Sent certified dv to hunter warfield. They sent letter saying I owe 1602. They sent nothing showing a contract or anything I signed. What is my next step? Thanks in advance for your advice!!!!
So basically they sent you their own letter, with nothing obtained from the original creditor and forwarded as validation of the debt? Is the account yours? When was the last payment made? Is it past SOL? Is it past the 7 year reporting period? Is the amount correct? Have payments made been applied? Are any fees added allowed under the contract?
They are questions for them because they affect the completeness of their validation of the debt. They are separately questions for you to the extent you know, or don't know, primarily as you assess your options. Their answer to these questions need not be the same as what you may already know. For example, what they have sent gives you nothing to indicate that this is a debt that is actually yours, or that the amount is accurate, as there is nothing to indicate that it was obtained from the original creditor and forwarded to you. The fact that this was all they sent in response to a validation request may itself be an indication that they actually have no access to the OC's records, or that some element of that validation or other information they have may undermine their case that you actually owe them what they claim. If they sued you, you would likely demand adequate validation thru discovery, and you might also file a counter suit for FDCPA violations if this is all the "validation" they sent and your validation request was sent timely. If in addition, you knew from your own information or memory that either this is not your debt at all, or that your last payment was made so long ago that SOL had run, that might choose how agressively you went after them. In effect, knowing their "hand", to whatever extent you can know it, can provide you with a more accurate assessment of where you stand, and what the likely outcome of suing them might be, since you might have sufficient information to know the degree of bluff in their incomplete "validation", something they already know.
the sol hasnt run out.they bought the account from another ca, i sent that ca a dv and they removed their info from my cr. then this ca appearred on cr this year
Then if SOL has not yet run, and in the absense of validation obtained from the OC, what do you know of the validity or accuracy of the alleged debt? Is it likely to be erroneous, and if they sued, would you fight it, and if you did fight it, would it be worth the cost?
Since it would be your choice to fight if they sued, and to request thru discovery a proper accounting of the amount of the debt, you might want to send them a letter notifying them that their reply was not proper validation under FDCPA as you requested, since: 1) It was not obtained and forwarded from the original creditor, as required by FDCPA; 2) It did not include any evidence, such as a copy of a contract obtained from the original creditor, that this was your debt or what the terms of that debt were; 3) It did not include any accounting based on records from the original creditor of how they arrived at the amount they claim is due. You should review this with an attorney with expertise in FDCPA and consumer debt collection law, to see if their reply is itself an FDCPA violation for misrepresenting that they have provided "validation" in response to your request, and how best to respond to ensure that you are in the best position to use their failure to validate, should they either continue collection activities or sue without providing validation first. How old is the debt, and how likely is it that they might have added amounts not allowed by the contract?
the debt is 2 years old. I disputed and had the first ca with this account deleted from my cr. i have disputed this account with the new ca and it wont get deleted is it possible to get the account removed because it is a duplicate of an account the cra cuoldnt verify the first time around. if the first company counldnt verify then how is this company?
If you dispute thru the CRA, they just ask the data furnisher if what they are reporting is correct. The CRA has a finite time to complete their investigation of your dispute. In your first dispute, the CA may have indicated to remove it, or they may have just not responded in time, resulting in removal by the CRA.
If they verify information to the CRA that is in fact erroneous, you can sue them under FCRA. If they verify to the CRA, and they have not responded to a timely request for validation, you can sue them under FDCPA. If you disputed the debt and they fail to mark the account as "disputed", you can sue them under FDCPA. If they sued you after receiving but not responding to a timely request for validation, you can sue them under FDCPA. Despite all that, they have not validated although they may claim to have done so, they have verified, and they may sue you to collect on the debt, hence your next step is to talk to an attorney.
