Anonymous Posted October 20, 2002 Report Share Posted October 20, 2002 I have been corresponding with a law firm who are acting for a collection agency. I sent them your standard validation letter and they responded with all sorts of photocopies. However, they tell my my information is incorrect and that verification of debt will take 60-90 days and the FDCPA does not place a time limit on providing this information. We are now 60 days past my original letter requesting verification and they also have not provided me with anything about the credit agency as far as I can see. They have only provided documents from the credit card compnay to which I'd owed the original debt. What do I do now? Any advice much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave38 Posted October 20, 2002 Report Share Posted October 20, 2002 1.What kind of documents did they send you, and did they have your signature on them?2.Did their letter state anything about this is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose?3.I believe they are supposed to verify just like the credit reporting agencies are supposed to, within 30 days:FCRA 611(1)(A) In general. If the completeness of any item of information contained in a consumer's file at a consumer reporting agency is disputed by the consumer and the consumer notifies the agency directly of such dispute, the agency shall reinvestigate free of charge and record the current status of the disputed information, or delete the item from the file in accordance with paragraph (5), before the end of the 30-day period begining on the date on which the agency recieves the notice of the dispute from the consumer.If it has been sixty days, they obviously do not have any type of actual verification. I would send a cease and desist letter(even though the validation letter did the same thing),send the CRAs a copy of your letter you sent the CA, along with your green card,along with this letter:CompanyAddress1Address2City, State ZipDateRE: Account XXXXX-XXXX-XXXXXDear Sir/Madame:I am writing to dispute the account referenced above. I have disputed this account information as inaccurate with you, and you have come back to me and stated you were able to verify this debt. How is this possible? Under the laws of the FDCPA, I have contacted the collection agency myself and have been unable to get them to verify that this is indeed my debt.I enclose copies of my requests to the collection agency, asking them to validate my debts, and the receipts showing that I sent these letter certified signature request. This debt is not mine and I was given no evidence of my obligation to pay this debt to this collection agency.The FCRA requires you to verify the validity of the item within 30 days. If the validity can not be verified, you are obligated by law to remove the item. There is a clear case of unverified debt here, and I urge you to remove this item before I am forced to take legal action.In the event that you can not verify the item pursuant to the FCRA, and you continue to list the disputed item on my credit report I will find it necessary to sue you for actual damages and declaratory relief under the FCRA. According to this regulation, I may sue you in any qualified state or federal court, including small claims court in my area.While I prefer not to litigate, I will use the courts as needed to enforce my rights under the FCRA.I look forward to an uneventful resolution of this matter.Sincerely, [Edit by dave38 on Saturday, October 19, 2002 @ 07:00 PM] [Edit by dave38 on Saturday, October 19, 2002 @ 07:01 PM] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymous Posted October 20, 2002 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2002 Thank you so much, Dave! The documents I received were simply some original crdit card statements and a piece of paper that had some details about me - where I worked, etc - on it. Nothing they have sent has been signed by me. They have virtually given me no proof that the collection agency they represent or they themselves have the right to collect this debt. When I wrote to them originally I told them I disputed the amount of the debt and I also considered that any moneys owed were owed to the original creditor. They now say "because you did not dispute this debt, the law permits us to now assume this debt is valid." Is the law firm the debt collector or is the colection agency they represent? (CACV inc.) And is it still possible for the original creditor ( a bank) to come after me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave38 Posted October 20, 2002 Report Share Posted October 20, 2002 FDCPA 809©The failure of a consumer to dispute the validity of a debt under this section may not be construed by any court as an admission of liability by the consumer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted October 21, 2002 Report Share Posted October 21, 2002 You tell them that you never received notice via the mail that these collections existed (which is a violation of the FDCPA, BTW). If they tell you they did, tell them to prove it. Therefore, your notification was when you pulled your credit report. They still must respond to the request, which they have. However, even though they RESPONDED, they did not provide proper validation to you and now must remove the collections from your credit report.Don't worry, you are doing fine. [Edit by admin on Monday, October 21, 2002 @ 09:20 AM] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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