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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 11:54 am Subject: DV follow up letter

I've sent out several DV letters and it's coming up n 30 days. I need to send a follow up letter to the CA's. What is a good letter to use? Don't they by law have to validate within 30 days of receipt of my request and if not, it has to be removed?

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 12:30 pm Subject:

I have been told they can take as long as 90 days to answer a debt validation letter. It is in no way far that they can legally give us 30 days, but they can take forever.

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:16 pm Subject:

If I'm not mistaken, by law they have to validate within 30 days and someone correct me if I'm wrong. I think when they send something back to a consumer saying 90 days, then we accept that if the consumer doesn't push back and say "no, you have 30 days." Some of the follow up letter templates I have say that if they are outside the 30 limit, then they are in violation of the FDCPA. Plus the CA can't just send you a computer printout showing a bill. I had one just do that and I'm going to send back saying not sufficient. That is spelled out in the Wollman opinion. Nor can they serve you any kind of summons when they send back the debt validation to the consumer. That is also a violation of the FDCPA. Some CA's do that too. Send you the debt validation documents you requested along with a summons. (I've been reading a lot in between posts).

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:30 pm Subject:

Outlaw here is my follow up letter I sent to OCC when I did not hear from them in regards to my 1st DV letter. I just sent it last week so I can't say it was succesful but you can tweak it for your own use if you want and see what happens

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:40 pm Subject:

I like that one because it's simple. Here is a more strongly worded letter that I will be sending. It cites why I believe they have 30 days to validate the debt.

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:33 pm Subject:

Outlaw- there is no time limit for when a CA has to validate. I have been sending DV letters and follow up letters since Jan. of this year to LVNV and their many companies, still no response. Good Luck-I also sent copies of ALL my DV letters once to show them how many I sent, still no response!!..Karen

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 10:20 pm Subject:

so then what are you supposed to do if they do not respond? Wait for the SOL to run out? If you are trying to validate a debt or even dispute one, there has to be some sort of limit to when they can respond. I know it can be state to state. I am in WA. But do you know of a link that lists all states?

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:54 pm Subject:

Go to this link for seeing the listings of all states.

http://fair-debt-collection.com/statue-limitations.html

A CA is not bound to validate the date within a fixed period. But that does not mean they can keep calling and attempt collections on wrong reasons. You have the legal right to stop them from doing collections on you. Cease and desist letter in such a situation is the most powerful legal ammunition. After receiving your letter, the CA is restricted from contacting you further. If they do call, federal laws are violated and you get the legal case against them. Make your case even stronger by recording their phone calls. You should know your state laws in this regard if secretly recording is permissible in your state.

You can stand with a legal case for every FDCPA violation the collection agency does and be compensated up to the extent of damages.

Anon Recovering Debtor · Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 8:03 am Subject: Failure to validate

Mattisimous, Bossy4455 is right -- the law does not give any time limit for a CA to respond to a DV request. But who cares? Once you've sent a DV, the FDCPA states that it is unlawful for the CA to engage in any further collection activity unless and until they've validated the debt, meaning that if they never respond at all, they can't collect at all.

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 8:51 am Subject:

I would take no response as an indication that the debt is null and void especially when you send out so many DV letters, if it ends up in court(which it most likely won't) you have all that evidence to present to the judge stating you acted in good faith and tried to comnmunicate with the company, they on the other hand did not act in good faith

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 9:23 am Subject:

In my opinion, if you send a DV and receive no reply, rather than complaining, you should actually consider yourself fortunate. If the CA doesn't validate the debt, they can't collect it -- and if my own admittedly-anecdotal experience is any indication, there's a good chance that they won't validate. So far this year, I've sent out four DVs, to four different CAs. Three of them didn't even try to validate, and one of them sent back incomplete information (which is not legally regarded as validating the debt).

I used to send out C&Ds right away when hearing from a CA. Now I don't; instead, I send a DV. If you send a C&D, they're legally allowed to respond with a threat of legal action (if the threat is sincere, that is). However, if you send a DV, they can't do anything at all unless and until they validate.

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 11:12 am Subject:

A bad debt buyer bought one of my old credit cards; magically the balance went up over $500 as soon as they bought it. I sent a DV certified and requested their calculation; mainly I wanted to see how they came up with the extra $500 because I think they are charging interest they are not allowed to charge.

Instead of sending me anything verifying the debt, they sued me. Just got the summons the other day (which, by the way was mailed = not properly served). They are playing games trying to get me to not show up in court, so they can get a default judgment.

I am filing a counterclaim, and suing them for violating FDCPA on at least 4 counts. I will show up to court with my evidence; I just don't know how hard it will be to fight my own case without an attorney.

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 11:15 am Subject:

As long as you keep your cool, speak clearly and precisly, present the evidence you should be just fine

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 11:27 am Subject:

I would just say that if they didn't send back the DV letter, that you are fine on your behalf. Like the others said, that is their lack of communication..

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 11:54 am Subject:

Finally started a blog... my first post is the complaint I prepared against this place.

If you can read .TIF files, I put up my 11-page complaint at debtcruncher.blogspot.com .

Was going to file in a US District Court, but since they beat me to it in a county court, I will file my complaint there.