Negative DV Response Quoting FTC

[stahrgayzr]

Negative DV Response

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Hello All,

I am a newbie and hope to get your advice on this reponse I received from a DV. Please keep in mind this DV request is on an old medical debt (2001 in TX I'm now in GA) and don't ever remember getting any communication from them but that is not a certainty. So, the DV was not within the first 30 days of their initial communication. I kept the letter simple and asked for their assistance in providing information on an alleged debt by providing the following:

• Specific amount of alleged debt along with the name of the Creditor.

• A statement that you have obtained verification of the debt from the original creditor.

• A statement that I will be provided with the name and address of the original creditor.

• A statement that any communication regarding this alleged debt that you are attempting to collect and any information obtained will not be used for any other purpose than this.

• Proof that you are assigned to collect the debt by the creditor.

• Detailed payment history, starting with the original creditor.

• Copy of the original signed debt agreement or credit card application.

• Agreement with any of your clients that grants you the authority to collect on this alleged debt.

Thier response was to provide me a contact name and phone number from the OC to receive the detailed line itmes as it is a HIPPA violation for them to have the information. I checked HIPPA, it is not a violation.

Furthermore they responded:

"All of your other demands have no basis in law. The Federal Trade Commission states that this section of the law is "...intended to assist the consumer when a debt collector inadvertently contacts the wrong consumer at the start of his collection efforts."

Please give me your feedback and opinions of this DV response and what steps I have available to me. I belive this to be past SOL in both TX and GA

Many Thanks!

Stahrgayzr

[cjtx]

Medical info is confidential, so they are just protecting themselves by telling you to contact the OC to get details.

The other part where they quote the FTC, they are basically saying you had 30 days from the first dunning letter, and they don't have to DV anymore, which is true under FDCPA.

Check your state's law, maybe there is some consumer law like the one you'd have if you were still in Texas, where you can DV anytime.

[IHateCAs]

The other part where they quote the FTC, they are basically saying you had 30 days from the first dunning letter, and they don't have to DV anymore, which is true under FDCPA.

It seems like they are saying much more than that.

[Optimus_SubPrime]

If you haven't made any payment on this account since six years ago today, I'd send a letter cease & desisting this joker. The law may not require him to verify at this point, but it doesn't require you to deal with him, either. Let him go pound sand.

I'd send him a letter that said, "Since you have chosen not to provide me with the information I asked for in my dispute, I refuse to pay this account."

The FDCPA treats both a refusal to pay notice and a cease communications notice as the same thing. If he sends you another collection letter, or even the validation you requested, he has violated 1692c©. He's allowed to inform you that he is terminating collection, or that the creditor may take other action, but if he's not careful there, he may violate 1692e(5), since the debt would be beyond SoL, and he is a CA, and not the OC.

If you are going to C&D him, be sure you (and your spouse, and your mom, and even your HMO) truly haven't made a payment on this account in 6 years, because you may find yourself on the other end of a lawsuit if someone has. You might want to call the OC and get whatever information they have, and see if you can confirm the date of last payment.

[LadynRed]

they are basically saying you had 30 days from the first dunning letter, and they don't have to DV anymore, which is true under FDCPA.

No, it is NOT true. The 30-days to dispute refers to the CESSATION OF COLLECTION activities, NOT your right to ask for validation at any time. Once the initial 30 days has passed, they just don't have to stop hounding you, but they do still have to mark the tradeline as 'in dispute'. Even within the initial 30 days, they don't EVER have to validate - they do have to cease collections.

[Optimus_SubPrime]

This seems like an appropriate place to quote from collection attorney Gary Nitzkin's blog:

The dangers of credit reporting to collection agencies

I just read a very interesting opinion by Judge Cleland in the case of Purnell v Arrow Financial, 2007 U.S. Dist Lexis 7630 (Decided Feb 2007).

The collection agency defendant reported a debt that was disputed by the consumer to Equifax over a period of several months. The court held that each of these reportings to Equifax, without the dispute marker, constituted a discrete violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Without boring you with the details, the statute of limitations for an FDCPA action is one year. In this case, however, that statute was renewed every time the collection agency reported the debt without the dispute marker.

Moral of the story to collection agencies - Be careful to report any debt that has a dispute with that dispute marker.

[stahrgayzr]

Thank you Everyone!

I suspected that I could still DV dispite the 30-day rule and that it mainly applied to cessation of collection.

No one has made payment toward this account and will be fine in that area and I will move forward with contacting the OC and request payment history before sending the CA a C&D.

Medical bills are considered closed accounts, where exactly does that fall under the SOL definitions?

Thanks again to all that have given their advice!