Pd Chgoff/Orig Creditor/Validation

Life's like that.

Be that as it may, however, I would like you to see the words of just one happy person.
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Dear Bill, hello!
I am thrilled to let you know the advice you gave me
worked! I have a dear friend who had some questions and I was hoping you
might help her!
I went to the message board and could not post a question!! Do not know why!
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Ignore my previous post...

yep, you're right. somehow I switched threads and posted Attention Deficit Poster Need more caffeine I guess.

 

Pat,
I devised my own short and sweet validation letter. Here it is:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to request a validation of a debt you say that I owe. I know nothing of this debt, as it is not mine, and I donâ??t know whose debt it is. For your convenience, here is the account number in question: 991587XXX.

Please be aware that I am not requesting verification that you have my mailing address, but rather, validation that I have a contractual obligation to you.

Thank you for your time,

 

Pat,
I have had a couple experiences with charged off cards. I have never paid them back, nor will I ever. The point I am trying to make is that it doesnt matter if the charge off has been paid or not paid, they still will have to respond to validation or not respond, its their choice. You are right when you say that you will have to bluff them. Sometimes letter writing is not enough. I would work around internally also. Dont speak to customer reps who know nothing, work your way around and talk to their legal dept and collections dept. Tell those people that you want proof. More than likely they will not be able to provide you any. Send out a validation letter, tell them that you have with a phone call. Bug them too death, every day until you get results. That is how I did it. They just wanted to get rid of me and it wasnt worth their time and they deleted it. i did this with discover and Federation dept stores.....

 

make sure in your communications that you are as polite as pie. Also make sure to right down the times, name of the person you spoke to, ext #'s etc. You are trying to address the person that can actually take care of your problem and finding them is not alway easy. This is the person that you want to address all of your correspondence,letter writing etc....

 

Well, assuming that you are starting with a fresh new validation letter, you can hardly accuse them of violating anything unless special circumstances exist in your specific situation that I am currently unaware of.

And as far as taking matters up on the phone, I never do that and the simple reason I never do that is that although I would record the conversation, I cannot use tape recorded phone conversations in any possible future court action. It is simply no allowed, and is in fact illegal to tape someone when they are unaware that they are being tape recorded. On top of that, any tape recorded conversation should have a series of little beeps going every few seconds so that the person being taped will be reminded that taping is taking place. The laws are pretty strict when it comes to playing any tape recorded conversation. You can use it as a memory tool for your own review only with no problems but the hot second the existance of the tape becomes known to any third party, severe legal problems can result.

On top of that, on the phone they are very adept at "bullying" tactics and most of us are not "fast" enough or well enough trained to counter their tactics. So phone conversations in which there is any chance of intimidation tactics being used puts us at a huge disadvantage in many cases.



Why don't we take this up in emai?

 

I'm not going to bother to quote any part of your post to me questioning my reasoning or application. It isn't necessary for me to do so because I agree with all that you have said.

My statements were meant only for the sole instance of dealing with collection agencies.

Dealing with original creditors is, in my opinion, seldom if ever "dangerous" almost no matter what transpires during the conversation. They are not any more "trained" to bully people than the debtor is. Both parties are about on the same plane in that respect.

Glad you questioned me on the point because as it was, someone else may have needed the extra clarification as well. Your post prevented the possibility of misunderstandings.

 

Honestly, AG and BBB don't make Equifax squirm.

Well, I can't argue with your point because it's the truth and if we all don't know that, it's a safe bet that most of us believe that with all our hearts and souls.

But there is another line of thinking I believe to have it's merits.

Here it is.

The credit bureaus all have a shining report from the BBB. They didn't get that by accident, so either they paid enough to bribe it out of the BBB they own the damned thing lock, stock and barrel so they get what the want, or they actually put in the time and effort to resolve complaints so they keep their images bright and shiny.

I'd be very willing to believe they bribe their way into it, and otherwise couldn't care less, but I'm also willing to believe that there is some chance they just might make special efforts to resolve complaints to the BBB.

In that event, however unlikely, answering BBB complaints is going to take time and office resources, and if they don't resolve complaints satisfactorily, then they just might lose their reputations. Personally, I'd like to help them lose it so people could get an honest report out of the BBB for a change.

If I could get an honest report out of the BBB saying in net effect that they are in fact the bunch of skunks I think they are, then I could use that to psycological advantage in disputes from time to time.

So my whole point is that if enough people were to complain to the BBB and cause them enough grief that they simply flubbed the dub, then they would not only have less time to do their silly verifications but would give them the public reputation I think they deserve as well.

What do you think?

 

Bill,
I have filed a complaint against the Equifax affiliate in my area. They have responded with a notice that they are verifying information. I havent seen any results yet, and I am not sure how long the BBB will keep this open. You do have a good point..

 

Well, I have no idea how much good would be accomplished by my suggestion. All I know is that they don't deserve the glowing reports they get as far as I am concerned.

It would seem logical that they couldn't take too many hits without starting to get something less than what they have now unless they are in some kind of cahoots with the BBB which would not surprise me in the least.

And if someone having problems with them knew that they had a bad set of raps with the BBB, mention of the fact might get some action that otherwise might not happen.

There are ways to force them to publish their bad raps to the public as well, and I'm quite sure they wouldn't like that one little bit.

 

looking for info in this are

I basically took out the FDCPA quotes (since orig creditors aren't subject to it) and I put in FCRA bits and pieces. that the debt was over 500 so they'd have to have a contract on file or it violates the statute of frauds anyway... (debt doesn't exist w/out a contract over 500)....
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Mary, where did you specifically find info regarding debt doesn't exist w/out a contract for amounts over $500. I have a situation I am trying to clear up and this would be very useful. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Matt
Still rebuilding.........with success though!

 

Re: looking for info in this are

I basically took out the FDCPA quotes (since orig creditors aren't subject to it) and I put in FCRA bits and pieces. that the debt was over 500 so they'd have to have a contract on file or it violates the statute of frauds anyway... (debt doesn't exist w/out a contract over 500)....
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Would you mind explaining why the FDCPA does not apply to original creditors?