesn't have to respond, and can ignore you with no consequences, unless you are disputing a TL they placed, but if they said they would, hold them to it. Dispute the account as not yours, include a reference to the CA that was trying to collect the erroneous debt from you, memorialize that you had already spoken to them and that they had said they were sending statements, and request them again. Since you have been in contact with both the CA and Citibank, dispute with both, in writing, CRRR. Dispute the debt with the CA as not yours and request that the CA provide the statements substantiating the debt they claim. Until they do that they cannot assume the debt is valid, regardless of whether they notified you of your rights under FDCPA. About 10 days after both parties have received your validation request, dispute with the CRAs that are showing the erroneous TL. If they "verify" to the CRA, you have your FDCPA violations to go to court and force removal. Since you know the account is not yours, it is to your advantage to force action as soon as possible to minimize your damage. Either you want the erroneous TLs removed quickly, or you want a stack of letters attempting to remove the erroneous account to show they have no excuse for doing so. Citi may be sending the statements to their last address of record for the account, which if it is not your account, is probably not your address. No matter. If they can't fix it quickly, or fail to respond, send a complaint to your state AG. You might get their attention.
