Received letter from CA re. charged off account.....sent validation.....received green card back in mid-May.....no further communication from them until today when they sent a NOTICE OF INTENT PRIOR TO CIVIL COURT ACTION RECOMMENDATION which states that if I dont respond back within ten days as to my intent on this account that they will recommend to the OC that court action should be instituted. I am planning on sending the estoppel letter tomorrow - but wanted to understand if this is a violation on their part - or if this is legitimate correspondence and what else, if anything that I should do.
They can "recommend" whatever they want to the OC, however, without validating this debt to you beforehand, they cannot (legally) sue you. If they do proceed with filing a lawsuit, they would be engaging in continued collection activity. Which is a violation you can countersue for. Continued collection activity is not allowed during the validation period, until the CA can produce validation of the debt, and the valdiation period does not end 30 days after the CA signs for the consumers validation letter, it is in effect either (forever), or until validation is produced. It sounds more like a scare tactic than anything else. I suggest you proceed with your estoppel letter, include copies of the green card showing they signed for your validation letter over 30 days ago, and that they are still bound by your original request for validation, and if they decide to continue collection activity, it's YOU who will be sueing them.
