I am sending a Cease and Desist letter to UCB. They are calling my house at all hours, even on the weekends. They now have a HUMAN posing as the auto-dialer on the phone. She just called now. It goes to the voice mail so they think it's me. This person is really stupid that's posing as the auto-dialer. What happens when i send my letter out today and they still call my house. It's usually the auto-dialer calling even on the weekends. But now it's the actual human posing as that auto-dialer. I'm not giving them any information. They are collecting a debt I understand that. But they are going to tell me they want it in full and they want it with my checking account info etc. That's not happening. I'll get a copy of my credit report and dispute it first. If I send this letter in the mail do they have to tell me who the original creditor is?
When you send the Cease and Desist letter they are legally required to stop contacting you. If they keep trying you can report them to the FTC and if they make any threats or begin harassing you, you can actually sue them for violating your rights (there is an MSN Money article about that which you can find by googling "MSN money sue debt collector" - I can't post links yet because of my post number). The cease and desist letter doesn't require them to tell you who the original creditor is, but you should be able to ask them over the phone. They should have informed you what exactly the debt the are collecting is from. It would be good to know what you're paying off before you give them any money, eh? -Jason
You need to send a debt validation letter in order for them to tell you who the original creditor is. You have 30 days from receipt of their first letter to have them validate the debt. They are required under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to show proof that you owe the debt or else they can not collect on it. They are also not allowed to sue you for the debt until they validate it as well. Good luck!
debteye is close, but not 100%. Correct: you have 30-days to ask for validation after they notify you of their intention to collect a debt. You should almost always send the "D&V" (dispute and validation request) letter after you are notified by a CA. Incorrect: they have to show proof that you owe the debt. That would be nice, but all the FDCPA requires to satisfy the validation requirement is that they tell you the name and address of the original creditor. The idea behind the validation requirement was to make it possible for alleged debtors to resolve matters of mistaken identity. The only venue in which a CA must "prove" anything is in court (and even then...) Correct: They can't continue collection activities until they provide validation. That's correct, but remember, validation is a pretty low bar. Besides, nowadays, most places send that information in their initial correspondence so if they'll just send you another letter that looks like the first one. Sometimes they'll include a photocopy of the last statement, but they don't have to and that will still count as validation (as long as they include at least the name and address of the OC). Fuzzy: They can't sue you until they provide validation. That's not so cut-and-dried. That would be my understanding (in that a lawsuit would constitute a collection activity), but I haven't seen that applied consistently. In any case, meeting validation is pretty easy so, if they want to sue you, they just send out a letter with the name/address of the OC and then send the Sheriff with the summons. What is not clear from your story is whether the CA has met the requirement to send you a letter within 5-days of their initial contact. The FDCPA requires a CA to send you a letter with information about the debt and your rights under the FDCPA within 5 days of the time you first become aware of their collection activity. If they don't, you have a cause of action for a civil suit against the CA. If they haven't done this and they are really annoying, file a claim in small-claims court over this. If you do that, remember that the matter for the court to decide is whether or not the CA complied with the law, NOT whether or not you owe the money. Of course they could say, gosh it must have got lost in the mail and, oh by they way, we are countersuing for the debt. So this approach isn't all rainbows and unicorns, but it could get them to pay you and move on to an easier target. (Lawsuits are expensive and eat into the CA's profit margin). Good luck!
