Validation Letters

[Trish]

Originally Posted by deepindebt

Trish,

Thanks for the information. I do have a couple more questions.

1.) How should I respond to answer the summons with the court? Should I answer send the debt collector's attorney a copy of my answer.
Yes, if you look at your states RCP (rules of civil procedure), more than likely it states that you must also send the atty a copy of the answer.

2.) For future reference...Should you always answer a summons upon receiving one?
YES YES YES.....you always answer a summons. If you do not, then once that deadline passes.....they no longer have to notify you of future court dates......i.e. the hearing...........which means they will automatically get a default judgment.

See above in red.

[Rod4bills]

should all letters being sent out be hand written or typed?

[decadude]

I am still new to this but from what I gather and a lot of other newbies may be confused on this b/c I was thinking I could just go down my credit report and on old badies apply a 1-2 punch method. Below outlines that CAs are not required to validate by the law the debt is valid if it is outside the initial 30 days of contact so for some you may want to skip doing a DV as it is likely to not get you anywhere.

In my case I believe I am going to just have to go into dispute mode on some of my baddies that are outside SOL. Again the 1-2 punch where you use DV only applies if you are within 30 days of initial contact of the CA. This is at least how I am interpreting this pertaining to section 3.

Hope this sheds some understanding for others trying to learn all this. I was in the mode of doing DV letters and discovered it was practically pointless and the CA does not have to respond. They only have the 30 days to respond if I dispute with the CRA well using my paid for report number in the dispute..

Hoping either Trish or Chane can chime in on this one or some of the more knowledgeable members of the forum


§ 809. Validation of debts [15 USC 1692g]

(a) Within five days after the initial communication with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt, a debt collector shall, unless the following information is contained in the initial communication or the consumer has paid the debt, send the consumer a written notice containing --

(1) the amount of the debt;

(2) the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed;

(3) a statement that unless the consumer, within thirty days after receipt of the notice, disputes the validity of the debt, or any portion thereof, the debt will be assumed to be valid by the debt collector;

(4) a statement that if the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, the debt collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against the consumer and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to the consumer by the debt collector; and

(5) a statement that, upon the consumer's written request within the thirty-day period, the debt collector will provide the consumer with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor.

(b) If the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period described in subsection (a) that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, or that the consumer requests the name and address of the original creditor, the debt collector shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion thereof, until the debt collector obtains verification of the debt or any copy of a judgment, or the name and address of the original creditor, and a copy of such verification or judgment, or name and address of the original creditor, is mailed to the consumer by the debt collector.

(c) The failure of a consumer to dispute the validity of a debt under this section may not be construed by any court as an admission of liability by the consumer.

[decadude]

I do believe though that a DV letter can be in your favor though if you dispute a tradeline with a CRA and it comes back verified then you can DV the CA and they have to respond to your DV.

I am uncertain if the 30 days does apply here but I believe it does since this inacts the FCRA.

I am currently looking into this, but it does in fact make sense.