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Validation Letters Not Received

Date: Fri, 02/10/2006 - 15:53

Submitted by Htgt123
on Fri, 02/10/2006 - 15:53

Posts: 156 Credits: [Donate]

Total Replies: 23


Hello,

Back in October I sent out numerous validation letters to payday loan companies that included cease and desist requests only be made in writing. My question is, what if you never receive validation of the debt from the company or anything in writing.

Is there a good way to handle them? Do they have to send you a debt validation letter or not? I don't know what to do with these companies that haven't verified the debt.

Thanks everyone....


Payday loan companies are not legally obligated to respond to your debt validation requests as it applies to debt collection agencies only. However, in a better way, you have to request for an itemized statement that shows the complete details of your account with them. After requesting the details on a specified date and not getting the information, facts prove that you were concerned to pay the debt and requested for the details, but the company has never sent you anything. For proving your facts, have your copies of the statement request and the certified receipts in hand. This covers your basis strongly.

In a validation letter, you ask the collection agency to give you the details of that account for which the creditors might have hired them. They need to prove that they are the ones making legitimate collection attempts on you. But, you can use the same approach to a payday loan company. They are the original lenders and they don't need to prove anything like the CA because they have your accounts. But yes, they have your account and must give you an itemized statement on your request.


lrhall41

Submitted by curlycarl on Fri, 02/10/2006 - 16:08

( Posts: 616 | Credits: )


It is blatantly obvious that you copied the content of the above letter from another source. Why would you send a letter you copied? We in the collection industry laugh at it. The letters you send do not contain any useful information about the account you are complaining or asking about. Your copied letter also contain threats. We never use "threats" as a means of communication. My agency does not take kindly to threats of any kind, especially, ones that are nothing but phoney, fake, and have no merit. Why do you keep sending the same letter??? Your letter also contains the following inaccurate statement "required 30 days to validate a debt". There is no such time limitation in any federal law. I also suggest that you consult with legal counsel insofar as your letter contains many inaccuracies of both state and federal laws. No matter how many copied letters you send, the bottom is, once a debt is not disputed with the original creditor. It gets sold, then, resold and never goes away. So rather than not paying before the account goes into a charge off status. Hiding for a couple of years and resurfacing when you want to do something with your credit and think that you could send an unoriginal form letter. Resolve the issue with the original creditor because wants its on your credit report as delinquent and in our office......... well, you know the rest.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Sun, 02/12/2006 - 16:28

( Posts: | Credits: )


Interesting, I thought that selling and re-aging of an already aged account was illegal? If it has passed it's 7 or 10 year limit then that is it? It cannot be sold to another company for collection and entered as a new account. It may be new to the collection agency but it is not a NEW ACCOUNT. The original SOL and length of time on the consumer's credit report is to stay at the original date. So SETTLEUP I think you need to get over it and realize that even though these original debts may be valid there are laws which we all must abide by ---that includes you and your company. And actually I question your actual job description. Even accursed collection agencies know that the term is 30 days to verify the validity or a debt which they have reported on a Consmer's Credit Report. It says it everywhere including on the Credit Agencies websites. Perhaps you should be going back to school to brush up on your information? Or maybe find another line of work which doesn't involve interacting with the human race.....like cesspool cleaner or bedpan washer?


lrhall41

Submitted by Brooklyn Girl Fl Trnsplnt on Mon, 02/13/2006 - 00:12

( Posts: 64 | Credits: )


Quote:

It is blatantly obvious that you copied the content of the above letter from another source. Why would you send a letter you copied? We in the collection industry laugh at it. The letters you send do not contain any useful information about the account you are complaining or asking about. Your copied letter also contain threats. We never use "threats" as a means of communication. My agency does not take kindly to threats of any kind, especially, ones that are nothing but phoney, fake, and have no merit. Why do you keep sending the same letter??? Your letter also contains the following inaccurate statement "required 30 days to validate a debt". There is no such time limitation in any federal law. I also suggest that you consult with legal counsel insofar as your letter contains many inaccuracies of both state and federal laws. No matter how many copied letters you send, the bottom is, once a debt is not disputed with the original creditor. It gets sold, then, resold and never goes away. So rather than not paying before the account goes into a charge off status. Hiding for a couple of years and resurfacing when you want to do something with your credit and think that you could send an unoriginal form letter. Resolve the issue with the original creditor because wants its on your credit report as delinquent and in our office......... well, you know the rest.



Settle up, this is not an essay contest in which participants are scored based on originality! Does it matter if the letter was original or copied? Most lawyers use a standard form letter (i.e Copy of another letter) for such communication. They do not compose an original letter for every communication. These are lgeal situations. It does not matter where the wording came from as long as it covers all legal bases.

The "30 Days to validate" comes from the standard discaimers added to almost all collection notices which reads:

[quote]Unless you notify this office with 30days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of the debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid. If you notify this office in writting within 30days from receiving this notice, this office will obtain verification of the debt or obtain a copy of a judgement and mail you a copy of such judgement or verification. If you request this office in writting within 30 days after receiving this notice, this office will provide you with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor.

This is and attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose. This is a communication from a debt collector. [/quote]

I would refer you to USC Title VIII Debt Collection Practices Act Sec 809 As amended by Public Law 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009 (Sept. 30, 1996)

You are right in one thing, that the fdcpa doe not place a thirty day time limit on the collection agencies time to respond, but it does state that the collection agency must Cease collection attempts until they can produce the requested information and or documentation. At this stage of the game most Collection Agencies refer the accounts to another Agency and move on , rather than send them back to their client and ask them to provide the required information so that the debt can be collected legally. They cannot just drop it , then try to collect a fwew months later without producing the requested validation. Under the FDCPA and FCRA it is not the consumer who is responsible for proving a debt is not valid, it is the creditor and collection agency who arer respobsible for proving a debt is valid.

The 30 days to respond is some what implied (though not legally defined) by the numerous 30 day time limits established to dispute the validity of the debt, as well as by the
30 Period in which a CRA has to validate a disputed account under the FCRA.

THe FTC's Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Home Page can be found at
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/rulemaking-regulatory-reform-proceedings/fair-debt-collection-practices-act-text


lrhall41

Submitted by LCW on Mon, 02/13/2006 - 05:09

( Posts: 1151 | Credits: )


This came straight from the website of the office of the Texas Attorney General regarding disputing a debt:

If You Disagree

If you dispute an item in the file a debt collector has on you, you should give the debt collector written notice. The debt collector must provide you with the necessary forms for the written notice, and must help you fill out the forms if you request it. The debt collector has 30 days after receiving your written request to determine whether or not the disputed item is correct. If it is incorrect, it must be corrected. The debt collector must notify anyone who has already received a report containing the incorrect item. If, at the end of 30 days, the debt collector has not been able to determine whether the item is correct or not, he or she must make the change you requested and notify anyone who received a report containing the incorrect item. If it is later determined that the item was correct after all, you must be notified and collection efforts may be continued.

I am sure the laws are the same in each state...so maybe settleup should check his/her local attorney general's office. Here is the link I got this from: oag.state.tx.us/AG_Publications/txts/debt.shtml


lrhall41

Submitted by TMD on Mon, 02/13/2006 - 14:56

( Posts: 280 | Credits: )


Settle up

I guess you are also aware of the straight facts about debt collection. You must have got your license after undergoing training in the fdcpa laws. If you are trying to mislead people intentionally, you are increasing their problems largely. Most of the people are trying to pay their debts having many questions in their minds. And most of us who know the facts are trying to help them in their payments with better suggestions. Please refrain from giving incorrect information.


lrhall41

Submitted by david on Mon, 02/13/2006 - 15:35

( Posts: 1229 | Credits: )


Quote:

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and eight state law enforcement agencies announced on Feb. 1, 2006, a crackdown on 20 operations that deceptively claim they can remove negative information from consumers' credit reports???even if that information is accurate and timely.

???Credit repair schemes are a big problem for consumers,??? said Eileen Harrington, deputy director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. ???Credit repair promoters generally charge hundreds of dollars, but don't deliver on their claims. The fact is they can't. No one can legally remove accurate and timely information from your credit report.???

The FTC began coordinating ???Project Credit Despair??? last year in response to thousands of consumer complaints, which it shared with the USPIS, the State of Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions and other state law enforcement agencies. The cases involved companies throughout the nation, many of which promised to remove accurate and timely information from consumers' credit reports, and typically charged hundreds of dollars in advance for the service.

According to the FTC, Bad Credit B Gone LLC and its principal, Joseph A. Graziola III, made promises such as ???The credit you always dreamed of!??? and ???If we fail to remove any negative credit from your reports, we'll give you a refund plus $100.??? Referring to ???charge???offs, collections, tax liens, bankruptcies, repossessions, student loans, child support, late payments, and judgments,??? they claimed: ???On average, 80 percent of the derogatory information is deleted off your credit report within . . . three months.??? The Philadelphia???based company charged $500 per individual and $700 per couple for its services, half of which was due up???front.

The FTC charged Bad Credit B Gone with violating the FTC Act by making false or misleading statements, such as claiming they can improve most consumers' credit reports substantially and permanently by removing negative information that is accurate and not obsolete. The defendants also allegedly violated the Credit Repair Organizations Act by requiring advance payment for credit repair services and by making false or misleading statements. The FTC is seeking to bar them permanently from further violations, to require them to return money to consumers, and to give up their ill???gotten gains.


http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/02/badcreditbgone.htm


lrhall41

Submitted by on Wed, 02/15/2006 - 15:56

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Settleup...please explain your last thread...you titled it "the beginning of the end of your validation form letters" then gave us a quote and a link to an article about deceptive companies. That article NEVER ONCE mentioned the debt validation letter. That is not what these deceptive companies use to get stuff off your credit for the most part. That article had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with validation letters...I read the whole article...if I missed it, please highlight for me. The article is informative though, it explains what information you need to be aware of before using one of these companies. Thanks.


lrhall41

Submitted by TMD on Wed, 02/15/2006 - 18:15

( Posts: 280 | Credits: )


TMD,

The companies the article refer to use the same form letters as you. Although, you are right, they never mentioned it in the article. Additionally, it is quite laughable the lengths consumers would go to have accurate information deleted from their credit profile without paying it.

Some may have even paid these companies a few hundred $$ to have an account that was < than $100. removed.

Anyway, I am glad you liked the article.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Thu, 02/16/2006 - 04:21

( Posts: | Credits: )


Settle Up,

Not all of us are looking to have things taken off which are accurate. I just pulled my 3 in 1 credit report and found numerous inaccuarcies including 1 bill which is listed under 3 different collection agencies AND one with no name! They also all have different amounts listed. Plus I have 4 others which are being reported as being opened in the last year and they were actually opened almost 7 years ago and are due to fall off my report. These, you must admit, are unfair and very deterimental to my credit report. I have worked hard for five years to clear up what I owed and have continued to pay accounts on time to rectify previous mistakes which I MADE AND accept responsibility for. When I lost my job in November (after also dealing with the hurricanes here in Florida - I am in West Palm Beach) almost all of my accounts slammed me on my credit report even though I had contacted them to make arrangements and was only late with one payment. So please, while I understand your point, do not blanket all of us as people looking to deny responsibility and rip off their creditors. Thanks!


lrhall41

Submitted by Brooklyn Girl Fl Trnsplnt on Thu, 02/16/2006 - 07:09

( Posts: 64 | Credits: )


Settleup...maybe you could serve a better purpose on the forum by giving positive, helpful advise to those of us who want to pay our debts, but cannot pay all at once. I have talked to a couple of CA's and they refuse payment plans of any kind...they want all the money up front, which I would LOVE to give them just to get rid of them, and to improve my credit. But, unfortunately we ran into trouble, and hence got into this debt mess, which we will be able to completely clean up in June...but for now, I need to make payment arrangements with people. Obviously you are a debt collector, so how do you work with people on this?


lrhall41

Submitted by TMD on Fri, 02/17/2006 - 14:01

( Posts: 280 | Credits: )


I'm in favor of having Settleup and other folks with similar viewpoints spouting off. It lets you know where they're coming from, and I find that valuable information even if the factual or legal statements are not. Settleup does make a good point, although in a somewhat abrasive tone, that there is no time limit within which a debt collector must respond to the demand for verification.

In my experience, most debt collectors simply are not set up to deal with demand for verification letters. So they pass the debt around to one after another, and the purported debtor has to send each of them a new demand for verification. I think they play that shell game in order to confuse the consumer on the assumption that sooner or later, one of them will send the consumer a demand for payment that will go ignored because he'll think he's already sent the demand for verification letter to them.

The lesson is to keep track of everything that happens with debt collectors in writing. That way you'll have a log of what you did when so you can keep yourself straight, as well as the ability to "refresh your recollection" if you need to when you file suit against the debt collector.

Each and every violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is good for up to $1,000 in statutory damages as well as reimbursement of costs, legal fees, and interest on the total at the judgment rate. If you tell them in writing not to contact you anymore, each subsequent contact is a violation. If you demand verification of the debt and they continue to try to collect without providing the information, each and every attempt to collect is a new and different violation. Keep track. They may easily end up owing you more than they say you owe them.

As to the sample form letter, I just posted one similar to that which I regularly use in the "Bureau of Collection Recovery" discussion area (I'm generally writing as an attorney for the purported debtor, so the language has been modified to suit a person who's writing on his own behalf). I don't claim any copyright, use it as you see fit.


lrhall41

Submitted by Virginia-Legal-Defense on Fri, 02/17/2006 - 15:24

( Posts: 260 | Credits: )


Virginia-Legal-Defense,
According to the Texas Attorney General's office, as I quoted in the previous post, debt collectors have 30 days to respond to your verification letter, either to give you the info you need, tell you they need more time, or tell you they cannot validate the debt...you can look at my previous post for the link.

As for the rest of your post...thanks, that was very nice of you to offer your opinions, and to offer your letter for others to use. This forum can definitely use all the information you have to offer...sounds like you are a wealth of knowledge.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Fri, 02/17/2006 - 15:42

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That may be true as a matter of Texas law, I don't know. And the opinion of the Texas AG is certainly a guide to enforcement of Texas law. But this is a country with fifty-one independent and co-equal sovereign governments (fifty states and the U.S.), each of which has its own legal system. And no state laws apply outside of the territory of that state except by agreement in a contract. That's why it's really important that everyone check their local law as well as federal. I was quoting from the United States Code, which does not control what Texas may do. (Under certain circumstances, federal law may "pre-empt" state law, and vice versa, depending on how the Constitution delegates sovereign authority - e.g., State law is preeminent with respect to health, education, public welfare, and the police power; federal law is preeminent in national defense, coinage of money, and interstate commerce.)


lrhall41

Submitted by on Sat, 02/18/2006 - 06:38

( Posts: | Credits: )


Crooklyn Girl,

The inaccurate reporting is an error with the credit bureau's. Trans-union, Experian and Equifax sometimes report the date the account was purchased by a new creditor as the opened date. However, it still has no bearing on the seven year time period an account can be reported. The account will still fall off after the seven year time runs from the date the account became delinquent. If you have no intentions of paying, call the CA and ask for the last payment and charge-off date. You will have a better idea of when these accounts will come off. For example, if the last payment with the original creditor was in May of 1999, the account should fall off before the end of this year.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Sun, 02/19/2006 - 06:06

( Posts: | Credits: )


I am going to have the money to pay off all my debt in June....so when I pay off my debt, will all the bad delinquent stuff stay on or will it be updated as paid, or will both stay on? Also, will that improve my credit quite a bit, or will it remain bad for a long time because stuff was delinquent for a long time?


lrhall41

Submitted by TMD on Sun, 02/19/2006 - 12:50

( Posts: 280 | Credits: )


TMD,

Inquire whether or not you can have the delinquent items deleted once they are paid. If the CA agrees to have their tradeline deleted, you can simply dispute the previous or original creditor's tradeline through the credit reporting agencies to have it deleted or atleast update it as sold or transferred to another lender. In most cases, they do delete if they no longer own the debt.


lrhall41

Submitted by on Sun, 02/19/2006 - 16:54

( Posts: | Credits: )


Cool, thanks for the info...I will remember to do that in June. I think it is going to be a long process though just to get everything paid, since I am not sure who has most of my accounts, they keep changing CA's and I have only been seriously delinquent for about 6 months, long time yes..but not as long as some, so I am suprised this is happening so soon...it is all very confusing. Do CA's often agree to remove delinquent items and stuff? If so, that is really great, and will help a whole lot. I hope to get everything paid, and NEVER have this happen again..no more department store credit cards, and no more buying unless I have the cash.


lrhall41

Submitted by TMD on Sun, 02/19/2006 - 18:30

( Posts: 280 | Credits: )


TMD, the FCRA laws state that accurate negative information will stay in the credit file for a period of seven years except bankruptcy that stays for 10 years. No collection agency or a credit repair package can remove that negative mark before the due period. Only the federal authorities have the rights to remove if the item is placed as disputed.

Sometimes people try to remove the negative information from the file before the legal time period. In cases of bankruptcy, a person's file remains in the court for two years and afterwards, the file is entered in the electronic system. Someone with illegal intentions places the bankruptcy as 'disputed' with the bureau. As a result, the CRA tries to verify the item with the court and as expected, the file is not found. Thus, the bankruptcy is removed from the credit report. But remember, if the person is caught in the act, severe legal actions will take place.

There are credit repair packages that claim negative information can be removed from the file. This is legally not possible. If the company claims to do so, they are trying to make some money from you. Be careful!


lrhall41

Submitted by john on Mon, 02/20/2006 - 11:26

( Posts: 1231 | Credits: )