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My DV letter was ignored.

Submitted by TheWetmores on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 14:53
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Hello. Last year my sister who lives in Ct. used my SS# to obtain a cell phone with AT&T/Cingular without my knowledge or permission. On April 7th I did a routine pull of my CR through TU and saw a collections account with I.C. Systems for this cell phone account. I live in New Hampshire and have a Tracfone for the simple reason there is no contract. I called I.C. Systems to tell them this account wasn't mine and that I never had an account with the OC. They gave me the address of the account holder and that's how I knew it was my sister. I told them that fact and that I did not give her permission to use my name or SS#. I have disputed the account with TU and sent I.C. Systems a DV letter, certified and return receipt, which shows they received it on April 22nd. I just received back a response from TU stating they finished their investigation and I.C. Systems is still there. Do I really have to have my sister arrested? I have been working for 5 years getting my CR's fixed and now I have this until 2014. What happened to my DV letter? Can they just ignore me because TU believes them and not me. I don't know what to do next. Any ideas would be helpful.


Do what mobile has suggested. Identity theft is an offense and the offender should receive the deserving outcomes of committing it. I know how it feels when a family member do such back stabbing. But, you should go ahead and lodge a police complaint against her.


Submitted by on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 23:06

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You might confront your sister about this first. Explain she had no right no use your SSN and that now her actions are screwing up your credit and you will not tolerate that. Give her the option to take care of the bill, and tell her if she doesn't then you're only option is to file a police report in order to get it off your credit. If she wants to pay it, then try negotiating a pay-for-delete with the creditor. They may be willing to remove the collection account from your credit as long as it gets paid ... but if they do agree then make sure to get it in writing.

If your sister won't pay, or if the CA won't agree to a deletion, then the only way to get it removed is to file that police report/identity theft.

Albeit they would still need to validate the account per your DV. If they received it 4/22 then they have until 5/22 to respond to it. But they don't need to prove to you that you signed the contract; they are simply required to verify with the creditor the amount owed and that the creditor believes you owe the money. They can operate under that assumption until you file a police report.


Submitted by DebtCruncher on Fri, 05/09/2008 - 23:47

DebtCruncher

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DebtCruncher:
Quote:

Albeit they would still need to validate the account per your DV. If they received it 4/22 then they have until 5/22 to respond to it. But they don't need to prove to you that you signed the contract; they are simply required to verify with the creditor the amount owed and that the creditor believes you owe the money.


OK, I have a question for you DebtCruncher, you say they [the collection agency] only needs to verify with the creditor the amount? How is that validation? Isn't there a difference between verification and validation? Or is this because this collection agency is only representing the creditor and does not own the debt? Just wanting to be clear. :)


Submitted by Shazzers on Sat, 05/10/2008 - 04:42

Shazzers

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I personally think that the difference between verification and validation is something that we made up here (I don't think the law sees a difference ... the law just requires that the CA obtain "verification.")

I have a narrative that Daniel Edelman wrote about the fdcpa (he is one of the partners in Edelman & Combs ... a leading Chicago lawfirm that sues many CA's over FDCPA violations).
Quote:

The Fourth Circuit has held that "verification of a debt involves nothing more than the debt collector confirming in writing that the amount being demanded is what the creditor is claiming is owed; the debt collector is not required to keep detailed files of the alleged debt." Chaudhry v. Gallerizzo, 174 F.3d 394 (4th Cir. 1999); Stonehart v. Rosenthal, 01 Civ. 651, 2001 WL 910771 (S.D.N.Y., Aug. 13, 2001).


Now the owner of the debt (in this case, AT&T/Cingular) has the "detailed files." Because the CA here doesn't own the debt, when they get a DV they are just required to verify with AT&T/Cingular the amount and that they have the right person ...

Our argument here is on "the right person." AT&T can continue to assume this is the right person, because they have not received any evidence of identity theft.


Submitted by DebtCruncher on Sat, 05/10/2008 - 08:33

DebtCruncher

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What if the original owner has sold the account to one CA who then sells it to another CA? Are they then required to have the detailed files of the alleged debt? I challenged them and they sent me photocopies of the alleged charges on the account as well as Dates of Sales (which do not add up either as the CA who sold it on a prior date did not receive the account until a later date. How can they sell something they do not legally own?).


Submitted by on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:13

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