Stumped at what to do

They will always say that they are collecting for the OC which is part BS. They either get commission on what they collect, pay the OC a % before hand and keep what they collect or pay the % to the OC after they collect.

Seeing as you have 30 days to respond, format this letter to your needs. Do not sign the letter, only initial it and type your name. Send it certified mail return receipt requested. Also include a copy of the green card filled out before you mail it. This way you have a copy of before and after it was signed for with the tracking number. Keep copies for yourself.

Another nice thing is you live in Texas, great state, They have 30 days to respond to your letter of validation. If they send you crap back, you send a follow-up plus all the original stuff you sent in the first place. But we will worry about that later.

HERE YA GO!!!!

Your Name
Your Address
CITY/Town, STATE ZIPCODE

Date: March 9, 2005



Collection Agency Name
Address
CITY/Town, STATE ZIPCODE

Re: Acct Ref. # XXXXX and XXXXX

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is being sent to you in response to a alleged debt. Be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

This is NOT a request for verification or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above named Title and Section. I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you
.
What I need you to provide as the debt validation is as follows:
1. What the money you say I owe is for;
2. Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe;
3. Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe;
4. Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable;
5. Identify the original creditor;
6. Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account
7. Show me that you are licensed to collect in my state
8. Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent
9. Proof that the collection company owns the debt/or has been assigned the debt. (You are legally entitled to collect this particular debt from me.) This is basic contract law.
10. Complete payment history, starting with the original creditor. (I need to have proof of my payment history with original Creditor, what the amount of the debt was when the creditor assigned the debt to your company, and what fees/interest has been tacked on to this debt and how you/they determined these fees.) This requirement was established by the case Fields v. Wilber Law Firm, Donald L. Wilber and Kenneth Wilber, USCA-02-C-0072, 7th Circuit Court, Sept 2004..
11. Copy of the original signed loan agreement or credit card application. (My contract with the original creditor establishing the debt between us.) This is also basic contract law.

At this time I will also inform you that if your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the 3 major Credit Bureau's (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion) this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if any negative mark is found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent

I will not hesitate in bringing legal action against you for the following:
1. Violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
2. Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
3. Defamation of Character

If your offices are able to provide the proper documentation as requested in the following declaration, I will require at least 30 days investigating this information and during such time all collection activity must cease and desist.

Also during this validation period, if any action is taken which could be considered detrimental to any of my credit reports, I will consult with my legal counsel for suit. This includes any listing any information to a credit reporting repository that could be inaccurate or invalidated or verifying an account as accurate when in fact there is no provided proof that it is.
If your offices fail to respond to this validation request within 30 days from the date of your receipt, all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit file and a copy of such deletion request shall be sent to me immediately.

It would be advisable that you assure that your records are in order before I am forced to take legal action.



Best Regards,

Thanks for the info will get a letter to them asap I will also try and keep this thread open for updates..

Most of those requests are a waste of time and they will simply file it. All they have to provide you with is a signed contract or agreement. You can easily verify thru GE Money bank if they have in fact been retained. Sending copied internet letters is drawing attention to yourself and you are more likely to be sued for stupidity.

Suppose they were to provide the requested information. What would you do then?

Then how should I respond ? I always thought you requested Vaildiation?

Good question I have never had a response so I do not know however I do know that Bud hibbs says never give bank information to them & they usually dont work with you anyway,so I really dont know..

I had Zwicker take over a Discover card that I owed. They never sued - only said it was close to going to trial. I tried to settle with Zwicker to no avail. They like to call and send letters all the time. They even tried to harass me at work. Thank goodness I do not work out of my office too much. Anyways, take the advice above - any letters sent keep a record. I paid them off within a year of them getting my account but they will harass. I am just glad they are out of my life.

OK, I must be the exception to the rule. I send out DV letters to every CA that calls me or sends me letters. It is my right to do this. It provides me verification as to how the CA arrived at the amount they are claiming to be collection on and should prove to me this CA is legally entitled to be collecting on this account.

I have had a few lame responses from CA's to these letters, some being just typing a name and amount for the alleged debt on the CA's letterhead and sending it to me. I have never, to this date, had a CA provide me a copy of my signed contract or any proof they are entitled to be collecting on an alleged debt.

Or even copies of statements from the OC!

Also, To this date, I have never been "sued for stupidity" when I have sent these DV letters. As a matter of fact, I am currently in the process of suing two different CA's for ignoring my DV letters, continuing their attempts at collecting on an unvalidated debt, and for putting these debts on my credit reports and not showing them as being disputed.

The one time I was sued by a CA was when I completely ignored them. That case was dismissed when the CA provided crappy paperwork; one piece of paperwork being a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy of an agreement that had neither my signature on it or even my name! When my attorney from Legal Aide questioned all the "proof" the CA had provided, the case was dismissed.

I would hope that people that advise others not to bother sending DV letters as it might make them look stupid and get them sued, would take into consideration it is a debtor's right to send these letters. If a CA thinks these letters are stupid, ignore them, and continue collection attempts, they should also realize it is opening the door to get them counter-sued for FDCPA and FCRA violations.

Thank you Florida Run I really thought I had stumbled into the twlight zone I have read all the good advice on this site since last year, and I was so confused about being told not to send a DV when you see it all over your site to send DV's..

Great point Ron and I would also like to add that in my state Massachusetts, If you request validation, they must send you a signed contract and or full account history from the original creditor within 5 days.

I forgot something and need to clear it up.

I was wrong when I stated no CA's have ever provided copies of statements in response to my DV's.

There was one CA that did, in fact, send copies of statements from the OC of an old CC account to my request for validation. That's all they did send, though. There were four of them, with that last one being dated February 2007.

The problem was, this CA did this around December of 2007; roughly 10 or 11 months later? The amount they were claiming to be collecting on, however, was more than double the amount that was listed on the last statement from the OC.

When I responded to them I pointed out the fact they had doubled the amount of the debt they were collecting on from the final amount listed on the last statement. How does a debt double in amount like that in less than a year and where is the documentation showing how the CA arrived at the amount they were demanding. ESPECIALLY when this huge jump in amount occurred in less than a year.

I never heard from the CA again after that and they are not reporting on my credit report.

In my opinion, it's not just important to DV a CA whenever they contact you, you also have to be familiar with what constitutes proper validation and be able to question a CA when they do send you garbage in response to your request.

Thanks again Florida .. I e-mailed Bud hibbs he said the same thing you did .. So that is two so That what I will do ..

And Spatterson40 Did they Validiate ? Did the set up your payback agreement in writing ?