The legislative history of the FDCPA makes it clear that the debt validation process under section 809 was enacted, not to create an absolute right to request validation, or to mandate that the debt collector even send any validation.
Rather, the DV process under the FDCPA was enacted to give consumers a reprieve from dealing with collection activities, such as phone calls and written communications attempting to collect on the debt, after the debt collector has chosen to begin active collection by initially communicating with the consumer.
A timely DV sent within 30 days after an initial communication only triggers a cease collection bar until the debt collector chooses to respond. It does not impose any requirement to respond.
No provisions of the debt collection practices section of the FDCPA apply until the debt collector has begun communications with the consumer that relate to collection of the debt.
Civil action is explicitly stated in the FDCPA as not comprising an initial communication that triggers any right to send a timely debt validation request that thereafter imposes any bar against continued collection activities until the debt collector has first sent the requested validation.
You have no statutory right to request debt validation, and even if you did, you still would not have the right to any compulsory validation under the FDCPA. You would only impose a temporary bar against continued collection activities.
Part of any legal proceeding is the establishment by the plaintiff of their cause of action.
You will receive what the court requires as adequate validation of their right to sue on the debt as part of the civil proceeding in their suit. That is a mandatory showing that is much stronger than what is required under the DV proess of the FDCPA.
