harryren Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 Hello everyone,Several months ago I recieved notice from CA regarding a charged off debt & informing me that they would persue Arbitration. I sent them a cease and desist letter, a refusal of arbitration letter and a DV letter, all certified w/ return reciept. However these letters were all sent 60 days after their notice (so i missed the 30 day window). They stopped calling me, did not validate and did not reply to my initial letters. They did however continue with arbitration. I recieved 2 letters indicating that they would file a claim with NAF. I did nothing. They won an arbitration award and sent a third letter indicating that they would accept a settlement (now grossly inflated) or else the award would be sent to local counsel for confirmation. I called them to find out if they had referred this case to local counsel and to ask for a specific name to send copies of my letters to and a second request for validation. The robot on the phone confirmed my telephone # put me on hold for ten minutes and I was disconnected. Suddenly the phone calls have resumed.1. Have I given them some unknown permission to resume calling me by contacting them??2. Is their continuation of arbitration an FDCPA violation if they have not validated even though I am outside to 30 day window? I have read a lot on this and still don't have a clear picture.....3. Should I just sit back, record these messages and rack up $1000 a pop??wondering how many violations I have here......thanks,Harry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 Several months ago I recieved notice from CA regarding a charged off debt & informing me that they would persue Arbitration. I sent them a cease and desist letter, a refusal of arbitration letter and a DV letter, all certified w/ return reciept. However these letters were all sent 60 days after their notice (so i missed the 30 day window). They stopped calling me, did not validate and did not reply to my initial letters. They did however continue with arbitration. What do you mean by "Continued with arbitration"? I recieved 2 letters indicating that they would file a claim with NAF. I did nothing. What is NAF?They won an arbitration award and sent a third letter indicating that they would accept a settlement (now grossly inflated) or else the award would be sent to local counsel for confirmation. I called them to find out if they had referred this case to local counsel and to ask for a specific name to send copies of my letters to and a second request for validation. The robot on the phone confirmed my telephone # put me on hold for ten minutes and I was disconnected. Suddenly the phone calls have resumed.1. Have I given them some unknown permission to resume calling me by contacting them??Is this a different lawyer/collection agency?2. Is their continuation of arbitration an FDCPA violation if they have not validated even though I am outside to 30 day window? I have read a lot on this and still don't have a clear picture.....It could be grounds for dismissal. HOWEVER, not sure what you meant when you said you did nothing for arbitration. Did they send you an interogatory? Did they send you notice when the arbitration was going to take place and you just didn't go? If so, that could be grounds for them getting it. Did you send the refusal of arbitration to the courts?3. Should I just sit back, record these messages and rack up $1000 a pop??Right now you have a very real judgment against you, I would not just sit back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recovering Attorney Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 If the creditor took you to arbitration and you ignored it, how are they violating the FDCPA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryren Posted December 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 Sorry for not being entirely clear....My FDCPA violation question was directed primarily at the resumption of telephone calls by the CA. It is the same CA that was initially sent the C&D letter.The CA filed a claim with NAF (National Arbitration Forum) after I had sent a refusal to participate in arbitration, and after I requested DV. I was sent adequate notice by the NAF which I ignored and and the CA was granted an arbitration award. This all occurred after I requested DV and refused to participate in arbitration. So far, there has been no attempt to have the award confirmed locally. I plan to file a motion to bar the confirmation of the award if it is persued locally.One of my biggest questions remains: is continued collection activity after DV is requested a FDCPA violation? I understand that DV can be requested after the 30 day window - but do CA's have to cease collections ?? or is that only good within 30 days?? So what good is DV after 30 days if the CA can still continue collection activity, proceed with arbitration, etc...So the CA can continue collection activity if I DV after 30 days? but they can't actually collect??? very confused here.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 NAF = National Arbitration Forum, the Wolpoff & Abramson lackies...The whole arbitration thing is an attempt to actually circumvent the FDCPA. You need to think of them as separate issues. The "award" from the NAF doesn't mean squat until its turned into a judgement in a court of law. I'm not aware of any case law or FTC rulings that specifically state that the arbitration process is a violation of the FDCPA, unless this is MBNA and they stuck the change of terms into one of your billing statements. If the arbitration clause was part of the agreement that you signed, then maybe that CAN get a judgement. But...if a CA is calling you in regards to the debt...and you have asked this particular one for validation, then, yes, they are violating the FDCPA. But...just to be sure, send whoever is calling a DV, limited C&D, CMRRR just to make sure. If they continue more than once more, then yes, start recording.You probably want to read the "Arbitration" sticky at the top for more info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 Okay, your clarification snuck in before my last reply...It could be that the CA is now trying to collect on the "award" from NAF...which they may be considering a separate debt. You will probably have to to DV them again.I would bet that they respond with something to the effect of "...we've got this award...here's the proof..." and they'll just ignore the orginal debt. All of which means that you may wind up in court. What you'll have to do is show the court that the arbitration award is associated with something you're not sure you owed in the first place because they didn't validate the orginal debt. Not impossible, but tough, I'll bet.Again, arbitration and the FDCPA are two different issues. Under the FDCPA, a CA is supposed to cease collection activity until the validate. The question is...is arbitration covered by the FDCPA...and also, which debt are the now trying to collect..the original one, or the award from NAF.I'm not sure there's case law to cover all this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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