Are there any rules as to whether or not a CA can or cannot accept a DV letter via fax?

[Anonymous]

I sent about 10 DV letters to different agencies via fax about 3 weeks ago and have received only 2 responses. Can the CA just say that they never received it and never send me validation?! Was this not a smart move? I know the best move is to send certified letter, but geez, those add up quickly! Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act generally requires information "in writing"--which includes fax and e-mails as well as the mail. If the collections agency lists a fax number and you fax your document there, that generally meets the legal requirements. As a practical matter, though, it's a lot easier to deny receiving a fax than to deny receiving certified mail. To prove a fax was sent you'd have to get your telephone records, showing your machine called theirs.

In your particular case, it's important to note that collections agencies have no particular deadline for verifying the debt upon your request. They will be barred from taking any collections action until they verify it, but that could be next year just as well as tomorrow. (There is case precedent to suggest that credit reporting is a form of collections action which would be barred, so you might get it off your report that way, at least temporarily.)

[gdale6]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act generally requires information "in writing"--which includes fax and e-mails as well as the mail. If the collections agency lists a fax number and you fax your document there, that generally meets the legal requirements. As a practical matter, though, it's a lot easier to deny receiving a fax than to deny receiving certified mail. To prove a fax was sent you'd have to get your telephone records, showing your machine called theirs.

In your particular case, it's important to note that collections agencies have no particular deadline for verifying the debt upon your request. They will be barred from taking any collections action until they verify it, but that could be next year just as well as tomorrow. (There is case precedent to suggest that credit reporting is a form of collections action which would be barred, so you might get it off your report that way, at least temporarily.)

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Email is not a legally accepted form of communication.  Mail or fax is

[RobertEG]

There is not, to my knowledge, any precedential case law that accepts FAX as an acceptable form of communication of a DV.

FDCPA 809(b) explicitly states that the consumer must make the request "in writing," so it would be prudent to send a written request.

As previously stated, sending of a timely DV does not set any requirement to or period for the debt collector to proivde validation.

It imposes a cease collection bar, not a requirement to validate.

[Anonymous]

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@gdale6 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act generally requires information "in writing"--which includes fax and e-mails as well as the mail. If the collections agency lists a fax number and you fax your document there, that generally meets the legal requirements. As a practical matter, though, it's a lot easier to deny receiving a fax than to deny receiving certified mail. To prove a fax was sent you'd have to get your telephone records, showing your machine called theirs.

In your particular case, it's important to note that collections agencies have no particular deadline for verifying the debt upon your request. They will be barred from taking any collections action until they verify it, but that could be next year just as well as tomorrow. (There is case precedent to suggest that credit reporting is a form of collections action which would be barred, so you might get it off your report that way, at least temporarily.)

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Email is not a legally accepted form of communication.  Mail or fax is

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Electronic documents, such as e-mails, have been explicitly named in federal and state statutes as fulfilling a legal requirement that communication be "in writing" or "written." (With a few exceptions, such as property deeds or marriage decrees.) See for example the E-SIGN Act, or Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. A collections agency is not obligated to accept e-mail, but if it lists an e-mail address for a debtor to contact the agency at, then the law suggests that an FDCPA notice sent there will generally be valid. Unless you're aware of something to the contrary?

[gdale6]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@gdale6 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act generally requires information "in writing"--which includes fax and e-mails as well as the mail. If the collections agency lists a fax number and you fax your document there, that generally meets the legal requirements. As a practical matter, though, it's a lot easier to deny receiving a fax than to deny receiving certified mail. To prove a fax was sent you'd have to get your telephone records, showing your machine called theirs.

In your particular case, it's important to note that collections agencies have no particular deadline for verifying the debt upon your request. They will be barred from taking any collections action until they verify it, but that could be next year just as well as tomorrow. (There is case precedent to suggest that credit reporting is a form of collections action which would be barred, so you might get it off your report that way, at least temporarily.)

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Email is not a legally accepted form of communication.  Mail or fax is

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Electronic documents, such as e-mails, have been explicitly named in federal and state statutes as fulfilling a legal requirement that communication be "in writing" or "written." (With a few exceptions, such as property deeds or marriage decrees.) See for example the E-SIGN Act, or Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. A collections agency is not obligated to accept e-mail, but if it lists an e-mail address for a debtor to contact the agency at, then the law suggests that an FDCPA notice sent there will generally be valid. Unless you're aware of something to the contrary?

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I stand corrected, info I had was outdated.   http://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverherzfeld/2013/12/09/are-your-emails-enforceable-contracts/

[RobertEG]

The more important issue is that date of receipt establishes the date of imposition of a cease collection bar under FDCPA 809(b), and not any period for providing validation.

Additionally, the dV must have been timely in order to impose any cease collection bar.

A DV is not timely if sent later than 30 days after receipt of dunning notice.