Is there a violation?

[TryingVeryHard]

I DV and sent this exact correspondence:

To Whom It May Concern:

Your representative, Steve, informed me that you have sent me two collection letters. I afraid to say that I have only received ONE PINK COLLECTION LETTER on the 28th of June. It happened that your office has been sending me correspondence in the wrong address. Please confirm that you have my right address on file.  
 
This letter is being sent to you in response to a notice sent to me on 06-23-09. 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.

Please provide me with the following:  
 
What the money you say I owe is for;  
Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe;  
Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable; 
Show me that you are licensed to collect in my state and license numbers and Registered Agent

If your offices are able to provide 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.

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.

In response, they sent me a BILL (duplicate of what the HOSPITAL sent me) and nothing more. Then THEY have CALLED me despite my request to have all future communications to be done in writing?

Are they legally allowed to contact me by phone if the intent of my correspondence with them was to VALIDATE and not to ask them to CEASE and DESIST?

Please advice me thanks. 

[Anonymous]

Can you prove that they called you after they received your DV with the notification that they could only contact you via mail? You sent the DV CMRR? You got them via callerID? Voicemail? Phone records?

If so, then yes-- sue them. You can send an ITS letter to them, but frankly I prefer to just sue--using a lawyer, so they can have to pay expensive legal fees.

[Anonymous]

Filing suit is a two edged sword.

Do you know this debt to be valid?  Do you recognize the bill from hospital?  Do you dispute the amount?  If you do recognize the OC and the debt is legitimate (meaning you do owe the OC), then technically they have validated the debt to you.

Your remaining issue is one of "legal right to collect" and "legal to collect in your state."

Does your state require license, registration or bonding to operate as a third-party debt collector?  If not, then they have nothing to prove in that regard.

Also, FDCPA requires them to cease collections until they have validated the debt.  If they feel they have done so, they may initiate collections, which includes contacting you.  You may request they cease and desist, but telling them to cease and desist for a limited period of time isn't really covered in law.  Either you want them to cease or you don't.

You did not dispute the amount or refuse to pay.  So the amount of debt is not yet in question.  You merely said you want to validate the debt.  They have provided you with the OC invoice, showing an unpaid debt.

Also, by contacting the CA and doing DV, you have essentially removed your right to HIPPA.  Because you have authorized them to obtain the relevant information from the OC.

Suit is not as much of a club as one might thing.  It can have counter productive effects.  Such as they may pursue the suit, defend the suit and/or counter sue.  And the courts are not going to look at small technicalities, I can assure you of that.  Civil suits are not the same a criminal.  In criminal there is a very straight line, and technical issues can invalidate various things.  But in civil cases, this isn't really the case. 

In a suit they can initiate discovery against you, meaning they can depose you, subpeona relevant documents and ask you for information which can be compelled.

Therefore, IMO, if the debt is valid, the amount is not in dispute and you are not prepared to pay it in full, a lawsuit may not be your best option.

As said, "Don't take anything into a fight that you don't want used against you."  And my meaning is that a suit can be used against you as well.

Message Edited by txjohn on 08-01-2009 07:45 AM

[TryingVeryHard]

Yes, I actually have records on my telephone bill and from third party call management application software. It logged the dates, and time and the length of the conversation, but not the conversation itself.