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Hello,
At the end of June 2018, I got a credit alert for a new derogatory listing. Earlier in the year, I had paid off all of my credit card/collection debt, except for my car and students loans and my credit score slowly went up so I was shocked to see something come up. This also dropped my credit score about 20 points(I've since been able to raise it back up).
I checked the listing, and did not immediately recognize it. Turns out it was from medical surgery I had back in April 2015. I had never been contacted of it and it never appeared on my credit until June 2018 - it is apparently around $1,700. The day after the e-mail, I immediately sent a debt validation letter to the collection company that also stated I was NOT to receive ANY phone calls and that any and all correspondence should be mailed to me and I included my address.
They received and signed for the letter on July 19th; I never got a response or validation. Late last week, I started to get automated calls from this same collection company stating I need to call them back and gave me a representatives name. I filed a complaint with the CFPB a couple of days ago since I've been receiving automated calls daily. I included the letter in the complaint as well as an image of the signed confirmation receipt.
Are there any other steps I need to take? Are they in violation of any laws here since I explicitly stated I should receive no contact in the debt validation letter? I'm becoming annoyed with these automated calls and I'm not sure I should speak to someone there and I'm not sure if there's another letter I should send to them.
Welcome to the myFICO forums!
As I understand it, once you have informed a CA to cease and desist it is a $1,000 penalty for each occurrence with a maximum aggregate of $10,000 in fines. Keep a record of each time the CA is attempting to contact you by phone and you should have enough money in fines to pay off the debt and then throw a party afterward.
If I am in error I am sure one of the other myFICOers will correct me.
If your debt valiadation request was timely, meaning it was sent either prior to the debt collector having sent you dunning notice, or sent within 30 days after dunning notice, it alone produces an automatice cease collection bar under FDCPA 809(b), which bars any further collection actvities until they have first sent validation. Thus, the issue of whether you additionally requested a cease communication bar under FDCPA 805(c) is kinda redundant. You have a double statutory bar.
You thus have clear basis for filing a civil action and collecting damages of $1,000 for violation of FDCPA 809(b) and/or FDCPA 805(c).
You can additionally send a formal complaint to the CFPB, which will cause the matter to be recorded by them and put in their database, and also likely result in the CFPB sending them a request to explain.
However, if you seek statutory damages, you must do that yourself by filing a civil complaint.
As for their lack of response in sending the requested validation, a timely DV imposes a cease collection bar, but does not impose any requirment to respond. They can wait forever, or choose never to respond. They must, however, cease active attempts to collect on the debt until they have first responded.
Total CL: $321.7k | UTL: 2% | AAoA: 7.0yrs | Baddies: 0 | Other: Lease, Loan, *No Mortgage, All Inq's from Jun '20 Car Shopping |
When did the initial communication take place?
Without an initial communication, the right to validation under the FDCPA has not been triggered.
A consumer can send a DV request without having ever receivng dunning notice or having any initial communication with the debt collector.
It is not necessary to wait for an initial communication/dunning notice in order to send a DV request.
See FDCPA 809(b).
Any DV that is sent prior to receipt of a dunning notice is timely, and imposes a cease collection bar.
A DV only becomes untimely, and thus imposes no cease collection bar, if the debt collector has sent a dunning notice, and more than 30 days has then passed since dunning notice.
I respectfully disagree. Look at the language of 1692g of the FDCPA. There must be an initial communication.
E
@vntrsc wrote:
I respectfully disagree. Look at the language of 1692g of the FDCPA. There must be an initial communication.
E
Looking at 1692g/809b, I'd argue that debt validation rights can only be triggered within the 30-day period after receipt of the written notice containing the information outlined in the aforementioned section (if the initial communication doesn't already contain the required informaton). Of course, under the FDCPA, a debt collector is legally required to send such a notice within 5 days of initial communication so the timing of the first call or communication is pretty important here.
However, even given all of the above, one can still dispute a debt at any time. It's just that disputing a debt outside the 30-day window would not confer the validation rights under FDCPA such as cessation of debt collections until debt is validated.