I posted a request for help on a Med. Coll. on June 29th. They CA sent back a letter. I am in Cailf. and the SOL is past. The date of service was 11/1995. The letter shows a bal. due of $425.79. They contacted the dentist who said that "due to the length of time since service, paper documentation has been placed into off-site storage." And there "is a charge of $25.00 per hour should you desire retrieval & copy of this documentation. With a minimum charge of $25.00." They also quote the FDCPA, saying my request must be made with 30 days. "Even though the 30-day period has long since passed, out client is willing to provide you with validation of said debt upon payment for their time in retrieving this information." They also mention that three partial payments were made against this debt, 3/97, 4/97, and 10/98. And they "presume that you had no previous dispute with the balance or you would not have made these partial payments." They also mention that unless they hear from us they "will calendar our files ahead 30-days awaiting your payment of $425.97 or we will proceed with normal collection procedures." This is addressed to my DH, whose report this is on. I was the one who received the service, and made the partial payments, he never did. Do I reply to this? and wait the 30 days, then dispute with the CRA's as NOT MINE and Never saw this dentist on this date. Thanks.
OK, a few questions: 1) Did your husband sign anything regarding this bill? I'm assuming you were an adult over 18 at the time of service so it clearly may not be his unless he signed some sort of liability. 2) You have the right to request validation at any point and previous payments do not eliminate that right. 3) What state is the CA in?
Say, Oh yeah! Try again! YOU CANNOT perform ANY collection activites until you have VALIDATED the debt. You have not validated. You cannot validate or verify within 30 days so they must delete. They cannot charge you for researching this or to get the information from the OC. Tht is their problem and/or responsibility. If they do not delete and/or continue with collections, and/or fail to list this account as disputed, you have mega violations and you send intent to sue letter.
Please do answer the questions for me, o.k.? Now, my advice would be to send the next dispute letter in the chain (the one for 30 days after with no validation received) and not even address their stupid answers. Be sure you have the green cards. Let's see what happens and then move on from there! In other words, you sent validation request, they did not provide it, you go on to next validation letter. Only now you have more proof for a judge in the event that should happen in the future. But, you've got more options left first.
There is no law that says if it can't be validated within 30 days it must be deleted. They cannot continue collection activity and they must note it as being disputed. If it came down to a judges decision, the judgme would probably consider 30 days a long enough period of time to validate, but there is no law that says that.
Answere to a few questions: 1) Did your husband sign anything regarding this bill? I'm assuming you were an adult over 18 at the time of service so it clearly may not be his unless he signed some sort of liability. Yes, over 18, we do not recall him signing anything saying he was responsible, but I may have put him down as being responsible. He had also used this dentist. 2) You have the right to request validation at any point and previous payments do not eliminate that right. 3) What state is the CA in? Calif. I did things a little backwards (It was before I found the credit repair boards) Diputed w/ EX and TU on 6/2. Sent validation request to CA on 6/16, the CA signed green card on 6/21 and sent me the letter on 7/1. EX updated 6/29, (collection had been on report twice), one account deleted, verified and updated 6/2, shows open date 1/97. TU shows they verifed 7/2, placed 2/97, past due $504.00. The letter from CA shows a bal. due of $425.79. Neither CRA shows customer diputes.
OK, thanks! It doesn't mean anything in the sense of who you put as responsible, IMHO. Shoot, if my ex-troll put me as responsible, it wouldn't mean I am (and that happened to me and I wasn't responsible...LOL). Secondly, yes, I think you should continue with the next letter in the series.
The question of the hour than is when do you send the second letter? Do you wait the thirty days from the time they signed the green card, or send now? I had another CA send me their reply to validation CRRR, and I had to sign the green card, two med. coll. date of service, 8 & 11/99. They sent as validation two computer printouts, nothing with my signature, and didn't answer weither or not they had been assigned the debt, they put N/A for that question.
My feeling is that you wait 30 days from the first green card, then go since you are in effect saying you received no such thing and they could feasibly still send something (right, sure they will!) LOL
Thanks, I'll wait the thirty days, thats what made the most sense to me too. But I am so new at this, it's hard to know what are the correct steps.
Can charge for validation: A collector may not charge (the consumer) for copies of the documentation of the indebtedness mailed in response to the collector's obligations under 15 USC 1692g § 809(b). To do so could constitute an imposition of a fee or service charge in violation of Section 808(l) of the Act. The cost of obtaining documentation referred to in your letter is more appropriately a cost of doing business by the collector in the same manner as is postage and telephone charges. Mr. John D. Krisor, Jr.-FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
I posted this in another forum, you may wish to adapt it for yourself. If the dentist is still in practice, you might try something new,Send the CRA's a letter with a photocopy of your bill, state that this was the original creditor, and this was the date of service, which accordng to Cal. and Federal law is the start of the 7 year legal reporting period. State that the collection agencies acting as agents of Dr. XXX are illegally re-aging the report of your date of service,thereby creating a slander of your credit and damages to you. Request that the CRA's verify with the ORIGINAL creditor, DrXX the correct date of service.Add that the FTC has given it's opinion that an OC may be liable for damages done by it's agents in false reporting to CRA's or other fraudulent collection activities.Send a copy RRR to the dentist with a covering letter stating that he may be liable for any false reports made by his agents, even if the account was sold to them, if he assists in their misrepresentations by not verifying the correct information to the CRA's.(make sure he gets a copy of the bill also)
