May I please have a few opinion on my Intent to Sue Letter? I found one located in one of the previous posts and formatted it to fit my needs. Collection Agency Re: Account XXXXXX Reference # : XXXXXXXX NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE LAWSUIT To Whom It May Concern: This letter shall serve as formal notice of my intent to file a lawsuit against your company, due to your blatant and objectionable disregard of the law. On 07/30/02 you received a demand for validation and cease communication letter from me. This was sent certified mail that was signed by XXXXXXX on 07/30/02. Although you did respond to this request, you did not provide me with the legitimate proof I have lawfully requested. The only form of validation you provided me with was â??Creditor Disclosure Statementâ? that I included in my request for validation. This document was returned incomplete and signed by a representative of your company on 7/30/02. Included in the same envelope with the partially completed â??Creditor Disclosure Statementâ? was a letter on company letterhead that requested I contact your â??Asset Investigation Departmentâ? at 1-xxx-xxx-xxx. This letter was signed and dated by XXXX XXXXX on 7/30/02. As you are well aware, this is continued collection activity, which is strictly prohibited by the FDCPA. As a gesture of goodwill, I sent a 2nd demand for validation letter on 08/29/02 via certified mail signed by XXX XXXX on 09/05/02. All of these you have chosen to ignore. The only request that you have failed to ignore was the investigation of this account by Experian. I disputed this account with Experian in September 2002, and your company verified it as correct in October 2002. How is this possible? The FDCPA states you must cease collection activity until you have produced verification of the alleged debt if so requested. As per the FTC, this includes reporting to the credit bureaus, which you obviously have done illegally. It is quite evident that no such proof of this alleged debt exists or you would have provided it in the previous 2 ½ months since it was requested. Also, when an alleged debt is disputed, a notation must be entered on the debtors credit report showing the item as in dispute. Again, this was not done. Iâ??m sure you are aware of the consequences in violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as well as the multiple violations your company is now responsible for. If not, let me point them out for you. FCRA 1. § 623. Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies [15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2] (a)(3) â?? Duty to provide notice of dispute. 2. § 611. Procedure in case of disputed accuracy [15 U.S.C. § 1681i] (5) Treatment of inaccurate or unverifiable information. FDCPA 1. § 809. Validation of debts [15 USC 1692g] As per the FDCPA: § 813. Civil liability [15 USC 1692k] (a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, any debt collector who fails to comply with any provision of this title with respect to any person is liable to such person in an amount equal to the sum of -- (1) any actual damage sustained by such person as a result of such failure; (2) (A) in the case of any action by an individual, such additional damages as the court may allow, but not exceeding $1,000 If you wish to resolve this matter, this will be your last opportunity to do so. I am willing to entertain any reasonable settlement offer presented by your company. However, given your prior actions and total disregard for all previous attempts made by myself to resolve this matter in a peaceful, non-litigious manner I am not offering you a resolution to this matter. I have already chosen my form of resolution. I am sure that upon reviewing the enclosed documents you will see that the odds are in my favor. The alleged debt is a total of $XXX.XX. The amount that could potentially be awarded to me is 5-6 times greater than the amount of the alleged debt. Is this a gamble your company wishes to take? Please be aware if I fail to hear from your company by Thursday, October 17, 2002, I will be filing a lawsuit Friday, October 18 for multiple violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. I will be seeking civil liability in the amount of $1000 per violation. Please also be aware I will file a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, The Texas State Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau. Thank you and I look forward to resolving this most expeditiously. Me cc: Federal Trade Commission Texas Attorney General Illinois Attorney General Enclosures: Initial Validation Request Creditor Disclosure Statement Request to contact your Asset Investigation Department 2nd Validation Request
Get rid of the guesses at what could happen in court. I.e. "I could win 6 to 7 times what I am asking" etc. and the comment; "Is this a gamble your company is willing to take?". The answer may be yes. You do not want them weighing the risks, you want them to make you go away. Remain factual, do not ask them questions, simply tell them how the cow eats the cabbage. And offer specific settlement conditions. Other than that it sounds good.
I think this entire section needs work. It loses the professional qaulity tof he rest of the letter. It sounds angry and rambles a bit. Consider deleting the From "however" on. Consider adding "please find the enclosed documents evidencing your repeated violations. In exchange for full settlement of this matter and my promise to not file suit against your company regarding this matter I will accept.....You fill in the rest.
I would wait until the SOL is up before I sent it. What if they decide to sue you before you sue them. You never know what a judge will do especially in small claims and most have no clue about the fcra or fdcpa. When I filed against experian a couple days ago the guy told me I could not file this in small claims and when I quoted the whole jurisdiction thing he then asked what fcra meant. Maybe if he pulls his credit report and see how badly the CRAs messed it up he would become informed.
