I was contacted at work by Midland Credit Management (MCM) at my office regarding a past SOL debt belonging to my wife. I sent, and have proof they received, a letter requesting validation of their claim. This morning, MCM called me at my home looking for my wife. I cannot beleive this!!! I immediately told him that his agency was not to call me and that I had sent a letter stating that. He denies that a letter was even received. If I am correct, this constitutes a violation. I'm not after money, I just want MCM to be out of my life. What is my next step? I told him I will send proof of the fact they received my letter...
If they haven't provided satisfactory proof of validation and ceased collecting the debt, then you may want to send a copy of your receipt proving they received your DV letter, a copy of the first letter you sent them, and a statement that they have violated your rights under the FDCPA. Tell them they need to remove the collection from your wife's credit report or you are going to file a lawsuit as they are now in violation of the FDCPA, section 809 (b).
Joshua, That's a very strong move to threaten to file suit, not that I am not willing, I just figured this step might come a little while later. I'm drafting my letter as we speak. Thanks.
I'm not a lawyer and I'm not saying you have to take the hard line, but sometimes it's necessary to actually garner a response.
How much is the amount in question? If it's under $1000, then I'm with Joshua -- it's time to look into a lawsuit.
The decision is ultimately up to you, but generally speaking, $1000 is the "make or break" point for some people dealing with otherwise legitimate debts. For example, let's say you legitimately owe a debt collector $500. And let's say that debt collector somehow violates the FDCPA. That debt collector now has a potential $1000 liability (plus legal expenses) towards you. It's no longer in the debt collector's interest to pursue this debt. In fact, that collector now suddenly has some very good motivation to work with you -- as in, say, they'll remove this from your credit report in exchange for you agreeing to forfeit your FDCPA rights on the matter. On the other hand, let's say you legitimately owe a debt collector $5000. And again, the debt collector violates the FDCPA. That debt collector now has a potential $1000 (plus expenses) liability towards you, but you still owe them $5000. Maybe after paying your legal expenses, you'd still owe them $3000. That debt collector would be somewhat concerned with an FDCPA lawsuit, but since they probably have lawyers on retainer to deal with this sort of thing, it's not a deal-breaker. Now, let's say you legitimately owe a debt collector $25000. The DC violates the FDCPA, setting up a $1000+ potential liability. It's now very, very unlikely that the debt collector would have any reason to negotiate with you. Sure, they'll lose a few grand, but there's no way they're dropping that claim. So filing a FDCPA lawsuit on a debt < $1000 can sometimes have the net effect of making that debt impractical to collect. This isn't always the case; a CA may still come after you for the debt, since paying you $1000 + legal fees is worse than paying you $1000 + legal fees - the amount you owe. In your case, I see the debt is past SOL, so the value and legitimacy of the debt don't really matter. You can look into filing a lawsuit, or if you don't feel like going that route, triple-check that the debt is truly past SOL and send a cease-and-desist letter.
Sparq, Thank you for the detailed answer. I am fairly certain that the debt is beyond the SOL, but there is so much conflicting information that there is always a little room for doubt. Do you know of a solid reference that deals with SOLs per state? The reason I need to know is that during the reporting period of this debt, we have lived in two different states. Thank you, Andrew
It's my understanding that if you move BEFORE your home state's SOL has expired, then that SOL is tolled (paused) until you return What I don't fully understand is what happens to your new state's SOL. I think it will pick up where the old one left off. SOLs can become even more complicated once a "choice of law" provision is applied. Many cardholder agreements contain language like "This agreement is governed by the laws of the state of ____". This means that any legal claims involving the agreement will (in theory) be held to the laws of the listed state, even if the claim is brought in another state. This gets into an issue of substantive versus procedural law, which is way over my head. There are several resources out there regarding SOLs by state - Google "credit card debt statute of limitations". I can't speak as to which ones might be accurate or not. Unfortunately, the answer to your question is that you're going to have to either dig through your state's laws and caselaw on the matter, or hire a lawyer to do some research for you.
