I have read the FDCPA thoroughly and do not see where the creditor or collector has 30 days to validate a debt. I see that you, the consumer, have 30 days to demand validation. Where is the interpretation that the creditor/collector has only 30 days or the debt is invalid? Or am I not understanding the FDCPA?
I don't believe there is a time limit for which the creditor/collector is required to validate a debt. However, they may not legally continue to collect the debt if they have not validated. I do know some states, Texas in particular, require creditors to validate within 30 days.
If you send a dispute to the debt collector, the debt is essentially automatically invalid (at least for them to collect on) until such time as they get around to validating it. Specifically they cannot proceed with collection activities with a unanswered dispute in place. The 30 day dispute is FCRA legislation. Butch has an excellent discussion of this exact point at: http://consumers.creditnet.com/Discussions/credit-talk/t--what-is-validation-42188.html Take the time to read the post in its entirety; it is well worth your time.
Generally, when the CA sends you a notice, YOU have 30 days to ask for validation. But if you ask for validation from them, I'm not sure if they have to respond in a specific amount of time. It may have to be a "reasonable" amount of time. As Ishmal said, read the thread he provided. I know most DV letters may have a part that says "if you don't respond within 30 days, you must remove" I think that is generally just giving them a fair amount of time. And for some CA's, it may cause them to go away. They may not HAVE to respond in that amolunt of time, but it may be a good idea to set a reasonable time limit like that. If you ever need to go to court, you want clear and good evidence. Think of it more as covering your bases, just in case. I just got a DV response - see the thread about "strategy doesn't work" = I just posted their repsonse today. I did not send my request 30 days after I got their letter. In fact, I handled mine all mixed up. But I think this CA is a pain to work with as well.
Yeah I'm going through same boat been 25 days I said 30 days in letter not sure if I should see legal adive as this account is from sprint and I don't owe them jack they trying charge for cell phones after i cancelled within 15 days made every attempt to return them on phone store etc and they told me at store because I ordered from phone they wouldnt take them and on phone after 3 months them telling me they were sending package to send phones back then told me to go to store grrrrrrr. People these these and with their outsourced phone centers with people can barely speak english
