Question about Debt Validation

[asianrose36]

On July of last year, i was served  for the debt i owed this company that is now being collected by Portfolio Recovery.  Portfolio Recovery's lawyers were the one who sent me the court papers. I didnt have any money to pay a lawyer so I did a lot of research and made myself my own lawyer and came up with a response that will look like it was prepared by a lawyer. I didnt say that that response was from a lawyer so i didnt lie or anything like that. But anyways, in my response i disputed the claim that i owe them money and i requested for  Portfolio Recovery to validate my debt and if they can't, they need to just drop it. After I sent that response i never heard anything from them. They also stopped calling me, but its still in my credit report. Isnt their silence meant they couldnt really verify the debt? Do i still have to send them a DV letter right now  or should that response last July enough and i can go ahead and dispute this record in my credit report? Please advise.... Thanks a bunch

[EAT_SLEEP_JEEP]

How old is the debt, it may be past the SOL and they were hoping to scare you into paying.  You could still have to go to court because the burden of proof of the SOL being up is on you

[randyrhodes]

When you send debt validation it effectively stops them from communicating with you on any settlement or collection attempts until its been validated. Since they haven't responded try filing a complaint with the CFPB against them. The only time they have to reply to a DV is if was sent to them in the required 30 day window. Good luck

[asianrose36]

the account was opened 2009...

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@EAT_SLEEP_JEEP wrote:

How old is the debt, it may be past the SOL and they were hoping to scare you into paying.  You could still have to go to court because the burden of proof of the SOL being up is on you

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[asianrose36]

oh! okay i'll try that. thanks so much guys

[RobertEG]

Lack of response to a DV is not basis for either a complaint to the CFPB or a dispute to the CRAs.

The DV process requires a debt collector to cease active collection until they have provided the requested debt validation, and then only if the DV is timely, meaning sent either prior to dunning notice, or within 30 days after dunning notice.

It's purpose is not to compel validation, but rather to free consumers of active collection until they have received the requested validation.

Was the prior DV timely?

If your prior DV was not timely, they have no requirement to cease any collection activities, and can choose to ignore the request and go on about their normal business.  If it was timely, their silence may mean only that they are not interested in conducting additional collection activities at this time, and waiting to reply until they are ready to resume collection on the debt.

You can separately file a dispute under the FCRA at any time.  They are separate processes.  However, issues pertaining to a DV are debt collection practices issues under the FDCPA, and not issues of accuracy of reporting under the FCRA.  Unlike a DV, which requires no assertion of any inaccuracy, in order to file a dispute, you would have the initial burden of documenting some inaccuracy, such as challenging the debt itself.

If you have adequate basis for a dispute, they then are under a 30 day period to address the dispute.

As an asdie, you mention that they sent you "court papers."

What exactly did they send, and have you contacted the court identified in those papers to determine whether there is a pending civil action with that court?

[randyrhodes]

RobertEG

Can you give an instance when a complaint to the CFPB would be an appropriate response? I fear I may be confused on some things as to what complaints go to who. Thanks

[RobertEG]

The CFPB has authority to deal with any violations of either the FDCPA or FCRA.

Complaints to the CFPB are used when you feel any party has clearly violated any requirement of either statute.

As an example of the distinction between a complaint to the CFPB and a dispute directe to either the CRA or directly to the furnisher, consider issues where information reported to your credit file is considered to be inaccurate.

Inaccurate reporting of information is not, per se, a violation of the FCRA, and thus not a matter that one would first address by a complaint to the CFPB.  The requirement under the FCRA is that a furnisher may not report information that is knowingly inaccurate.  That is what the dispute process under the FCRA addresses.  You assert your inaccuracy, the the CRA/furniher investigate, and determine whether they agree.

If they agree, they can correct.  if they disagree, they can state that their investigation verifies the accuracy as reported.

Related to your specific situation, lack of response to a DV is not itself a violation of the FDCPA, so there would be no basis for the CFPB to find any violation.

However, assume arguendo that the debt collector reported to your credit report, and did not then send you dunning notice within 5 days after that reporting.

That is a clear violation of FDCPA 809(a).  Their reporting of the collection was not a violation, as they can report prior to sending dunning notice.  So their reporting would not be disputeable.  However, lack of timely dunning notice, which is not a credit reporting issue, would then be a matter for complaint to the CFPB.

AS a second example, assume you sent a timely DV, and the debt collector continued active collection without first providing the requested validation, such as sending you another threatening letter or reporting their collection.  That is a clear violation of their cease collection bar under FDCPA 809(b), and would be basis for a formal complaint to the CFPB.

The CFPB will contact the party, and ask for their response to your complaint.  They will then make a determination, if they find a violation, how to address the violation.

They will typically order the party to cease any future such violations, and may, if serious, initiate legal action against the party for the violation.

Thus, the party will take any CFPB complaint very seriously.

[asianrose36]

It looked like court papers with county district court number assigned to it. It says there that if i didnt send them a response in 30 days that i acknowledge that i owe them the money and that they are going to get the payments thru payroll. I guess I was wrong about them not bugging me anymore with the payment. I just received a bill from them again today when i checked my mail. That's the first since i responded to those court papers.

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@RobertEG wrote:

Lack of response to a DV is not basis for either a complaint to the CFPB or a dispute to the CRAs.

The DV process requires a debt collector to cease active collection until they have provided the requested debt validation, and then only if the DV is timely, meaning sent either prior to dunning notice, or within 30 days after dunning notice.

It's purpose is not to compel validation, but rather to free consumers of active collection until they have received the requested validation.

Was the prior DV timely?

If your prior DV was not timely, they have no requirement to cease any collection activities, and can choose to ignore the request and go on about their normal business.  If it was timely, their silence may mean only that they are not interested in conducting additional collection activities at this time, and waiting to reply until they are ready to resume collection on the debt.

You can separately file a dispute under the FCRA at any time.  They are separate processes.  However, issues pertaining to a DV are debt collection practices issues under the FDCPA, and not issues of accuracy of reporting under the FCRA.  Unlike a DV, which requires no assertion of any inaccuracy, in order to file a dispute, you would have the initial burden of documenting some inaccuracy, such as challenging the debt itself.

If you have adequate basis for a dispute, they then are under a 30 day period to address the dispute.

As an asdie, you mention that they sent you "court papers."

What exactly did they send, and have you contacted the court identified in those papers to determine whether there is a pending civil action with that court?

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[asianrose36]

from what i'm gathering here... I guess the easiest way to get out of this mess to to send these CA a PFD and have all these collections in my credit report paid and removed.. is that right?