Excellent post.
As a collector who had to deal with these letters, just stay polite and to the point. People who send those 15 page letters with 300 questions are just asking for negative attention.
I feel like I have to express that these letters will not delay a lawfirm from suing you, they have already made up their minds. If you are not going to be sued, the letter doesnt matter anyways. If you are going to be sued, it will speed things up.
So, dont use these letters unless you really honestly feel that there is a validation issue. Make sure to do out the math if you think the amount is wrong. If you have 25% interest and havent paid for 2 years, then you have to multiply the amount by 1.25 twice, which is 1.5625 times the original amount. This means if you started at $1000, the actual amount you now owe would be $1562.50.
Why does a validation letter speed up the legal process? Because the lawyers and the CA dont have the documents until either one of two things happens. Either they are authorized to file suit, or you request the docs.
They file complaints in huge batches, and whatever accounts they have documents for will be included in that batch of complaints for the court.
So, as you can see, it doesnt delay any legal action in any way. Out of my last 3000-4000 files, only one person ever proved the amount was incorrect, it was an old lady who had paid a CA and the collector forgot to include a code for the finance department to indicate it was a settlement in full. They just took the amount off the entire balance and kept the file open. When it got to me, she sent me the offer letter, and I could see that the current balance was the same amount less than what the original balance was. Case closed.
So, also keep in mind that the likelihood of you getting some break is almost non-existant. UNLESS YOU REALLY DONT OWE THE MONEY. if you do owe it, its pointless. This is not the way to go about fixing problems.
If you know the amount is right, just dont even attempt to use these letters, it is really bad news for you. There are many ways to go about sticking it to collection agencies and their lawyers, but these letters are not one of them.
If you were planning on using these letters to buy time, this is not the way to go about doing it. The best way to buy time is to get into negotiations. The lawyers are paid by commission, so if they think they may not have to go to court, they will be happy to deal with you. The collectors will also be drooling at the mouth to get that money, so they will deal with a good deal of BS before they will let the files get out of their hands.
If you are trying to delay them, Whatever you do, dont have them submit a request to settle below guidelines, because if you dont pay after they have done that, you not only will not be able to settle under guidelines in the future, and you are flagging yourself to be sued. Just keep them thinking you will pay whatever their first offer was.
One more time for good measure, dont try and use these letters to delay a lawsuit, it does not work that way! Only use them when you really think you need to verify information, or if you really dont owe the money!
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