Jump to content

Do I need to sign a DV letter?


Recommended Posts

Seems so basic, but I have a bad thought about the CA to which I am about to send of a DV letter..........The Bureaus. I printed out my letter and hesitated to sign it, thinking they could scan my signature and slap that onto something else. Do I need to, or should I sign this letter?

thank you...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems so basic, but I have a bad thought about the CA to which I am about to send of a DV letter..........The Bureaus. I printed out my letter and hesitated to sign it, thinking they could scan my signature and slap that onto something else. Do I need to, or should I sign this letter?

thank you...

No...

Type your name and type below it Signature deliberately withheld.

Too much is available today to be able to copy and

forge it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This has been debated before.

If you don't sign it, they can say you didn't personally send it and fall behind the debt-fixer defense to legally ignore the letter. Ask any attorney that does this kind of work and they will tell you to sign it.

If you are concerned about anyone lifting your signature, then print your letter on green ledger paper (the type that is light green with darker green # marks) that you can get at any office supply store then sign with a red glitter gel pen. This is absolutely impossible to copy without scanning equipment that costs tens of thousands of dollars...and even then the image will be broken and choppy.

The contrast of the green on green and red is too much for just about all scanning equipment to pick up on and the glitter in the gel ink refracts light from the scanning CCD and breaks up the image even if it can pick it up.

This is the same technique used on the new US currency with the red reflective ink for the denomination (in the lower right corner on the $20 bill)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This has been debated before.

If you don't sign it, they can say you didn't personally send it and fall behind the debt-fixer defense to legally ignore the letter. Ask any attorney that does this kind of work and they will tell you to sign it.

If you are concerned about anyone lifting your signature, then print your letter on green ledger paper (the type that is light green with darker green # marks) that you can get at any office supply store then sign with a red glitter gel pen. This is absolutely impossible to copy without scanning equipment that costs tens of thousands of dollars...and even then the image will be broken and choppy.

The contrast of the green on green and red is too much for just about all scanning equipment to pick up on and the glitter in the gel ink refracts light from the scanning CCD and breaks up the image even if it can pick it up.

This is the same technique used on the new US currency with the red reflective ink for the denomination (in the lower right corner on the $20 bill)

I've got to try this for two reasons:

1. To satisfy my own personal curiousity

2. Because it just sounds cool

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do not affix your signature. It can easily be lifted. Sign it, Signature on Record. Send the DV CMRR, this covers you if you go to court. You can testify with an original of the DV and your green card that yes, it was me if it comes down to that.

Seriously, this is fear is hyped up nonsense. I worked for half a decade as a law department supervisor for one of the large banks. I've been an Admin on these boards for nearly a decade and I have not seen a SINGLE case first hand where a debt collector has used a signature from a DV letter to forge a document. It's always some friend of a friend's other cousin's sister sort of story. In every case I have seen of forged signatures coming up in a collection it was a case of identity fraud by someone close to the victim opening the account... including my own personal experience when someone in the accounting office of a company I once worked for put my SSN on an AMEX app without my knowledge and signed her own name as "on behalf of" and I had to spend years fighting it.

The primary reason is that it would be absoultely stupid for a collector to even try. Forgery of signatures is so easy to prove and it would expose the collector to about a dozen felony criminal charges. Not something they can pay a fine for and walk away... prison time.

Now not signing the documents can be equally stupid for the same reason. If a collector wanted to try their hand at forgery, you just gave them a blank check and made it easier for them. They could sign the letter themselves and they have original ink, not a reproduction. SO THINK ABOUT THAT.

If you are that concerned about your signature being reproduced, use the anti-copying methods I outline above, or pay an attorney to handle the issue for you.

Edited by Methuss
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seriously, this is fear is hyped up nonsense. I worked for half a decade as a law department supervisor for one of the large banks. I've been an Admin on these boards for nearly a decade and I have not seen a SINGLE case first hand where a debt collector has used a signature from a DV letter to forge a document. It's always some friend of a friend's other cousin's sister sort of story. In every case I have seen of forged signatures coming up in a collection it was a case of identity fraud by someone close to the victim opening the account... including my own personal experience when someone in the accounting office of a company I once worked for put my SSN on an AMEX app without my knowledge and signed her own name as "on behalf of" and I had to spend years fighting it.

The primary reason is that it would be absoultely stupid for a collector to even try. Forgery of signatures is so easy to prove and it would expose the collector to about a dozen felony criminal charges. Not something they can pay a fine for and walk away... prison time.

Now not signing the documents can be equally stupid for the same reason. If a collector wanted to try their hand at forgery, you just gave them a blank check and made it easier for them. They could sign the letter themselves and they have original ink, not a reproduction. SO THINK ABOUT THAT.

If you are that concerned about your signature being reproduced, use the anti-copying methods I outline above, or pay an attorney to handle the issue for you.

Where is it written that you have to sign a written correspondence?

With all due respect to your working and board history, I was told by a person

who works as a court mediator not to sign a DV for a CA. And not to sign a Do Not Call.

We are living in a different age and as we get smarter in handling things pro se and pro per, they are going to have to learn all sorts of new tricks.

I, for one, do not want to make it easier on them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.