Is this a violation of either FDCPA or TX Finance Code

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Sounds like SoapLady's right on with this one. I've said it before - I wish more was required for validation of debt, but that's simply not the case.

Just to give a different perspective - I've worked with Canadian creditors and collection agencies, and I can assure you that we in the US are fortunate to have the FDCPA on our side. So, while this debt validation issue may be lacking a bit, I can tell you that the consumer protection we have in place is something that we easily take for granted. I know I did before I worked with these Canadian agencies.

Best of luck to you!

Wonders how canada came into this conversation....debtor I think is in Texas....collection agency is in the US....

She is just saying how lucky we are in the US compared to Canada. Many people do not realize also that some states have laws in place that are better than the FDCPA. Florida for example covers original creditors. I do not know about Texas but Bud Hibbs is an expert in Texas law. www.budhibbs.com You can contact him directly

Thanks for the great information, Frogpatch! And you're correct; I was simply pointing out how fortunate we are here in the US. As I said, I used to take the FDCPA for granted. Not any longer!

SoapLady, I read section 809. It seems to me that any debt collection company can send one of these types of letters without having to prove anything. It also seems to be counter intuitive that I would need to be the one to prove this isn't my debt rather than the collection proving it is my debt.

soaplady, this has been in discussion recently in other places, and when you look at all the pieces of the puzzle, it is clear that what this person received is not proper validation. The FTC staff letters back up what I am saying as well....

http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/letters/wollman.htm

[QUOTE]
This is in response to your letter of February 9, 1993 to David Medine regarding the type of verification required by Section 809(b) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. You ask whether a collection agency for a medical provider will fulfill the requirements of that Section if it produces "an itemized statement of services rendered to a patient on its own computer from information provided by the medical institution . . .??? in response to a request for verification of the debt. You also ask who is responsible for mailing the verification to the consumer.
The statute requires that the debt collector obtain verification of the debt and mail it to the consumer (emphasis mine). Because one of the principal purposes of this Section is to help consumers who have been misidentified by the debt collector or who dispute the amount of the debt, it is important that the verification of the identity of the consumer and the amount of the debt be obtained directly from the creditor. Mere itemization of what the debt collector already has does not accomplish this purpose. As stated above, the statute requires the debt collector, not the creditor, to mail the verification to the consumer.
[/QUOTE]note that while the question was regarding data that "was provided by" the original creditor, that information still is not enough. The only way for a CA to properly validate, it is clear from this letter, is to petition the original creditor upon receipt of a DV letter, and ask for proper validation at that time--something from the OC that documents the account in question. A copy of that information must then be sent to the consumer. All Asset did in this case was look up what they received when they bought the account from the "prior creditor" and type it on a page. It is very clear that this is not enough to satisfy the law.

Something else that I do believe you have missed on this one--look again at the letter that the OP received from Asset Acceptance:

[QUOTE]What I received in response stated "Enclosed please find an account statement prepared with information provided to us by the prior creditor. This statement is provided in response to your request for validation. As a result of our investigation we have determined the information we are reporting as accurate. However, we reported you account as "disputed" to the credit reporting agencies." The account statement that was enclosed is one page with a letter head called Debt Validation, the original creditor's name, an account number, principal balance, interest, fees, my name and address and the last 4 digits of my ssn. In the same envelope was a letter that stated "Please be advised that documents to support our claim in connection with the above account have been ordered and will be forwarded to you upon receipt in this office." [/QUOTE]The two points that jumped out at me, I highlighted in red. First, notice this--AA did not provide info from the ORIGINAL CREDITOR in this--they simply said "prior creditor". At this point, we do not know how old this debt is, or how many debt buyers have scooped it up. The FDCPA is clear 100% that validation must come from the ORIGINAL creditor, not from anywhere else. So at this point, there is nothing here to verify that this information is at all correct.

Second, notice how they stated that they are awaiting documentation to support their claim? THAT would be validation. As the FTC stated in the Wollman letter, "mere itemization of what you already have" is not sufficient.

EDIT--in addition to this, the OP needs to check into the Texas Finance Code....if I recall right, once you send a DV request, the CA has only 30 days under the TFC in which to validate, properly, or else they cannot collect on the debt. I could be wrong on that, but I do believe that is the case.

I found this in looking for anything on dect collection in Texas. And, yes, once a collection agency receives a DV letter, they have only 30 days to respond.

Texas Finance Code Section 392.202 requires a debt collection agency or credit bureau to provide the alleged debtor with specific information concerning their debt including but not limited to:

• The name of the original creditor
  
• The original date of default or non-payment of the debt
  
• The date the debt was transferred from the original creditor to the third party debt collector
  
• The original balance
  
• The current balance
  
• Surety Bond information