I am preparing a simply validation letter after receiving a demand letter from a CA. I am self-employed, and the debt is for a yellow page ad I on owed the phone company for. I stopped paying halfway through the contract year. In the demand letter, the CA did not use my name, just my address and a biz name I no longer operate under (for reasons unrelated to this debt) For all I know, they don't have my name. If they did, why wouldn't they use it in the demand letter? Anyway, should I put my name and signature in the validation letter? Should I use the DBA (doing biz under) name they used in the demand letter, or the new one? I don't want to give them anything more than required. Thanks
Don't bother Don't bother sending a validation letter. A debt owed on a yellow pages ad is not a consumer debt and FDCPA does not apply. You can ask that they send you a fully itemized billing and they will most likely do that but if you don't pay them they will take you to court and you will end up paying even more. The chances you could win in court against them are slim.
Actually, on the return envelope they sent they said I have 30 days to request verification of this debt. So, FDCPA must apply. They still have to prove they have the right to collect this debt owed to the phone company. How do I know who they are? I am going to stall this CA as long as I can, and hope they will accept a deal for a lower ammount.
Actually, there is case law which says that a validation notice on a debt which doesn't need one is "gratuitous". Some states may apply the FDCPA to all companies, even OCs, and on debts which are not debts under the FDCPA, so they could have the validation notice on all communications as a CYA.
You can't trust a collection agency. You can't trust a statement by a collection agency. Just because they say that you have 30 days to request a verification does not mean that FDCPA applies. What you need to do is study the law itself so you know what is right and what is not right. What makes you think they have to prove that they have the right to collect? Can you quote me the law which says that? How do you know who they are? Do you mean to tell me they didn't tell you who they are when they contacted you? I seriously doubt that they failed to tell you who they are although that is possible. It sounds to me like you may have been getting some of your ideas from some paytriot (mis-spelling intentional) message forum. The part that causes me to think that is your statement that they have to prove that they have the right to collect. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only way you could force the debt into FDCPA is to prove that most if not all of the amount was used for consumer related purchases or uses and you sure can't prove that a business listing in the yellow pages was used by you in your home or personal life.
So what's to protect me if I pay the CA, then the phone company comes after me somewhere down the road demanding I pay them saying they've never even heard of that CA? How do I know the phone company "listed" with them. Maybe they're crooks with a made up letterhead trying to get money from me. It happens all the time! Besides, the phone company I contracted with originally for the ad was taken over by another company last year. I never signed a contract with that company.
Business debts are expressly not covered under the FDCPA. You need to either find state protections, or you are taking chances. I'm not saying that you shouldn't send them a validation notice, but don't cry foul if they continue collection activity, and use that a business debt isn't a debt under the FDCPA as their defense. Call the phone company and ask them who you need to call, if they tell you that company, then you have your proof.
