Old Collection Letter

[twosense]

Hello, I worked for a decade to clear up my credit. I literally forgot how to deal with an old supposed credit. DeKalb County Solutions claims that I owe them $471 for an old Wells Fargo card. Supposedly, this is a debt from 2003. When I mentoned the statue of limations, they said it doesn't apply. I asked for copies of my original contract, payments, balance, etc.. They said that the letter is the only "COD" that they need. Can someone please remind me of my rights and obligations? I genuinely don't even remember this card. 

[Anonymous]

This debt would be beyond the SOL.  I Googled this company and it seems like they are a junk debt buyer that buys old collection accounts to see what they can collect from people.  They do have an obligation to validate the debt within five days after they first contact you.  Are they calling you or sending letters in the mail?  Email?  I would tell them that you are not doing anything until the DV is done because you do not recall this, and if they cannot provide this information then they need to cease contacting you.  If you do not already have their address, get it from them and send them a cease and desist letter if they do not stop contacting you.  

[twosense]

Thank you so much. It's all via mail. I will send a DV and cease and disist. I really appreciate this group and your help.

[RobertEG]

A debt collector can continue to attempt collection of a debt until it is discharged.

Expiration of SOL only prevents them from obtaining a civil judgment.

Expiration of the credit report exclusion period of no later than 7 years plus 180 days from the DOFD on the OC account only prevents the CRAs from continuing to include the collection in credit reports they issue.

A DV request does not impose any requirment to or period for sending validation.

It imposes, if sent within 30 days of dunning notice, a cease collection bar, which remains in effect until they have first sent debt validation.

The FDCPA does not explicitly require writtten documentation in order to validate.

If you assert that any response is not adequate validation AND you  sent a timely prior DV, then you are asserting that the debt collector remains under a cease collection bar, and not that they have violated the FDCPA by not providing what you consider adequate validation.  A violation would then occur if they resume collection activities without first having verified the debt.

There is no requirement to validate the asserted debt within 5 days after contacting the consumer.

Intitial communication with the consumer triggers a requriment to provide dunning notice within 5 days thereafter, and not a requirment to send validation.

You can send notice to a debt collector to cease communication with you at any time.  That prevents further communications from the debt collector, including calls and letters, but does not discharge the debt.  See FDCPA 805(c).

Additionally or alternately, if they resume collection activities and your prior DV was timely, you can bring civil action asserting  violation of the cease collection bar that was imposed under FDCPA 809(b).  A judge will then rule on whether the validation was adequate.

[twosense]

Okay. Everything you said it totally oppposite of what I thought. Thank you!

Can you tell me in plainer terms if this collection company has a legal right to collect debt from me? I don't want to risk my credit report being damaged over a small amount. However, I genuinely don't know if the debt is mine.

[RobertEG]

Did the debt collector send you a formal collection ("dunning") notice?

A dunning notice is a communication from a debt collector that identifies the amount of the asserted debt and at least the name of the current owner, and also advises you of your right to request validation of the asserted debt if you send your request within 30 days of the dunning notice.

Dunning notice is required under FDCPA 809(a) to be sent within 5 days after an initial communication from a debt collector, and provides basic information along with advisement of how to request validation of the asserted debt.

It is the starting point for obtaining information necessary to evaluate an asserted debt.

If you wish more information, such as the name of the original creditor and their verification of the asserted debt, then you can send a DV request.

The primary intent of a DV is to give the consumer a reprieve from active collection by imposing a cease collection bar on the debt collector,which remains in effect until the debt collector has first investigated and confirmed (verified) that the debt is found to be valid, and if also requested, the name of the original creditor.

While there is admittedly some case law in a few federal jurisdictions that do interpret the federal FDCPA to include some documentation, that is not the case in most jurisdictions.  If you do assert a requriment for documentation, only a judge can affirm an interpretation for such a requirement.  You can always bring civil action if you consider a given response to be inadequate and the debt collector thereafter resumes collection activites.

You cannot bring civil action simply to require validation.

Requirments for additional documentation are imposed under separate statutes or regs enacted by a few states.  That can include specific requirement for some documentation, such as a copy of the contract that created the debt.  States that currently have enhanced debt collection statutes or regs include Texas, New York, California, and Mass.  If requesting validation under one of those state statutes or regs, a separate request specifically indentifying the state statute/reg is required.

Otherwise, only the federal FDCPA DV process applies.

[Anonymous]

This seems to be a kind of old threads......but...  I also posted a help in General Credit and dont seem to get an answer

I received a collection letter about two weeks ago,  Citibank 6000+ interest 3000 it states.

I do not remember this account...since I never had Citi account at least 25 years.  If I owe Citi any penny, it has to go back to at least 25 years.

I started back after 25+ years and when I started back last year, I did not even have fico score since nothing was under my name for decades.   My credit age is a year as per all three credit reports.

What should be my response??   What if I just ignore it?   I am kinda of impression, they are just trying to collect something but they will not report to CRAs.