About a month ago, I received a letter in the mail from an attorney located here in my state (a little over an hour away from where I live) and he claimed to have been hired by Cavalry SPV I LLC to collect a debt on an old HSBC credit card that I had about 2 years ago and the amount they are claiming I owe is $1095. It said in the letter that if he didn't hear back from me within the next 30 days, he would except his client (Cavalry) to request that he (the attorney) proceed with a lawsuit against me. The next week, I sent him a debt validation letter requesting the account number associated with the HSBC account, an explanation of the accounting/charges and how they came up with the amount of $1095, and lastly I requested that he provide me with evidence that I actually have a legal obligation to pay him (the attorney) or Cavalry. Well, today I received a response in the mail from the attorney. He thanked me for contacting him and told me that he would be willing to work out a payment arrangement or settlement with me if I was satisfied that this is my debt. The only thing that he included with this letter was an obviously photo copied account statement for the HSBC account from June of 2010, and he said in the letter that the address on the account statement matches my address. He didn't provide any proof that I am legally obligated to pay him or Cavalry and he didn't include any type of explanation of the charges. It was literally just a one page account statement from June of last year. Yes, this is my account; however, I already know that Cavalry is a huge junk debt buyer and I want to know whether or not I really do have a legal obligation to pay them. Are they legally allowed to collect this debt that they obviously bought from HSBC? It shows as a charge off by HSBC on my credit report. What should I do now??? Are there any other steps I should take?
In short, yes, it appears that the debt was properly validated. Remember that for the purposes of FDCPA compliance, what exactly constitutes "proper validation" has never been defined by the courts. It's a highly-debated subject at best. Pretty much as long as they send you anything with your name and address on it, odds are very good that they've properly validated. And remember, there's a huge difference between what constitutes "proof" in court and what constitutes "proof" for validation. Double-check your dates. When was the last time you paid on the account? I don't know of any state with a two-year SOL, but several have a three-year SOL. This would be the only way I could think of that you might not be legally obligated to pay. However, since you said the debt is legit, I would definitely try to work with the CA towards making a payment. I never condone skipping out on one's financial obligations.
