Chase Charge Off

[Anonymous]

Hello, I am new to the forum and have a question in regards to a charge off credit card account i have with Chase. I sent a DV letter to the collection agency requesting payment for the account. I asked that the account be validated acccording to the FDCPA guidelines. I receive 2 response letters from Chase. The first letter simply stated they received my request to stop calls and letters in regards to the account. The second letter stated they "confirmed" the info they are reporting is correct and the account was charged off in July 2014. However, they did not send any supporting documentation to validate on how they computed the balance owed of $2200 or documentation that the account belongs to me. My question is should I directly dispute with the credit bureau since they did not validate the account or should I contact Chase in writing requesting for proper validation as requested or PFD to settle the account and move on? Thanks

[RobertEG]

Very confusing scenario......

DV requests do not go to the creditor, they go to the debt colllector.

Validation, if provided, comes from the debt collector, not the creditor.

Is the collection in fact an in-house department of the original creditor?

Is the provided validation provided under the sig of the debt collector?

As for adequacy of validation, there is no period for or requirment to provide validation, even if the DV request is timely (i.e., sent within the 30-day period set in the dunning notice).  Provided they do not continue active collection, lack of validation is not a violation of anyghing.

If you dont consider their validation to be adequate, that means you consider that they remain under a cease collection bar, and there is no basis for a dispute.

Additionally, CRAs are not a party to the debt validation process, and lack of vlaidation is not a basis for a dispute under the FCRA.

Finally, the FDCPA does not require documentation or proofs in order to validate.  The pertinenet case law generally supports only a requirment to investigate and provide a finding, not proofs.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response. =) It is very confusing. Client services is the collections agency that sent the notice and whom i sent the DV letter. They did not respond to my letter only Chase.  All correspondence is from Chase. On my credit report, the status of the account is " closed" with the balance shown and charged off under chase. The collection agency is not listed on my report, however, I did see they made an inquiry on my report. I don't know if they are an in--house department of the original creditor or not. 

[RobertEG]

The FDCPA addresses the issue of when a creditor is collecting on their own debt, but uses a name that does not clearly idenfify that collection activity as being by the OC themselves.  Under such circumstances, the FDCPA clearly defines that the in-house collector is a "debt collector," and thus subject to all of the provisions of the FDCPA, including the DV process.

You can thus assume, regardless of whether they are in-house, that they are a debt collector, and thus now under a cease collection bar.

However, asserting that their validation is inadequate does not, per se, give rise to a violation of the FDCPA.  it is the same as having, in your opinion, failed to validate, which is not a requirment of the FDCPA.