Have not received any notice 5 days after they called me, what now?

First of, I am new here and would like to say hi.
Ok So I as contacted by a collections agency on Friday over gym membership I never signed a contract over. It has been 6 calendar days and nothing has came in the mail for me. What is my next step for me?
I am not to send the validation of debt letter until I receive something right?

First... are you sure you didn't receive a letter? Debt collectors by law aren't allowed to put the name on their collection agency on the outside of envelopes. They are only allowed to put their return address. Most individuals mistake these letters as junk mail and throw them away. Debtor's can claim they were never sent a letter, but a number of collection agencies scan their mail before it is sent out and can track it as it arrives to a debtor's home.
Second, go ahead and send a formal letter requesting validation of debt. Make sure you send it certified mail. Once this letter is received, the collection agency has thirty days to provide validation of the debt to you. In this time frame, they must cease communication with you. Once this time has elapsed, if they have not provided validation of debt, they must cease all communication. If the collection agency does not follow these rules, it is a violation of the FDCPA and is punishable by a $1000 fine per violation.
As well, check you local laws and see what is considered concrete validation of debt. For example. Some counties require collection agencies to provide a signed application, a full paying statement, terms and conditions of the contract, and possibly a bill of sale. Other counties are less stringent.
If you need additional advice, please let me know.
I am not an attorney myself, I am an active debt collector. Believe it or not, we all aren't bad people, but there are many people out there who give us a bad name. I am well aware that there are many collection agencies out there who are abusive and downright scum. I'm glad I'm not employed by one of those firms. Furthermore, if you truly owe this debt then pay it.

You can ask them to validate the debt in writing. Don't pay anything to them unless the debt has been validated by them.

Total BS...they do not scan nor do the track it. They are simply sent out 1st class mail. Most big CA's use a printing and mailing company offsite. A call on friday "could" result in a trigger requesting a letter be printed....printed monday, mailed tuesday....it takes time....
Have you ever read the FDCPA??? There is absolutely no time line mentioned for a CA to validate a debt. If you had read the act, it states that they must cease communication until they validate it. And it is not $1000 per violation. It is $1000 max.
Really? Where are you getting this information?
Before you start giving out any advise, I suggest you READ the FDCPA. You have made it very clear you do not understand the law.

Also, debt collectors do not even have to prove that they sent one specific letter to one specific consumer. They can show the court that they have a system in place to do just that, and the court will often call that good enough. Remember, the FDCPA allows a "bona fide error" defense for debt collectors....


I need to ask, what state are you in? Unless they just changed the FDCPA, there is no 30 day requirement for the debt collector to provide validation or dump the account. There is a 30 day window, starting at initial communication, that the consumer has to request validation. If a consumer does not request validation during that initial 30 days, but does so later, the letter of the law allows a debt collector to completely ignore that validation request and keep on calling. As far as I recall, Texas is the only state that requires debt collectors to provide validation within 30 days or the debt is not collectable to them. But that is a state law, not the FDCPA.


This is not correct, the penalty is not "per violation". It is a maximum statutory penalty of $1000 no matter how many violations they have committed. This is one of the reasons why debt collectors ignore the FDCPA, because the penalty is so small and most people will never take action anyways. If they had to pay "per violation" and people pursued these violations regularly, the debt collectors would have to start obeying the law or they couldnt afford to stay in business.



This is very good advice, and too often ignored. Check your state's laws, because each state's laws are different. As I said, Texas probably has the best laws to protect consumers from illegal debt collection.

Allow me to welcome you to the forum! it is massively great to see a debt collector here that wants to do things the right way. That's a pretty rare feat these days.

I agree--make sure that you get proper validation, but if you do owe the debt, then its best to pay it.