What should I expect on a DV letter

[tanichola]

I am trying to work with a company for PFD. There are 2 accounts. They did not won the debts, so one of them, I paid the OC. I'm still getting letters from the CA, requesting interest (almost more or maybe more) than the debt itself. The other collection, I can't get info on. It is from a medical clinic that I had worked...was NEVER seen but had blood drawn for hiring purchases. I quit that company about 2 months later (Or was reminated). I'm thinking the bill is for the blood draw. When the lab looked me up, they most likely saw that I was not an emplyee and billed me. I called the employeer. They show that I have no bill at all. The DV letter that I was sent looks like it was typed up from the CA and does not have social security number on it or any services provided. In other words, it looks like something they created. I asked the OC about getting records and the records are no longer available to them since they switched to a new electronic record system. I would have to pay to get records. 

This company is charging obscence interest, usually more than the bill itself. As I said, I paid the first bill to the OC but the CA wants almost $200 interest and the bill was $177. The other bill that can't seem to be found was in Jan 2008, right around the corner but they still want the origional bill plus interest....but no one seems to know what the bill was for...just DOS (and that was when I was an employee)

This letter looks a lot different from other DV companies. It has no useful info on it at all....not what the service was. Just my name and a bunch of numbers. Does this sound right? I am buying another house in a few months. Will this affect that, esp since it is so old? How about the interest on the other?

[guiness56]

For validation, all the CA has to provide you is who is currently collecting and the amount.  If you specifically ask for the name and address of the OC and an itemization of the debt they must provide those.

A CA is allowed to add interest and fees so long as the original contract and your state laws allow it.

If you were not responsible for the debt in the first place, I would send them a direct dispute (in my signature) and follow the letter.  Detail why it is not your debt and why it should not be on your CR.  If you have any documentation, be sure to include that.

[tanichola]

I don't have any documentation because there was none. I was an employee. The OC can't even find the bill or even service! How am I supposed to get documentation? I have to pay for it myself??? It has to be sent off somewhere else where they have old paper copies. The date of service was Jan 2008! This is ridiculous.

[RobertEG]

If neither you nor the employer agreed to the billing via authoriization by either, then the lab can be presumed to have reported the debt absent any authorization.

That is unauthorized use of your identity to assert a debt.

You can choose to send them a dispute, but they need only investigate and respond that they have some documentation that supports your authorization.  They need not provide that documentation with their verification, or "prove" the accuracy of the asserted debt.  So you could very well receive verification of your dispute.

As an alternative, or in addition to, the direct dispute process, the FCRA provides a mechanism to have their reporting immediately blocked from your credit report without need for or consideration of any documenation by either side. 

If you file a police report asserting that you never authorized the asserted debt, and thus it must have been reported by someone using your identity, and send a copy of that police report to the CRA, they must immediately, under the provisions of FCRA 605B, block that asserted identity theft information from any future CR they issue.  That iwll also remove it from credit scoring.

As for a debt collector asserting additional amounts due to them, FDCPA 808(1) makes it an express violation for a debt collector to even attempt to collect any amount that is either not specifically authorized in the account agreement creating the debt, or otherwise permitted by law.

If you satisfied the debt with the OC, and can obtain their statement that it fully satisfied all debt incurred under your account agreement with them, that would remove the first issue of having a debt specifically authorized in your account agreement with the OC. 

That would leave the debt collector to point to some provision of your state law that specifically permits debt collectors to assert debt owed to them beyond the contract terms with the OC.  They may be unable to do so.