Ok, Got home and there were 2 messages from this collection agency that were left 2 hours apart. This CA bought a debt in 1999 that the original date of last activity is 5/1997. I live in NY and the SOL for this type of debt is 4 years. So, technically, the SOL to collect on this debt is up. I have 3 questions to ask: 1- Is two calls in two hours harassment? 2- Should I send a validation letter? 3- Or should it be a cease and decist letter? Thanks in advance.
So, are you trying to say that they can no longer contact me regarding this debt under the FDCPA? Should I send a validation letter with the C&D letter? thx!
They can still try to collect it, but they can't get anything. Cease communications will probably make them go away. They may try to ding your report, though. Maybe a validation letter first? That might help keep them from putting stuff on your report. Could you tell which company it was? breeze
Erica .. If you are planning to ask for Validation of this debt, already asked and waiting, or plan on asking at a later date. I would advise you not to send the Cease and Desist letter. They may not follow through with a validation if you have asked earlier or plan too and just try to sue you. This would of course depend on how large the debt is. Anyway...lol.. I would suggest you send a validation letter ALONG with a Cease and Desist ONLY in writing may you contact me letter. Send it Certified Return that way once they sign the letter and continue to call you you have grounds to sue them. This also allows you can kill two birds with one stone. Don't have to worry about the "contact issue" and a refusal to comply with you if and when you ask for validation. Good Luck.... Hope this makes sense...lOl.. ;-) MartysGirl
Well, when I listened to the messages I thought she said she was Loyal from Beginning Credit. But after calling her back and getting her voice mail (thank God) her name is Gloria from Midland Credit Management. I didn't leave a message, I was just going to tell her not to contact me by phone anymore and that I needed her name, company name and company address to correspond by USPS. BUT, too bad she wasn't there! The amount they claim I owe is around $2900.
I agree with Breeze and MartysGirl send the validation with a letter stating all communication will ONLY be accepted via mail. Say they are calling on a business line and they can not comminucate via the phone # they used to contact you, any further contact that way will be refused. Also what Breeze said about the SOL is correct (I believe), it will not prevent them from trying to collect, only from suing or getting a court judgement. In fact, they can even try to sue, you must then bring up the SOL as a defense, it does not prevent them from trying to sue. -Peace, Dave
Erica, I don't know what others might advocate, but I simply include a cease and desist statement in every validation letter that I send out. Mine is only a one page letter and a cease & desist statement is, in my opinion pretty simple and straight forward and need not be all that complicated. I realize full well that a cease & desist letter is a totally different thing and has it's own legal basis and format. But it strikes me that the receipient is supposed to be a professioinal business person, possibly even legally trained, and should understand what is meant to be conveyed by the simple 3 or 4 line (or whatever) statement and that I should not need to get all huffy and puffy with them to start off with. Strikes me that a separate C&D would only serve to alert them that I am simply out to cause as much problems as possible which, although quite accurate, is not an attitude that I wish to take with them right off the bat. Quite possibly others will provide their insights as well.
Well, they are SOL, huh? Sorry they picked on you. But at least you know what to do. Put 'em through their paces. They don't have a leg to stand on. They probably know, and are just hoping you don't. breeze
Personal Opinion: I would send C&D letter saying that you will only talk with the orginial creditor.... PERIOD..... Then send a validate letter to the orginial creditor.... If you don't your risk them selling it to another collection agency and just getting a different call.... BTW, if you called, most of them have callerid... if you used *67, it does not work with 800# because it's reversing the long distance charges... Call from a payphone... Check out this link for a great c&d letter....... http://www.budhibbs.com/ceaseletter.htm good luck, bkev
C&D won't address the credit report. They may go away but you'll likely eat the derog. Could push them to sue you because they can't dog you. Most collection agencies act as though they've never heard of a SOL. Totally correct that you have to assert it if sued or you'll lose regardless of the sol. You CAN'T send a validation and a C&D Bill unless it's a modified C&D stipulating only contact in writing. If you actually send a validation and a full C&D you've just invalidated your own validation. HOW can they validate the debt if they can't contact you????? makes no sense whatsoever. Breeze nailed this one cold. Use the validation to get the debt and tradeline backed out of your life. Later you can hit the original creditor if you're feeling aggressive or if the collection agency screws up. If the collection agency screws up you can use their errors to negotiate with the original creditor what will happen to the tradeline (like not sold repeatedly..)...or a settlement if you like. Go get them
Actually, I called for her. When asked for my SS# I had no problem in telling them, but I said NO. They tried...but to no avail, neither Erica nor I were going to give any pertinent info. We now have their name, address, and phone # but they have only my caller ID #...hahahahahaha Score one for the good guys! -Peace, Dave
Marie: I think you are addressing me with this one. That is precisely why I don't use a full cease & desist. Back when I started in doing this, it was immediately obvious that one could not use a full C&D and expect to get a validation done because one would be effectively slamming the door on the whole situation which I did not want to do. So I simply devised a simple sentence which says that I insist that they make no contact with me by phone and that all correspondence must be in writing. As you know full well, I'm not any lawyer, but I didn't see how in the world one could send a C&D and expect to get anything out of them at all. Just didn't make no sense to me, lawyer or not. So I just devised a simple one-liner and hoped it would do the job. Never had any problem yet. And in reality, I hope they do call me or one of my customers who has sent the validaton in and start giving me the old harry and a bunch of grief. It's just one more thing I can nail them on and that's what I'm looking for anyway, not their silly old validation I didn't want in the first place, Even if I get the validation, I just ignore it and keep right on marching just like Sherman marching through Georgia. The reason I can do that is that I build a paper trail so I can prove what I sent them and what I did not and if they are too dumb to do the same, OH WELL!
Marie, Here is the body of the letter I am thinking of sending: "Re: inquiry dated 08/21/01 via Business Telephone Greetings: Thank you for your recent inquiry. This is a request for validation made pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Please complete and return the attached disclosure request form. Be advised that I am not requesting a "verification" that you have my mailing address, I am requesting a "validation;" that is, competent evidence that I have some contractual obligation to pay you. You have contacted me at a work phone number and I require that all correspondence be done in writing, as are my legal rights. Any further contact to me through this business phone line will be refused and documented. Your failure to satisfy this request within the requirements of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act will be construed as your absolute waiver of any and all claims against me, and your tacit agreement to compensate me for costs and attorney fees. Best regards," What do you think?
I just wanted to say something....You have to see Bill's letter to see what he is talking about...believe me it is a good one..it's not too tricky or anything...you have to have common sense to understand it, and unfortunately the CA's sometimes just don't have it. The thing is that these CA's are probably overwhelmed with correspondence and whatnot, and there are many opportunities for the CA's to break the law in this letter......
Erica: May I respectfully suggest that you simply send this portion and let it go at that? Then sit back and hope and pray they are stupid enough to violate it. Repeatedly even. If they do, don't get mad about it, make them pay the entire indebtedness plus take it off your credit reports. And if they don't like them apples, then I guess it's well past time they tell a judge and jury why they violated the law. That's exactly how I go about doing what I do. Only difference is that you are talking about just one particular type of violation of the law. I have a whole checklist of just the Federal violations they might conceivably either violate of their own voilition or which my letters might induce them to violate. Then I also have a whole notebook full of various state law violations they might commit. Lots of them are obscure and little known or recognized and which are routinely violated by both creditors and collection agencies. With a checklist like I have, I don't have to be a lawyer or be able to spout off a bunch of gobble-dee-gook few people are able to understand as some are bent to do. Knowing all that legal mumbo-jumbo is great. I wish I knew a lot more of it than I do, but I don't really need it to do what I do and if push ever did come to shove, then let a lawyer do the pushin and shovin for the most part. Even if I know it all, I'm not dealing with lawyers under normal circumstances, just everyday 9-5 types who most likely know even less than I do. They are trained to do a job and do it in a certain way and that's all. If you start spouting off a bunch of legal beagle garbage at them, it just flies right over their heads. Most of it does anyway so why make the situation any worse with a lot of hogwash? They are just common everyday folks doing their job like most of us.
I'm assuming you want to pay NOTHING, of course you will have to 'pay' for it by having it on your credit reports for 7. What is this 'only contact me in the mail' stuff? Tell them to never contact you again, they may only do so once more after that. Just be absolutely certain the 'debt' is time-barred. If I were you I'd seek some sort of 'deletion for consideration' type of deal since this is gonna damage your credit for a few more years.
Angie: Excuse my ignorance, but I just don't understand what you are saying here. If one is successful in beating the creditor/CA then the debt no longer exists by agreement with them. Since the debt then no longer exists, how can the credit bureau continue to report a debt that does not exist, most especially when the creditor/CA demands it's removal? Marie, Breeze, somebody (I forget who it was) stated earlier that if you put a full cease & desist on them then they can't even comply with your demand for validation. Whoever posted that statement was absolutely correct, and it's not going to work to one's benefit that I can see. On top of that, the only remedy they have left is to file immediate suit against you for judgement and that is about the last thing you want to have to fight. I assume you mean that the SOL has run out on the debt. That is only going to help you if they take you to court and you go present the SOL as a defense. I want to kill the debt as soon as I get the first demand for payment, not have to live with it until the SOL has run out or they take me to court. I want it gone and I want it gone at the earliest possible moment, so I don't care about how old the debt might be. Just so long as it has gone to collections where I can deal with it. The first letter or phone call I get from a bill collector trips my trigger and the fight is on. I'm not trying to put you down here, angie. I just don't understand where you are coming from with your comments. Again, what one should strive to accomplish is to get rid of the debt entirely, not pay it off because of the simple fact that if you pay it off then it's probably going to be on your reports for the next 7 years after your last payment and you have no remedies left except that you might send wave after wave of disputes to the credit bureaus hoping that they will fail to verify and it falls off that way someday. Personally, Ilike better odds than that.
