sent out a validation letter to the CA CRRR and was signed by them on 05-24-02, on july 19 i recived a letter dated july 10-02 showing a hospital receipt for $140.00 back from 08-15-1999 Is this a full validation with only a bill saying my name and the money owed on it. and correct me if i'm wrong don't they have only 30 days to validate,and if i were to settle can i do that where i protct my self so it won't go on my credit since it's not on my credit report yet. Please help. Thank You.
Hi Kelly, Welcome to the board. To answer your question - no that's not proper validation. Since the amount is small and it's not on your reports yet you may just want to settle it be done. Is the debt yours?
Well if you're sure it's not on your reports yet it CANNOT show up now until they validate. That would be illegal. Make sure to keep your green card. In the meantime I would just call them Monday and offer half or maybe $50. Make sure you get an agreement in writing that they WILL NOT report it and BEFORE you pay them. You'll probably settle at about $100. Whatcha think? BTW welcome to the board.
If the receipt came from the hospital I would say it is validation. This is only if it came from the hospital directly and not a computer printout from the CA. It wouldn't be too hard for the CA or hospital to prove you were treated on that date. The CA does not have to validate within 30days, you are confusing 30days the CRA's have to investigate a dispute. Two different things, CRA's must verify disputes within 30 days or delete and CA's must Validate disputes. There is no timeframe mandated or given for a CA to validate a debt, however if the CA has yet to report it to the CRA once they are in receipt of your dispute and request for validation they must not report the debt to the CRA until they first provide you with proper validation. If they do they have violated the FDCPA, They must notate and communicate to the CRA's that you the consumer disputes the account with them the CA. Not actually seeing the bill myself I can't actually tell you if they provided proper validation. Is your signature listed anywhere on the bill? Again if this bill came from the hospital and not generated by the CA I would consider it to be proper validation and I don't think you'd have much to argue if you wanted to take this CA to court. If they have not reported this yet on any of your credit reports I would strongly advise what butch suggested and contact them immediately and offer settlement. They may not budge on the amount due if they know you are concerned about it getting on your credit reports. You may have to pay the full amount for them not to report. Please get this in writing that they will not report this account to the CRAs. This way when you pay it they will not report it to the CRAs as PAID COLLECTION OR SETTLED. In either case this would be very, very bad and there would be nothing you could do since this would be an accurate statement furnished by them. I hope this helps! Tac
Did the CA provied proof that they have a legal right to collect this debt? Did they purchase it from the OC? was it assigned? If they do not have a legal right to collect, why would you pay them?
