Letter Sent to Employer from Forster & Garbus
Date: Sat, 08/29/2009 - 15:53
Anyway, I had a Citi bank card. I let it going into collections. I have tried to settle this debt with 3 collection agencies already. Each time I receive a new collection letter I send a debt validation letter certified. 60 days later I receive a collection letter from a new company. Anyway, the account is now with Forster & Garbus LLP. I received a letter from their office on 8/20/09 (it’s dated 8/11/09). I mailed a DV letter (received in their office 8/25). However, my employer received a letter from their office (dated 8/24). The letter is as followed:
My name
My address
City & State (ALL CORRECT)
Account No
Original Acct #
If a social security number is required, kindly contact our office.
Dear Sir or Madam:
We wish to communicate with the above named individual who is listed on our records as being an employee of your company.
Would you be good enough to furnish us with the information requested below, as this person is no longer at the address shown above.
It then asks the following information be filled out,
Still resides at the indicated address
Last known address
Is presently employed by you
Last knowing telephone # is
Full or Part Time
Annual salary or hourly rate of pay
Position held
What location does he/she work out of
So that is the letter. Luckily I work in an office where we are all close and most are family members. My sister is the accountant and my other sister is HR.
Here is the thing. This company never called my on my home or cell (I’ve had both #’s for over 10 years and they are listed on all of my accounts).
Is it legal that they send my employer a letter like this? I am concerned that they would be willing to give out my SS # if someone from my office called.
They didn’t even wait 30 days for my reply. They write that I am not at the above address but I am.
What do you guys/ladies think?
Any input or help/guidance is must appreciated.
They sent that exact same thing to my employer and they also had
They sent that exact same thing to my employer and they also had never contacted me on my home phone or mailed anything to my home either. My advice would be to be very careful with them as they are very sneaky and lie about everything. Get everything in writing from them.
OK, first let me say that I am not an attorney, and while I have
OK, first let me say that I am not an attorney, and while I have studied the law and spent considerable time in research, I want to be clear on that point, that I am only offering my opinion as far as my research has taken me.
In my opinion, this letter is a violation of the FDCPA on multiple fronts.
First, they start off with "account number" and "original account number". This information indicates that you have an account which is in their office. If it were me and this were a courtroom, I would argue that by putting that information on this letter, they knowingly disclosed to a third party(namely, my employer) a portion of my private business, which violates the third party disclosure statute in the FDCPA.
Second, and somewhat related to that first violation, the FDCPA only allows them to contact a third party to ascertain your location. It does NOT allow them to try to find out how much you get paid, how many hours you work, your job title, or anythying else. This is clearly stated in sections 804 and 805 of the FDCPA. Further, section 804 clearly states that they may only identify their employer "only if expressly requested"--by sending that info on a letter without any such request being made, they automatically identified themselves by name as a debt collector. That by itself means nothing, but when you add in the fact that they listed account numbers on this letter in conjunction with your name, it can easily be said to have identified you as a debtor that they are trying to collect money from.
Third, this falls under both sections 807 and 808 in my opinion, because they very clearly stated that you "no longer reside at the above address". The FDCPA is a law that forbids debt collectors from using ANY dishonesty or deception in the course of debt collection efforts. By falsely stating that you no longer lived where you most certainly do live, they are trying to use that false excuse as a reason to gon on a fishing trip for more info about you. Section 807 prohibits ANY false or misleading representations about this whole situation--they cannot lie to you or anyone else about ANYTHING regarding this matter. Here is a word-for-word clip of what section 807 prohibits:
Quote:
(10) The use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect any debt or to obtain information concerning a consumer. |
By claiming that you no longer live at your address, they violated that one all day long.
You do not, however, have a case for them violating the validation clause in the law, because they sent that letter before they signed for your validation request. HOWEVER, if they continue trying to get more info from your work or any other kind of collection effort, THEN you will have a violation of that statute.
I will send them another letter today. I am considered about th
I will send them another letter today. I am considered about this company. I keep reading that they get judgements without ever notifying the person. How can I make sure that this does not happen to me?