Account sold to CA while I was in the process of negotiating with creditor

Hi!
Welcome to the forums!
It is ethically wrong to send the account to a collection agency (CA) when you were already in the process of negotiating with the original creditor. But legally, they can assign the account to a CA. Yes, you can request for a DV certified mail. You can negotiate with the CA for an alternative repayment plan. However, much will depend on your negotiation skills. If you find that you are not able to convince the CA to lower the payoff amount, then get professional help. It will be good for you if you can negotiate a "paid in full" agreement with the CA. The debt collector asked you so many questions to get an idea about your financial situation.

What the CA is sending you is NOT validation, it is likely a dunning letter with the OC and amount. Plus she should not have asked you those personal questions or demand payment right then when she knew you wanted the debt validated.

You should send a DV letter CMRR immediately. Inform them that there is a discrepancy in what they say you owe and you want the statements to show that it was not paid. Do you have copies or proof of the payments you made up to OCT? Those will help when push comes to shove.

In the letter you can be up front and blunt (but polite) that you simply can't make a lump sum payment and still live. You are more then willing to pay what you owe (once the amount is discrepancy is fixed) but it will have to be a payment arrangement. Should they elect to take you to court you will show the judge you made a good faith attempt to pay the bill but met with no cooperation. Most judges will set up a reasonable payment plan when they see your finances.

Be firm. You must live and while they do have the right to sue and may threaten it, be strong. A judge does take your financial situation into account and it looks bad on them when they turn away offers of payment plans.

What is the point of a DV letter when Best Buy told you verbally that the account where the account had been transfered? All information on the account is going from best buy to the CA...is sounds like it is being worked third party. Yeah, I know it is your legal right, but a DV wont tell you anything that you havent already been told. It is seen a stall tactic in this type of colections.

Not when there is a discrepancy in what is stated as owed! It is the CA informing the debtor that payments have not been sent since July, yet the OP made payments through oct...so asking for statements is seriously not stalling.

Even FACTA provides laws that OCs have to comply with to make sure the billing is accurate. Since claims are being made that payments were not received when in fact they were, something somewhere is not right.

a DV does not provide for date of last payment or copies of statements per the fdcpa.

Maybe the OP was not making full payments from july thru oct...which would have them as past due. A call to the creditor would clarify that....the CA is only reporting what the creditor transmits to them.

I would be calling the creditor and finding out why there is a discrepancy been the date of last payment they gave to the CA and why they sent you early.