Collection Agency Abuse

[KBraggs]

I have been receiving phone calls from debt collector, Palisades, for over ten days with no written notification of my rights per FDCPA. Spoke with the agency and asked why I have not received a letter yet. I was given a hasty excuse and then hung up on. I have found the CA address but I am not sure if I should send DV letter without initial written contact or just go ahead and request validation without this letter. A separate collection agency previously attempted to collect this debt failing to respond to request for validation sent CMRR. Any recommendations? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

What is it for?

What is the DOFD?

What is your SOL?    If you are in OK then it would be 3 years from DOFD (open account)  or (promissory account) is 5 years from DOFD

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20040116b2.asp?caret=8

If you are past SOL then mail them a DV along with the past SOL letter.  CMRRR

If past SOL you can also just mail a letter stating NO phone calls, everything by mail. CMRRR  Make sure that you copy the letter if needed later.

[KBraggs]

This account is for a charged off CC.

DOFD is April 2008.

SOL in Oklahoma is 3 years.

SOL will not be up until 2011. Ive been through this whole process before with a previous CA about the same debt. Received initial contact letter, I replied with DV and C&D CMRRR, they responded with a feeble attempt at validation, I refuted their attempt stating their documents by no means constituted validation, never heard from them again (Mann Bracken). Last time I heard from them was in January of this year. Started receiving calls from this new most recent CA (Palisades) in november. They said they aquired the account in October. My guess is that the original CA couldnt validate properly so they sold it to the present CA.

I really just want to know if I should even bother sending the DV and C&D letter even though they have not sent me the initial contact letter which describes consumer rights under FDCPA. Should I just write them and send a copy of the original CMRRR receipt and DV letter and be done with them, or should I wait before I receive the letter so they don't change up their tactics and try to validate with fake documents etc? Thanks for your help.

[RobertEG]

They are in violation of FDCPA 809(a), which requires sending of a dunning notice within 5-days of any initital communication with you. It does not have to be written contact to trigger this 5-day notice reqwuirement, so keep good records.

Sending a DV letter will force them, under FDCPA 809(b), to cease active collection activity until such time as they validate, and force them to provide validation prior to renewing collection activity.  But this sets no time period.

If you want to just bar communication with you, send them a letter under FDCPA 805(c), whch bars communication with you, and further under FDCPA 805(b), which additionally bars communication with third parties.

[KBraggs]

I think Im just going to send them a CD letter so they can only contact my by mail. Wont mention anything about verification quite yet, then as soon as they send a dunning letter, Im going to hit them with the green card and letter from original CA and I will possibly include their violations from each phone call they made after 5 days from their initial contact...just to shake them up a little and show them I mean business.

[Anonymous]

Resticting communication to written format is always the best policy, IMO.  Communicate with them in writing and only accept written communication.

Also, keep a call log.  Each time they do call or you happen to speak to them on the phone, have an organized call log which notates:

Date of Call

Time of Call

Caller ID (if shown)

Name of caller (Company and rep)

Length of call

Notes of call (what was said by them and you)

An organized call log is admissable evidence in court.  This cannot be scrap paper or notes, it must be an organized call log, with the dates, times, parties and notation details.

Also, I recommend that anytime you receive a call, send a letter to memorialize the call.  So, if they called today and demanded X,Y & Z and you requested that they ceased calling and send you written notices/demands....send them a letter that:

Indicates you are following up to the telephone call which your received from

- name of company

- name of rep

- date of call

- time of call

Indicate what was said and what you requested.  Reiterate your request in the letter.  Send the letter CMRRR.  This is backup to your call log.

[KBraggs]

Yea, thanks for the advice.

I grabbed a call log template from an attorney's website here in Oklahoma, and Ive been using that for my records. When I spoke to them about why I havent received the dunning letter yet, the guy kept trying to cut me off and give me lame excuses

 "Sir, I don't know why you are making these thing up but remember US mail takes a few days so...."

"Well then why didn't you account for that delay when you mailed the letter?"

"Sir, we mailed it out to you on November, 2 so you are either lying or you should get it today."

"The mailman just left here, no letter from you guys. In any event, I have not received anything in writting from you and..."

"Sir, if you aren't going to pay the debt, then that's fine. We aren't doing anything illegal here ok? Thank you." *CLICK*

Havent heard from them since. Im pretty convinced that they know what they are doing, and they are well aware that they are breaking the law. Ive saved all of my voicemails and call logs on my phone as well. They can either validate or leave me alone! lol

[KBraggs]

NEW PROBLEM

The charge-off on my account reported the month of september as "Paid As Agreed" rather than "120+ days pas due"....

Im thinking CA may have reported this in order to re-age this account and push back the SOL. I will need to check again next month to see if the DOLA changes from April 2008 to September 2009.