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Should I respond to dunning if past SOL?

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George888
New Contributor

Should I respond to dunning if past SOL?

Hi,  

 

I have an Applied Bank account on my credit report with a DOFD of July 2008.   I received a dunning letter from First National Collection Bureau dated July 9, 2012 and I am trying to calculate the SOL date (4 years for my state), and determine if I should respond with a DV letter or not.  If my DOFD was in July 2008, and if the SOL is 4 years for my state, does this mean that the SOL ended in June of 2012, or will it end in July 2012?

 

The funny thing about this Applied Bank tradeline on my credit report is that I received a dunning letter from a different CA about a year and a half ago, and that CA never posted their collection account to my credit report.  I am thinking that perhaps the first CA was an in-house collection department of the OC's and that is why they didn't post to my CR, as they are not legally allowed to I have read.  I am hoping the same is true for this new CA.

 

Can somebody please help me with a few questions?

 

  1. Should I send a DV to this new CA?
  2. Does it matter if the debt is witihin SOL or past it?
  3. What do I risk by not responding?
  4. If it turns out that the CA really is a collection department inside the OC, then can I send a PFD to remove the OC tradeline, and thus also removing a Charge off from my credit report?

Thank you very much for any assistance anybody can give.

George

Message 1 of 3
2 REPLIES 2
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: Should I respond to dunning if past SOL?

First, an in-house collection by the OC is not a debt collector, and thus not covered the FDCPA (except if they use a name to imply they are a third party collection agent).

An OC is not required to send dunning notice for their internal collection activities.

If you received dunning notice, assume they are a third party debt collector.

 

Second, the SOL status is immaterial to whether you choose to exercise your DV rights under the FDCPA, so put that issue aside.

 

What you get if you send a timely DV:

1. An automatice cease collection bar, until such time as they provide your requested debt verification.  That includes their ability to report to a CRA.

2. A requirement that they obtain verification from the creditor, and that they itemize the asserted debt (make sure to request an itemization in your DV).

 

What you dont get with a DV:

1. Setting any required period for a response from the debt collector.... so a state of limbo until they choose to respond.

2. The ability to negotiate with them, as you have placed them under a cease collection bar.

 

Unless under time pressure to attempt CR deletion, I would DV.

 

As to who you can negotiate with, if the OC still owns the debt, you can negotiate payment with them, with any PFD offer extending to deletion of their reporting of the charge-off..

However, acceptance of payment by the OC will not preclude the debt collector from reporting.  They may not once the debt is paid, but are not precluded.

If you offer a payment for not reporting to the debt collector, and they accept, that will remove possible reporting of a collection, but wont address any reporting done by the OC.

 

Your choice.

 

 

Message 2 of 3
George888
New Contributor

Re: Should I respond to dunning if past SOL?

Thank you for the detailed response.  I am always delighted when you respond to posts because your answers are so in depth. 

 

This CA has not reported their collection account to my CR, my biggest concern is that they will do that.  My thinking was that if I respond, I can prevent them from reporting to my CR, and I would just end up paying their settlement offer.  

 

Another option is to just wait and see if they report to my CR, and if they do, then I can do a PFD.  Otherwise if they don't, I would save the money that I would have paid with.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

Message 3 of 3
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