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Hi! So I've been in and out of the forums over the past few years and have an issue.
For the past few months, a shady company has been calling my family members threatening they are going to go to my place of employment and serve me. Yet they never contacted me. Until today. Finally someone left a message on my phone. I called the number requested and she started her speech about owing debt and being sued etc etc. She did mention the original creditor. I just told her I don't recall owing any debt and have not received anything in regards to a debt since living at my home the past 8 years. I requested she mail me information. She tried to tell me she could email it, but I asked that she mail it. So she said she will mail debt validation.
So now I wait. This is a very old debt and the best I can tell the DOFD is at the LATEST 3/15/2009 (based on a conversation I had with another collection agency regarding this debt in 2013 - I have the name of the person I spoke with and phone number for that call, but do not remember the exact date though.) What do I do now? I know the debt is old. I know it is now with a junk debt buyer who is trying to scare me into paying. I also know it should be well out of SOL for Pennsylvania (the state I now live in) but I am of course still concerned. Can anyone give me any additional insight or things to be aware of?
I honestly would worry no more about it. I still have two collection agencies occasionally calling, and periodically send me physical mail about an old, old debit. If the SOL has passed, just block their calls, and don't worry about it. I got this is the mail just today, from Midland Credit Management...Charge Off Date: 11-30-2010. And at the bottom, in smaller print -->" The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt and how long a debt can appear on your credit report. Due to the age of this debt, we will not sue you for it or report payment or non-payment of it to a credit bureau." Really??! They are grasping at non-existent straws!
Wait to see if they actually send you any details in writing (highly doubt they will). I had this happen to me a few years back -- phone calls to my place of employment (told the front desk receptionist all my business and that they were coming to my job to serve papers!), home, and relatives with the same last name, etc. Guess what -- no one ever came to serve me a thing - even after I got on the phone with them and told them I'd be waiting...
I also asked that they send me any paperwork they had re the supposed debt -- never received. And nothing has happened since. One day the calls and threats just stopped. I think once they realize you know they're full of *it, they move on to their next potential victim.
I'm hoping to receive nothing. However, I'm obviously concerned. From what I'm reading, technically they CAN sue, they just hope you don't show up or fight it so they can get a judgement. Obviously I would show up and fight it based on being out of SOL if needed, but it is annoying. Getting calls and my parents and sister getting calls is frustrating. Call me, fine. But quit calling them!
You, then, should send them a Cease and Desist letter - then, by law, they have to stop the calls. Send it Return Receipt Requested - so that they have to sign for it.
It’s a scam. You’re not warned in advance about the service of a summons. You will not be sued.
It is a violation of the FDCPA for a debt collector to call a third party and state that you are alleged to owe any debt.
Calls to third parties (other than your spouse) are specifically limited under FDCPA 804 only to attempting to obtain location information regarding the consumer, and cannot inform the third party that the named consumer is alleged to owe any debt.
You can file a civil action against them and recover damages of $1,000 for violations of the FDCPA.
You can do that in small claims court without hiring an attorney.
That will get their attention.
Since they initiated the call to you, they completion of the call was also an initial communication with the consumer that triggered their requirement to send a dunning notice within 5 days after the communication.
If they fail to send a timely dunning notice, that would be an additional violation of the FDCPA.
Finally, an oral request for debt validation is not adequate on your part.
FDCPA 809(b) requires that a DV request be "in writng."
I would send a DV in wrting once they send dunning notice.
@RobertEG wrote:It is a violation of the FDCPA for a debt collector to call a third party and state that you are alleged to owe any debt.
Calls to third parties (other than your spouse) are specifically limited under FDCPA 804 only to attempting to obtain location information regarding the consumer, and cannot inform the third party that the named consumer is alleged to owe any debt.
You can file a civil action against them and recover damages of $1,000 for violations of the FDCPA.
You can do that in small claims court without hiring an attorney.
That will get their attention.
Since they initiated the call to you, they completion of the call was also an initial communication with the consumer that triggered their requirement to send a dunning notice within 5 days after the communication.
If they fail to send a timely dunning notice, that would be an additional violation of the FDCPA.
Finally, an oral request for debt validation is not adequate on your part.
FDCPA 809(b) requires that a DV request be "in writng."
I would send a DV in wrting once they send dunning notice.
Thank you! Both my sister and mom have voicemails of them saying they are going to serve me at place of employment & home about this debt if I don't contact them immediately . They are fun. I did not ask for validation, just that they send me something about this since I was not aware of owing anything. The lady on the phone said she was sending debt validation. We will see what they send, if anything. Regardless, I guess I just wait to see if they do attempt to sue me, then fight on grounds it is out of SOL?