Thanks to the great info on this board, when I was being spoken to like a child from a bill collector from gulf state, I was firing back reponses to his statements and he sounded suprised I knew my rights. Background-I have a providian charge off from year 2000, He started harrasing me a month ago, he called yesterday and demanded a payment, I told him in the mail at this time was a request for validation, he said "I am going to investigate this myself and call you back". I just hung up with him- he said I was given 30 days from when they recieved the account for me to dispute and since I didnt the account was mine, I told them I can do it any time, then he told me he sent out lots of notices, I replied I have no recall of recieving any, he said I would have to get a validation from providian but in the meantime Collection attempts will continue, I told him to look in his mail because I sent a letter last week for all communication to cease, he said"well then we will go ahead and file a judgement " and hung up. do you think he couldnt find the contract with my signature that he would need? now what? should I contact providian and request validation?
I believe if he does not validate within 30 days, you send a second request and if he does not validate 30 days after that you send an estoppel letter giving him 15 days to validate. In my research it is my understanding that if you did not request validation within the first 30 days of them contacting you they can go ahead with a lawsuit but they still have to validate the debt and enclude all the paperwork in the complaint they file with the court. If he threatened to file suit on you when he hung-up the phone and does not follow through then that is a violation. Of course you would have to prove he made the threat. Just my thoughts on this. Tuit
Re: my gulf state collec(providi) e The FDCPA does not provide a time frame for validation. But they sure can't proceed with collection activity until they validate. Also, if he had the documents when he called you, he would not hesitate to send them to you; But since he didn't have them, you can bet he was lying when he threatened a lawsuit, which indeed is another FDCPA violation. Why would you want to contact Providian? Saar
I guess I misunderstood the proceedure, I thought if I sent a valid and they could not show me my signature on a contract then They would have to remove and delte my account. Now I am worried.
Guld state is notorious with their intimidation tactics. Don't fall for these reps. They are paid on commission as they are chewing their nails. Hang up on them or change your phone number. Check the number of complaints against them with with the better business bureau.
That is correct. If they cannot validate or prove it is your account, they cannot continue with collection activity, which includes reporting to the cra's. If I were you, I would go to the www.ftc.gov and look up the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and read it so you will know what they can or cannot do.
Re: my gulf state collec(providi) e Saar I was recently sued by collection atty for this company. I requested validation within the 30 day period. They did not validate instead approx., 45 days after they received my CRRR request for validation they filed a complaint. They did not enclude any contracts, agreements, no proof whatsoever with the complaint they filed with the court. So it is quite possible that they will sue her without validation. Further when I was sued I had an atty request validation (although he was of the opinion they weren't required to validate either) anyway they never responded to my atty's (2) requests for validation. In short I ended up doing my own defense and got lucky, at the last moment they dismissed the case. It may be against the FDCPA to sue before validating but it does happen. Also it seems that somewhere in my searching I did read where they can sue during validation, but in the end they will have to prove the debt is yours, either by a signed contract/agreement or some other evidence which would satisfy the court that the debt is yours. Again this is just based on my recent experience. Tuit
Re: my gulf state collec(providi) e did you really owe anything or was it a paid chargeoff? I am trying to figure where I'd stand.
Re: my gulf state collec(providi) e Star, the debt had been sold and the account # changed so I didn't know what it was for. If I were you I would follow through with requests for validation as indicated on this board. If they fail to validate I would then send the estoppel letter. What have you got to lose? The worst that will happen is that they will validate and at least then you will know how you should proceed. You already have the horrible gut feeling and stress of this problem and his threat to sue so at least fight back and make absolutely sure that it is your debt he is collecting on. I am not qualified to give you advice, many on this board are. But I know the bottom line is that you have to make decisions based on your situation and fight for yourself and your rights no one else can do it for you. I was able to answer the complaint pro se, I read everything on this board, plus FDCPA, FTC opinion letters, Rules of Civil Procedure, Bill Bauer answered many questions and directed me to many helpful resources (never charged me a dime) and I got through it. I do not recommend defending yourself to anyone, it is dangerous and a most terrifying experience. I had no choice other than to let them get a judgment against me, so I went for it. The suit had been filed before I had found this board (actually found the board because of it) so I tell you to follow through with validation, if they ignore your request to validate and just sue you at least you will have some arguments and defenses that you can raise in court. Sorry this is so long, as you can see I am not very good at expressing my thoughts, but I very much want to help. After all this, what I am trying to say is if you insist that they validate it may stop them from filing a complaint...who knows Tuit
