Length of time it takes to Validate?

[YaYa Chick]

Hello,

I'm new but I've been a lurker for many months. I've finally gotten my nerve up to post.

First of all, thank you for the informative board. There is a world of information to be found here.

My question is this; How long does Validation normally take? From the time a letter is sent to the CA, would you say it may take anywhere from 6 months to almost a year?

Thank you in advance.

YaYa

[YaYa Chick]

Please? Does anyone have any information they can contribute to this?

Thank you so much.

[Swede]

Welcome to the board I'm glad you're posting, we're pretty harmless. To your question, there's really no answer. It could take a month or it could take more. I had a CA that removed the listing from my report when I asked for validation and then 5 months later sent me their supposed validation, which wasn't complete anyway.

What's the specifics of your case?

[YaYa Chick]

Thank you Swede for replying and also the warm welcome!

Here's some info on my situation.

Old CC debt. Date of last activity; 6/98. It's been through several CA's.

I had set up arrangements at one time but the girl at the CA that I dealt with had me send her a personal check for $50 and she cashed it. From there on out, I didn't want to send any CA any money! I had tried to deal with the original creditor but to no avail. It was already charged off and turned over. To my understanding it gets purchased from a CA.

Fast forward to present. It has now been with a new CA since August/Sept 02. I have spoken with a lady that had left a message regarding the account. I mentioned to her that I needed to locate all the info I had on the account and would get back with her. I never did locate any of the material since it was getting close to the Holidays when we finally made contact. She has repeatedly tried to make a settlement offer. I have repeatedly told her I don't have $4k to give her! She wants payments.

I am going to send a Validation request stating that I have not recieved any information from them letting me know that this is indeed a debt I owe with the amount she is saying.

The SOL in my state is 6 years.

What is the procedure for the Collection Agency she works for in getting a Judgement against me? Would/could they do that if they haven't after so long of a time?

This CA is AlliedInterstate. I'm not sure if they need to be licensed to collect from me in my state or now I'm wondering if they can even collect since the first CA girl a long time ago did some unethical things?

I wouldn't mind settling with them for less money but they would have to let me make payments. I would want in writing that they couldn't sell this account to another CA.

Can they Garnish my wages with warning me? Does a CA have to inform me of intentions? I'm so confused!

Help and thanks!

YaYa chick

[LadynRed]

They can't garnish anything or sieze any property without first suing you. If they sue, you'd be served a summons and given a court date, so you'd definitely know about it. IF they won and got a judgment, there are exemptions for personal property and depending on your state (where are you ??) they likley won't be able to get a thing. Garnishment isn't allowed in every state either, so that's a factor.

If you want to settle, its time to start putting things in writing only. Phone calls are pointless with CA's and they only try to pressure you and make threats (mostly illegal) and try to scare you. If you've been lurking here, hopefully you've read the debt settlement info and you know where to start.

Oh.. one other thing. You cannot legally keep them from selling the account if you settle. Apparently that is considered restraint of trade. So, best you can do is ask that a 1099-C be issued, which totally cancels out the debt and nothing further can be collected on it. You may have to pay a few dollars in taxes, but its far less than what you'd have to pay yet another CA down the road.

[Edit by LadynRed on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 @ 09:16 AM]

[YaYa Chick]

I'm getting the hang of this posting now! lol. Thank you.

Question; How does an out of town CA get a summons to be served on me in another state?

Also, this account was opened by me in my husbands name with me as the second. I forged his name to get the account. It was a secured card account. I was trying to get some credit in my name... (being brutally honest here and hate revisiting my old sins)

In the process, I ended up hurting his impeccable credit and only enabling my bad credit to linger longer. This is still going to be on my credit until 6/05.

Is it wise to request Validation first or just try to settle it? What I mean is, will the request for validation make them angry enough to not want to settle?

I realize I have to pay the piper. I feel like a total bum for making this happen to my husband. I don't feel bad about myself, I did it, I deserve it. I just want to make sure when it's over, it's over.

I am going to be a regular on this board. I want to help other people that have gotten in situations with their credit and need help and guidance.

I have several close friends that have been screwed because of an innocent mistake in their credit past. It's not fair to good people like that.

Thank you so very, very much.

Ya Ya chick

[YaYa Chick]

Is it wise to request Validation first or just try to settle it? What I mean is, will the request for validation make them angry enough to not want to settle?

Date of last activity on 6/98, if the credit card company was going to sue me wouldn't they already have done it?

Does the Collection agency or Original Creditor sue me?

A little confused here. (I'll stop and absorb all of this before I post another question).

This stuff has to be absorbed in small doses until you learn all about it.

[LadynRed]

A lot depends on your state and whether the account is assigned or purchased. In some states CA's can sue even if they are not the owners of the debt.

They have to sue you where you live. If the CA is in another state and they sue and it goes to court, they hire a lawyer in your area to represent them in court. As I said, these guys are typically unprepared for anything except a default judgment. They don't have any paperwork or history of your debt at all 99% of the time.

As old as this thing is, the possibility of them actually providing proper validation is very slim. Do it, send them a validation letter. If it makes 'em mad.. too bad, once they get your dispute, they have to cease all collection activity, and suing IS collection activity ! Even if they do sue, if you've asked for validation and they havne't coughed it up before court, they're going to HAVE to prove it IN court to win. Odds are they can't and you win.

As for settling, I wouldn't do that unless they validate completely. After 5 years, I wouldn't offer them more than 20% for a settlement - they got it for pennies.

[Edit by LadynRed on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 @ 09:57 AM]

[hotdami812]

<blockquote>Originally posted by LadynRed

A lot depends on your state and whether the account is assigned or purchased. In some states CA's can sue even if they are not the owners of the debt.

They have to sue you where you live. If the CA is in another state and they sue and it goes to court, they hire a lawyer in your area to represent them in court. As I said, these guys are typically unprepared for anything except a default judgment. They don't have any paperwork or history of your debt at all 99% of the time.

As old as this thing is, the possibility of them actually providing proper validation is very slim. Do it, send them a validation letter. If it makes 'em mad.. too bad, once they get your dispute, they have to cease all collection activity, and suing IS collection activity ! Even if they do sue, if you've asked for validation and they havne't coughed it up before court, they're going to HAVE to prove it IN court to win. Odds are they can't and you win.

As for settling, I wouldn't do that unless they validate completely. After 5 years, I wouldn't offer them more than 20% for a settlement - they got it for pennies.

[Edit by LadynRed on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 @ 09:57 AM]

</blockquote>

[hotdami812]

<blockquote>Originally posted by LadynRed

A lot depends on your state and whether the account is assigned or purchased. In some states CA's can sue even if they are not the owners of the debt.

They have to sue you where you live. If the CA is in another state and they sue and it goes to court, they hire a lawyer in your area to represent them in court. As I said, these guys are typically unprepared for anything except a default judgment. They don't have any paperwork or history of your debt at all 99% of the time.

As old as this thing is, the possibility of them actually providing proper validation is very slim. Do it, send them a validation letter. If it makes 'em mad.. too bad, once they get your dispute, they have to cease all collection activity, and suing IS collection activity ! Even if they do sue, if you've asked for validation and they havne't coughed it up before court, they're going to HAVE to prove it IN court to win. Odds are they can't and you win.

As for settling, I wouldn't do that unless they validate completely. After 5 years, I wouldn't offer them more than 20% for a settlement - they got it for pennies.

[Edit by LadynRed on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 @ 09:57 AM]

</blockquote>

if a CA does not own the debt how can they legaly sue? my understanding is the OC is the only one that can file suit unless the CA purchased the account and by that time usually after the sol has expired. can you elaborate?

[LadynRed]

Without checking the statutes for every state, or searching thru all the thread here (it been discussed recently), SOME states allow CA's who are only assignees of the OC to have standing in court - meaning they are considered 'agent's of the OC and can sue on behalf of the OC.

It really depends on the state statute whether CA's who are not the debt owners have any standing in court.

[Edit by LadynRed on Monday, February 10, 2003 @ 02:07 PM]

[Ravenous Wolf]

Ya Ya Chick, You will never make a CA angry. They are employed to make money.

It is kind of like you should never have to worry about being unfair to a car salesman because the car salesman is already being unfair to you. The car salesman knows the real price of the car and what he can sell it for and is forbidden to sell it for less. And he wants to sell the car.

Same thing with the CA.

They want to make money and they are paid to deal with all kinds of situations.

The only people that you cannot negotiate with are like utilities that have a monopoly.

Try the validations to see if you can generate a result. If everything fails, then a CA will still be more than happy to negotiate...

[illegal_alien]

<blockquote>Originally posted by Ravenous Wolf

They want to make money and they are paid to deal with all kinds of situations.

</blockquote>

The reason why we start with more is that way at the end everybody's happy with the outcome. Imagine if I offer settlement for 35% (lowest we are allowed to go) and then debtor wants to go even lower. I start with 60% that gives more room for me to negotiate. Of course, more we collect, more bonus we get too.