Do I send my DV letter to OR or CA?

[Anonymous]

I have an old repo from 2005 with American Honda Financial.  Just recently, this account was sent to NCO Financial and they are now reporting a Major Derogatory on my credit report.  Today, I called Honda and found out they still own the account but have it assigned to NCO. 

My question is, do I send the DV letter to American Honda Financial since they still own it?  -Or do I sent it to NCO?  Maybe both?

Another fact is this original date of delinquency was Nov 2005.  I'm in California, so the SOL is expired (4 years).  I want this off my credit report with both Honda and NCO.  I need to figure out a way to work with Honda for a PFD.  My thoughts are to do the following:

• Send DV letter.  (just need to figure out to who)?
• Send expired SOL letter and demand removal from both Honda and NCO, or...
• Work with Honda directly since they still own the account, argue the SOL is expired and they will not recover any $ from me.  But, perhaps if I offer them 10 or 20% of the balance they would agree to call off NCO and they will delete their reporting?  It will benefit me and them.  Recovering a portion of the balance is better than nothing, right?  -I hope they see it that way!

Does anyone think there's logic to this?  Here is some info about the original acct and NCO's reporting.  Thanks.

Original Creditor:

American Honda Lease, voluntary repo.

Deficiency amount $7,421.00

Original date of Delinquency:  Nov 2005.  No reaffermation of debt after this date.

As of 8/11/10, Experian reported:

NCO Financial

Alert type:  Grid Code G (Collections)

Derogatory Amount:  $7,421.00

[Anonymous]

One more comment...

When I called American Honda today they asked who I was and what the address of record was in order to pull up the account, since I didn't have the account number.  My questions is:  This call confirmed my identity, but is it considered an admission of debt?  I imagine there's a fine line there and I don't want to cross it.  She also asked if I was calling to make payment arrangements and I told her that I needed to find out who owned it to send a DV letter.  She recommended I fax it to them but I obtained their address to send it registered. 

Any tips on being careful when talking to the OC or CA?  The last thing I want to do is admit the debt and potentially restart the SOL.

[guiness56]

A DV goes to the CA.

[RobertEG]

A DV letter is not primarily a dispute.  It is a mechanism to block further collection activities until the debt collector provides validation of the debt under the FDCPA.

You can only DV the debt collector (CA), since is only a fair debt collection practices statute that applies to third party debt collectors.

If you want to argue the accuracy of the debt itself, you should file a dispute under either FCRA 611(a) or FCRA 623(a)(8).

Expiration of SOL has nothing to do with credit report deletion.  Using SOL expiration as a grounds for demanding CR deletion wont work.

Since the OC still owns the debt, you can offer payment to either the OC or the CA.

If the OC accepts payment, that still wont remove any prior reporting by them unless they also agree to a PFD with them.  Even if the OC does do a PFD, , the OC cannot require the CA to delete the CAs own, separate reporting.

The same goes for paying the CA.  Payment alone wont result in any CR deletion by them unless they agree, in advance, to a PFD offer.  And even if the CA does a deletion, the CA deletion does not compel any deletion by the OC.

Your payment options are simple.  You can just pay the debt, and then pursue GW deletions with both the OC and CA.

Or you can offer PFD to one or the other, hope for their acceptance, and then GW the other party.

Yes, you are correct that they would rather receive something rather than nothing, and if your SOL has expired, they cant bring successful legal action.

But. my opinion, that may not be enough.  In the distant past, when credit scores were not offered directly to the public, CAs primarily used legal action as a means to collect debt.  But now that consumers know their current credit scores, the inclusion of a CA in your CR has become, probably, the major debt collection tool used by CAs.  The very reason that you made this post, and are trying hard  to get earier CR deletion, is an example of the leverage they still have, even though SOL has expired.

They may decide to hold out for a higher percentage of the debt, particularly since the amount is fairly high.