Debt Prison

This information was extremely helpful. Thank you for being a great resource!

What happens if they fail to provide you with the information requested in the above letter? Thye merely send you a letter stating the name of the original creditor and a payment amount, no verification from the original creditor, nor answer any of your other request? And they keep calling even after sending certified mail above?

Collection agency threatened me with civil court. Long story short after hired lawyer they decided to cancel and not persue action. How do I get them to remove the negative blemish off my credit report now

My creditor is Capital One, It says The Fair debt Collection Practices Act doesn’t apply to this creditor. Does this mean I should not send the collection agency that bought this debt from Capital One a request for validation letter because it doesn’t apply to them? I’m not trying to sound stupid, this can all be a bit jumbled when you feel so helpless.

United Recovery Systems, a collection agency called me Re: a Capital One account. The person I spoke to on the phone told me that our conversation obviously wasn’t going anywhere and that she would advise Capital One to take Legal Action against me and she then hung up on me. I was the one who returned her call, she didn’t identify who she was with in her message. The phone I called her from was @ my Parents house the number is a restricted number. The following day Another person from that agency called and asked for me when she was told I don’t live there her response was “Really this is the number she called from yesterday” and then proceeded to ask a bunch of questions re: what kind of phone# that was cell, home, business. Can these creditors do this? Do I have just cause to file a complaint? If anyone else has had similar problems with United Recovery Systems please let me know. I found on the FTC website that they lost a case in 2002 of 240,000 for harassment.

Why does everyone believe that the COLLECTOR has 30 days to respond? Exactly where is this coming from? The FDCPA states that upon 5 days of the collectors first communication with a consumer, a “validation notice” must be sent. This is nothing more than a demand notice that explains how much you owe and to whom. It also gives you your “validation right”. Your validation right is your right to request verification of debt. The law actually states that you, THE CONSUMER, have 30 days from the date you received the validation/demand notice, to reply with a request for verification/validation (YES, verification and validation are the same thing) of debt. If the consumer does reply with a request for verification, the FDCPA states that the collector must cease attempts at collecting the debt until such time that verification of debt can be obtained from the creditor and mailed to the consumer. The FDCPA DOES NOT put forth a time limit on the debt collector. It DOES however put a time limit (30 days) on the amount of time a consumer can request verification. The collector is not under any time limit to provide verification, and so long as they are not communicating with you or anyone else, they can sit on the account and report to the credit bureaus as “disputed by the consumer”, for as long as they wish without a law being broken.

Also, verification/validation of debt, as described under the FDCPA, is nothing more than the collector contacting the creditor, by any means, any verifying the amount owed + the consumer info matches the creditors records. Once the creditor verifies it matches, the collector can simply send you a letter stating they confirmed the account information (name, address, personal info etc.) has been verified as correct with the original creditor. The collector is NOT required under the FDCPA or even FCRA to send anything else including contracts, itemized bills, copy of collection licenses etc.

Also, the FCRA/FACT ACT does not give the consumer anything more than verification/validation does. Per the FCRA/FACT ACT, upon receipt of a dispute under the FCRA/FACTA, the collector has 30 days to simply verify the information reporting is accurate by simply checking that it is reporting as the collector and original creditor records show. They will then send a letter advising it is reporting accurately. Nothing else is required unless you are claiming the account was established fraudulently, which is a different story entirely.

People should better research the laws on their own before sending out these pre-written form letters. I used to work for a collection agency and the only thing these validation form letters accomplish is a red flag on your account. The collectors will no longer offer you settlements and once verification is provided, they may also sue you if the creditor allows or if the collector owns the account. At a minimum they will be less willing to work with you.

You can accomplish the same thing by writing a one paragraph dispute stating so and requesting verification of debt. It accomplishes the same thing and does not make you look uneducated with the FDCPA/FCRA.

What if the collection agency turn it over to an attorney? Can you still use the validation letter? Also original debt was a little over 6,000. They are claiming 15,900. No, they haven’t sued me yet. How can they claim this amount?

What happens if you have already settled the debt with the collection agency? Example: Original debt was 1728.00. I paid 2408.00 to the collection agency. Bank of America is showing they wrote off 3, 728.00. The calculations are completely incorrect and different balances are displayed on all three credit bureaus. Can I still request a debt validation on the monies I paid and settled on?

I have been served with papers from JP officer from a past due credit card balance (collection agency) for an amoutn of $1060.00, I have ten days to respond to the JP office; what do I need to do?

I was served with some papers for a lawsuit from a credit card company; well it is now with a collection agency. I have ten days to give an answer to the JP office who delivered my summons. Do I call the JP office or the creditor itself to try to work out a payment plan? The amount of debt that they state is $1060?

Hi Debt Prison,

I apologize in advance…this is a lengthy question. I just want to provide as much info as I can. I have been documenting all my communications to be prepared as a friend told me to do this.

I cosigned a loan for an ex-boyfriend on 11/26/2002. (Yes – I have painfully learned my lesson to never cosign again!) I was 20 years old at the time, attending college, and very naïve and unaware of what the consequences of my contract obligation would be. The ex was also pretty oblivious when we did this. We were stupid college kids. I signed it because my ex-BF promised he would make his payments on time. The loan was also quite upside down at the time but I did not realize this until after the fact years later when there was a problem…I signed away just trusting the ex would pay the payments and did not think twice. It is an 84 month loan for a used 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee. He traded in two lease cars for this loan. The amount financed on this date was 27.7k and 37.2 for the total sale price.

Anyway, of course, he started not making payments in 2004 and 2005 and not telling me this. I found out when the bank sent me a letter that payments were 60 days late. At the time we lived together and I was notified. I paid these immediately after being notified and scolded him not to do this again as it was leaving negative marks on my credit report. He was paying for a few years until recently the credit union actually called me in May 2008 asking for March and April’s payments. At this time, I am out of college and working but living paycheck to paycheck as many Americans now are. I can only afford to pay for my “own” financial obligations and cannot pay on his car anymore. (I only did this 3 times or so the payment was so high and I have been eternally broke since college paying my own way through).

We have been broken up now for 4 or 5 years now and have not lived together since. I did call him and ask why he had not paid for March or April and not told me. He told me that he gave the keys to the car to the bank in late April and intended not to pay anymore. I called the bank to verify this and they told me that they had not received the vehicle. At first I tried to negotiate a settlement but they said they could not do a settlement without the car because they need to sell the car then have it go to the recovery department. I told the bank they could repossess the car (which I didn’t know they needed my permission to just say so! I found this out by fluke). I did not know much of his whereabouts just his mailing address that they already had and his cell phone number. I called the bank a week later and it had been repossessed. I gave her my address so she could send me the letter of notice to sell the repo. It went to his address but not mine so I called to clarify that we had not lived together for 5 years and to mail any future correspondence to my current address.

A week letter I receive a letter with new amount owed after selling the repo. As of May 2008 the remaining balance was 15.7k and they say the sale of the vehicle resulted in proceeds totaling $2k for a remaining deficient balance of $9441.86. My credit report is showing this as a charge-off as bad debt in May 2008. Still being unable to pay I let the bank know that I could not pay it. By luck, the ex called to let me know that he received a summons to go to court about this and that my name was also on the letter and that I should go too. I asked him to send me a copy of the letter so I could have more detail but he never did. Therefore, frightened that I would miss a court date I called the bank to ask them to send me the info.

I was pretty upset because what if the ex never called me and assumed I also received the letter? They were not keeping me in the loop and finding out from the ex is not the most reliable info. They would have thought I did not show up to court on purpose when in fact I never knew I needed to. When I called, at this point, they said it was now with a collection agency and I needed to call them. I called the agency and it was like pulling teeth to figure out whether I needed to show in court or not. I asked them to send a copy of the letter. They admitted they sent the letter only to his address and not mine. I gave them my info. I received the notification that they are representing the credit union to collect the debt from me and that I can dispute the amount in 30 days.

The letter was dated Oct 29, 2008 so I still have time to respond if need be. But I don’t think I need to dispute the debt it is real. Should I sent a response letter that I have received their communication but cannot pay? Or is this detrimental and maybe I should just not respond? Guess I just need to wait and see if I really do need to go to court? They told me that I was not being summoned at all just him and my name was just on the letter he received since I am the cosigner. Turns out he never showed up in court either. Not sure what his plans are. I don’t know what I can really do here. Do I just sit and wait to be summoned? They said they will try to collect from him first but this whole situation is just stressing me out. I don’t want to have to file bankruptcy over this or go to court for that matter.

Thoughts? Comments? Thanks for even taking the time to read this. Any words of wisdom are truly, truly appreciated.

Thanks for your help and kind words. Actually, yes as soon as I know the status of the situation I will come back on and let you know so everyone can learn from my mistakes and see what the outcome was. I am guessing a couple months or so things should start to unfold. I really hope so because I am done with it! Thanks again!