Best course of action? Old Collection accounts

[manzanita]

Hi everyone -

I've been lurking for a while and have gotten a great deal of help from these forums so far, so I thought I'd put this question out there:

I was looking over my husband's report for the first time in about 6 months, and I noticed two new (old) collections dating back to 2008 and 2007. 

The first is an old gas bill from an apartment in VA. The CA is UCB Collections.  I don't recall leaving an outstanding bill when we moved out of state, but it's possible of course. it's showing 12/2008 as the date placed for collection, however we moved several months before that so the DoFD would be earlier.  Total $153

The second is from a gym account for $119. Again, this was a debt that would have been incurred in VA. It's showing as placed for collection on 8/2007. The CA is Vision Finance Corp and was recently updated on 11/02/12

My questions are:

Which state SOL would apply? We currently live in NY.

Should I DV them? I can't say with any certainty that these are accurate and I have not received dunning letters.

They're smallish amounts, but again, I don't just want to blindly pay them without confirming and I'm afraid to wake the beast if I'm not out of SOL.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[llecs]

The SOL would be in NY. However, SOL really doesn't matter anyway. SOL is the time frame for suing. The only time you need to worry about SOL is whether or not you'd have the $$$ to pay to avert a judgment. And since the balance is small, I doubt they would sue for that amount.

I would DV though. If they verified and if I agreed, then I'd send them PFDs.

[Shogun]

+1 llecs.  Send the DV and then if they verify send the PFD.  Also there is a special CRTP for paid accounts in NY of 5 years.  You might want to look into that too.

[RobertEG]

If you have not received dunning notice, then any DV would be timely, invoking a cease collection bar on them until they provide verification.

I suggest that, in your DV, you slip in a statement that they have violated FDCPA by failing to have provided dunning notice with 5 days of their reporting of the collection.

It might give them incentive to respond.

However, be aware that sending a DV wont necessarily result in their verification.  They can choose not to reply, provided they cease collection on the debt.

Should you desire immediate, earlier deletion by way of a PFD offer, they cannot negotiate while under a cease collection bar.  So a DV may result in a state of limbo.

What is your planned next step?  If you can wait, then DV is the way to go.

As for DOFD, they were required to have reported the DOFD on the OC account within 90 days of reporting their collection.  The date of their collection is immaterial to the DOFD, and thus to its CR exclusion date.

If your commercial credit report does not provide the DOFD they reported, you can send an FCRA 609(a) request to the CRA and obtain the date they reported.

You need to know the DOFD they reported before challenging its accuracy.