Debt Validation HELP!!!

[alsawye]

So I am going to send a Debt Validation Letter for my wifes private student loans, I found this template on Microsoft word. Please let me know what should I leave in and what should I take out

Name

Address

City, state, Zip

May 15, 2012

Niagra Credit Solutions

412 Lawrence Bell Drive, Suite #2

Williamsville, NY 14221-7820

RE: Account # 9999999

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is being sent to you in response to a notice I received on May 9, 2012. Be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

This is NOT a request for “verification” or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above named Title and Section. I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you.

I humbly request your Debt Collection agency to provide me with the following information in order to validate this debt:

- Show me what do I owe this money for; and what purchases did I make or what Services did I receive?
- Show me the details and calculations of how you calculated that amount.
- Provide me with letters or proof that I agreed to pay what you say I owe.
- Provide me with verification or judgment of any debts owed.
- Identify to me the Original Creditor from whom I made the purchase.
- Prove that the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this debt
- Show me that you are licensed to collect this debt in my State
- Show me your Debt Collection Rights License #
- Show me that you are authorized to collect this debt on behalf of the Original Creditor.
- Give me a complete transaction and payment history from the Original Creditor.
- Show me what the original amount was when this Debt was assigned to your Debt Collection Agency. **
- Show me any fees and interest charges that have been added on to this debt. **
- Show me how you determined and arrived at these fees. **
- Give me a copy of the original signed loan or credit card application with the Original Creditor.

** These debt validation requests are Law under the following Court Case:
Fields v. Wilber Law Firm, Donald L. Wilber and Kenneth Wilber, USCA-02-C-0072, 7th Circuit Court, Sept 2004

At this time I will also inform you that if your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the 3 major Credit Bureau’s (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion) this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if any negative mark is found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent I will not hesitate in bringing legal action against you for the following:

- Fair Credit Reporting Act
- Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
- Defamation of Character

If your offices are able to provide me with all the proper documentation as requested in the following Declaration, I will require at least 30 days to investigate this information and during such time all collection activity must cease and desist.

Also during this validation period, if any action is taken which could be considered detrimental to any of my credit reports, I will consult with my legal counsel for suit. This includes any listing any information to a credit reporting repository that could be inaccurate or invalidated or verifying an account as accurate when in fact there is no provided proof that it is.

If your offices fail to respond to this validation request within 30 days from the date of your receipt, all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit file and a copy of such deletion request shall be sent to me immediately.

I would also like to request, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment. If your offices attempt telephone communication with me, including but not limited to computer generated calls and calls or correspondence sent to or with any third parties, it will be considered harassment and I will have no choice but to file suit. All future communications with me MUST be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter by USPS.

It would be advisable that you assure that your records are in order before I am forced to take legal action. This is an attempt to correct your records; any information obtained shall be used for that purpose.

Best Regards,

[MarineVietVet]

Hi there.

Most of that is not required of a CA when they respond to a DV. Keep your letter short and sweet. Something like this is all you need to say:

Please send me validation of the debt you say I owe.

Send the letter CMRRR.

But I would leave in this part: I would also like to request that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment or to any third party. All future communications with me MUST be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter.

[RobertEG]

+1, except that I would also leave out that paragraph.

A debt collector has the legal right to call third parties for the purpose of obtaining locator information.  A consumer cannot block that right.

Additionally, a debt collector has the right to call you at reasonable times unless you send them a written cease communication notice under FDCPA 805(c).

There is no provision for asking them not to call you.

[rckstrscott]

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@RobertEG wrote:

+1, except that I would also leave out that paragraph.

A debt collector has the legal right to call third parties for the purpose of obtaining locator information.  A consumer cannot block that right.

Additionally, a debt collector has the right to call you at reasonable times unless you send them a written cease communication notice under FDCPA 805(c).

There is no provision for asking them not to call you.

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First question has to be: is this a collection account or a student loan OC account?

If this isn't a collection account, then the OC does not fall under a DV requirement, correct?

-scott

[alsawye]

This is with a collection agency

[MarineVietVet]

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@RobertEG wrote:

+1, except that I would also leave out that paragraph.

A debt collector has the legal right to call third parties for the purpose of obtaining locator information.  A consumer cannot block that right. You could be right about this. I may have to rethink my thoughts on this. 

Additionally, a debt collector has the right to call you at reasonable times unless you send them a written cease communication notice under FDCPA 805(c). I agree. Which is what part of the last paragragh addresses.

There is no provision for asking them not to call you. I disagree with this. 805(c) says: 

CEASING COMMUNICATION.  If a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay a debt or that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease further communication with the consumer, the debt collector shall not communicate further with the consumer with respect to such debt, except --  IMO the words "cease further communication" includes phone calls. But we can agree to disagree on this one.

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[Anonymous]

Hi,

A little late on the response here but I thought I'd chip in my two cents.  If this is a third party collection agency like you said, most of what your letter template has is not applicable and the collection agency doesn't need to provide it.  You can trim most of the fat off as you can invoke your rights under the FDCPA with the following simple letter.

------

Your Address

Their Address

Re: Account Number

Date

Dear Collection Agency,

I dispute the debt you claim I owe.  Please provide validation.  Telephone calls are inconvenient.

Regards,

You

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My grandfather has some alleged old debts and doesn't know how to deal with them.  As his POA, I'm allowed to take care of this on his behalf.  Here are some tips from my experience with dealing with some agencies (EOS CCA and Convergent to name two recent ones.)

1. Don't sign the letter.  If it's an old debt, some shoddy collection agencies have a habit of mysteriously making your signature appear on a "I agree to pay in full" letter that you've never seen.

2. In response to what someone said above, if they already have your contact information (as evident by calling and writing you) they cannot call 3rd parties looking for you anymore.  "Telephone calls are inconvenient" is sufficient enough of a demand and they must stop calling you.  You can ask them to stop writing you as well, but they are allowed to send you one more letter informing you of their intentions (suing you, returning the account to the OC, blah blah blah).  If they already have your contact information and are still contacting 3rd parties (especially if they mention there's a debt involved) then you have a harassment case.

3. Since you're sending the letter certified with return receipt, get your certified mail label before you write the letter and reference the article number somewhere in the letter itself.  This will prove that your return receipt is for the dispute letter and they can't claim it was for something else.  You can get the label from the post office.  I personally keep a stash of them on hand along with a pile of return receipts - you can order them from the USPS website for free and they'll mail you a stack.

4. If you have intentions of paying the debt if it's legitimate, you can add something like "please reply within 30 days or I will consider your claim invalid."  There is no law or regulation saying they only have 30 days to respond, but this lets their compliance officer know you are willing to work with them if they don't waste your time.   So far I haven't had ANY agency validate a debt, so after a month I send them one more letter via first class (because it doesnt matter if they get it or not) that reminds them I requested validation, they didn't comply and I'm considering their claim invalid and they need to remove any tradelines they placed with credit reporting agencies - aka I'm not wasting my time with them anymore and filing away all their correspondence.   Again, I don't sign the letter.  I also remind them that telephone calls remain inconvenient.  Usually I scan a copy of the postmarked certified mail label and return receipt and put a copy at the bottom of the letter and attach a copy of the original dispute letter.  

Final Tip:  If for some reason you want them to call you, get a Google Voice number.  They are free and you can have calls routed to your cell phone or home phone without them ever actually knowing those numbers.  The best part is if they call you can press a button on your keypad to record the call (It plays a message telling them you're recording.  If they stay on the line they are consenting so it's legal, if it even matters.  So far every agency I've dealt with has been in a one party notification state so I dont technically even have to tell them im recording).  This works great because you have a call log with date/time stamp and a recording that stays on your Google Voice account that you can download from anywhere.  Just make sure you give them the Google Voice number, again, only if you actually want them to call.  

Hope this helps you or anyone else that happens to stumble across this thread.  Good luck!

[RobertEG]

By "asking them not to call you," I meant absent sending them a written cease communication letter.

FDCPA 805(c) requires that a cease communication request be in writing.

[journey258]

4. If you have intentions of paying the debt if it's legitimate, you can add something like "please reply within 30 days or I will consider your claim invalid."  There is no law or regulation saying they only have 30 days to respond, but this lets their compliance officer know you are willing to work with them if they don't waste your time.   So far I haven't had ANY agency validate a debt, so after a month I send them one more letter via first class (because it doesnt matter if they get it or not) that reminds them I requested validation, they didn't comply and I'm considering their claim invalid and they need to remove any tradelines they placed with credit reporting agencies - aka I'm not wasting my time with them anymore and filing away all their correspondence.   Again, I don't sign the letter.  I also remind them that telephone calls remain inconvenient.  Usually I scan a copy of the postmarked certified mail label and return receipt and put a copy at the bottom of the letter and attach a copy of the original dispute letter.  

Good tips thanks. Regarding #4, has this worked? Have debts been removed that were not validated?

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[RobertEG]

Failure to have provided debt verification under the FDCPA  is not, in my opinion, a disputable matter under the FCRA.

What inaccuracy in reporting would the debt collector be asked to investigate? 

How are they in violation of any requirement to have provided verification?

The DV process is a debt validation process between the consumer and debt collector.  The CRAs are not a party to that process.

Lack of verification is not a violation of any provision of either the FDCPA or FCRA.  Debt collectors violate the FDCPA if they continue collection on the debt without having responded to a timely request for debt verification.

The so-called "1-2 punch" process is, in my opinion, nonsense.  Being under a cease collection bar under the FDCPA does not prohibit a furnisher of information from complying with their statutory requirement to investigate a dispute inititated by a consumer.  That supposition has absolutely no basis in case law.