Hey all, long time lurker from CA. I have a question that after looking dosent seem to be clearly explained, but im not sure. Back in may, I received a letter from RJM about a 200$ bank account that I supposedly owed. I hadn't discovered this place yet, so i just tossed it aside in the pile. I didn't hear anything until late july/august, when I started getting between 3-6 phone calls a day from them about this account. I did some research and faxed over a full cease and desist notice as the calls were causing problems with my job. In November I requested validation which they provided partially, but still did not contact me or respond to any followups. Today, I got a letter in the mail from "Island National Group" who have been hired by RJM to collect. The letters specifically talks about RJM's offers, and have VERY close addresses (PO Box 18009, 18006). Is this just a sham to try and continue collecting, and can this be considered a violation on RJM's part? The letter very clearly says "RJM has hired us to collect". Any advice would be appreciated, as this is something I do not want to just let them get away with.
I doubt it's a violation. Since your first validation request was sent well outside of the initial 30-day window, they're under no obligation to even reply to it. They can keep trying to collect, sue you, and so on. However, you're in luck. Since this appears to be a new CA coming after you, send a DV letter via certified mail with a signature receipt requested. Do this immediately. As for your C&D, I would let that quietly slip by. True, you could put your foot down and demand that they honor it, but the reality is that they'd probably just sue you (a lawsuit is permitted after a C&D), and you don't want that. C&Ds should really only be used when a debt is either outside the SOL or is so egregiously invalid (wrong name, wrong signature, wrong address, etc) that they would never stand a snowball's chance in hell in court.
