Diversified Consultants

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone!

I have a question regarding a dunning notice my wife received recently. The letter was sent to an address belonging to my relative - an address at which we have never lived, nor registered as our own. We don't understand how or why Diversified Consultants would choose to send any debt collection letters to an address not registered to us. What actions can we take with regards to the dunning notice being sent to an invalid address?

Thank you in advance! 

[RobertEG]

If they knew that it was not your address, that is a serious violation of the FDCPA.

Under FDCPA 805(c), a debt collector cannot communicate with a third party regarding an asserted debt.

The onlyy exception is contact with a third party that does not inform the third party that you owe any debt, and is seeking only location information.

A dunning notcie identifies that it is with respect to an alleged debt, the amount of the debt and the party who currently owns the debt.

Disclosure of that information to a third party is a direct violation of both FCRA 605(c) and 604.

You can either send a formal complaint to the CFPB or directly file civil action on your own for their violation of the FDCPA.

I would recommend first filing a complaint with the CFPB, as their response will likely be useful in a decision as to whether to bring any civil action.

They are likely going to assert that they had reasonable basis to believe that you resided at the address to which they mailed the dunning notice. 

I would wait for their explanation before filing civil actin asserting willful disclosure to a third party.....

[Anonymous]

---

@RobertEG wrote:

If they knew that it was not your address, that is a serious violation of the FDCPA.

Under FDCPA 805(c), a debt collector cannot communicate with a third party regarding an asserted debt.

The onlyy exception is contact with a third party that does not inform the third party that you owe any debt, and is seeking only location information.

A dunning notcie identifies that it is with respect to an alleged debt, the amount of the debt and the party who currently owns the debt.

Disclosure of that information to a third party is a direct violation of both FCRA 605(c) and 604.

You can either send a formal complaint to the CFPB or directly file civil action on your own for their violation of the FDCPA.

I would recommend first filing a complaint with the CFPB, as their response will likely be useful in a decision as to whether to bring any civil action.

They are likely going to assert that they had reasonable basis to believe that you resided at the address to which they mailed the dunning notice. 

I would wait for their explanation before filing civil actin asserting willful disclosure to a third party.....

---

Thanks Robert EG,

I will file a complaint with the CFPB.

[Anonymous]

UPDATE: So, after sending a dunning notice to an address where we did not, and do not reside, Diversified Consultants proceeded with reporting the debt to the CRA's. We found out through a ProtectmyID Alert. Do we have grounds to ask for the trade lines to be removed based on the fact that they improperly notified (or attempted to notify) us about the debt?

Thanks in advance... 

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

UPDATE: So, after sending a dunning notice to an address where we did not, and do not reside, Diversified Consultants proceeded with reporting the debt to the CRA's. We found out through a ProtectmyID Alert. Do we have grounds to ask for the trade lines to be removed based on the fact that they improperly notified (or attempted to notify) us about the debt?

Thanks in advance... 

---

Check your reports to see if that address is listed on one of them.

Edit: Your FULL reports from annualcreditreport.com - not reports from CK or other third party reporting site.

[RobertEG]

There is no requriement that a debt collector provide any notification, including dunning notice, prior to reporting to a CRA.

Thus, their reporting was not improper unless you sent a timely DV prior to their reporting.

If you are asserting that their prior dunning notice is not proper dunning notice because ti was not properly sent to you, then you have a situation where you are not under any 30-day timeliness period for sending of a DV.  The result is that any DV you may have sent could be asserted to be timely, but that does not preclude any credit reporting unless actually sent prior to their reporting.

[Anonymous]

---

@RobertEG wrote:

There is no requriement that a debt collector provide any notification, including dunning notice, prior to reporting to a CRA.

Thus, their reporting was not improper unless you sent a timely DV prior to their reporting.

If you are asserting that their prior dunning notice is not proper dunning notice because ti was not properly sent to you, then you have a situation where you are not under any 30-day timeliness period for sending of a DV.  The result is that any DV you may have sent could be asserted to be timely, but that does not preclude any credit reporting unless actually sent prior to their reporting.

---

Thank you RobertEG!

[RobertEG]

I would also exercise some caution in asserting that a debt collector violated any prohibitions against disclosure to a third party simply by mailing to an address that is not yours.

If the communication was addressed to you, then it should not be opened by another, it should be returned via the postal service as "addressee unknown."