SOL and Validation Letter Question

[runtotorun121]

Hi,
I am new to the forum and have been trying to read so I don't ask questions that are obviously answered repeatedly so I apologize in advance if I did not find these answers before posting.

I have been contacted by a collection agency in a NE state, and I am in Missouri. During the one telephone contact between me and them (I made an attempt to contact my creditor and had no idea there was any collection activity occurring, but my call was automatically routed to the collection agency) they stated they had sent me a letter a month earlier, which I never received, and the "supervisor" refused to assist me with contacting my creditor to discuss the situation even though the first line person stated that the supervisor could do this. The short of it is that I verbally stated I would send them a letter disputing this debt. "Dispute" was their word. I have not sent this letter yet, and I found your forum so here are my questions:

1. Trish stated in her 'Basic Step' thread "Please be aware that disputing any accts that are still within SOL could possibly wake up a sleeping giant and you can be sued." so I am wondering how I know if it is safe to send a Validation Letter to the collection agency? I read my Missouri SOL, but I don't really understand what all of it means, and, additionally, I don't know if the SOL applies to the state of the creditor, the state of the collection agency, or my home state.

2. So is my step now to send a copy of one of the validation letters, and if so, does one seem more useful than the others?

3. Not to sound totally ignorant, but are these validation letters the request to provide proof that the account is actually yours by signature?

4. I am suppose to send this correspondence via certified mail, correct?

5. And I see a 'Cease and Desist' letter and am wondering is that what I am suppose to do rather than the Validation Letter?

And as an aside, should I/can I also send a request for validation to the creditor and/or the credit reporting bureaus with whom I am in the processing of disputing the information on my credit reports? When I called the creditor at an alternate telephone number after my surprise contact with the collection agency the creditor refused to speak with me, said they could not 'legally' speak with me any more, attempted to transfer me back to the collection agency but did continue listening and finally actually suggested I dispute the report with the credit reporting bureaus before they hung up.

Then lastly, is it okay to change my dispute reason with the credit reporting bureaus? I have informed them that the report is inaccurate because the creditor agreed to remove all finance charges and fees, including interest, and remove any negative reporting they may have done to credit reporting bureaus after I followed up with them; however, it looks as though I really need to dispute by requesting evidence that this is my debt.

Thank you in advance for your time and your reply.

Kristie

[runtotorun121]

Whoops. :o One more thing I just realized. . .in reading other posts I see some collection agencies trying to skirt around things with the 30-day time limit they assert in which you may request validation. To complicate things for me a little further, I am awaiting dispute results from the credit reporting bureaus so do I have to wait this month out for the responses before I send my Validation letter to the collection agency so I can then immediately dispute again with the bureaus?

I see that in the 1-2 Punch you should send the Validation letter and then dispute immediately after receiving your certified mail delivery verification in order to put the collection agency in a time crunch, but I won't be able to dispute this reporting until it is resolved from my last dispute attempt, right? So am I in a mess with not being able to send the Validation letter right away? Again, I have not received written correspondence from the collection agency even though they report they sent me a letter. Would they have to prove delivery through certified mail in order to make the 30 day time constraint stick? I know it is discussed that they are incorrectly asserting this 30 day limit, but I don't know if that complicates things somehow. . .

Thanks again for your time and your reply.
Kristie

[runtotorun121]

***Bump***

[zyal8trr]

Ok, I'll do my best to help. To answer your questions:

1. Yes, what you posted is accurate. Missouri SOL is 5 years. So, 5 years from the DOFD or date of first delinquency with the original creditor. If you past this 5 year mark, you can send them a DV letter, the CA that is. If not, I would not risk sending them a DV letter as yes, you can be sued, that usually depends on the amount of money I believe that you owe.

2. Only send a DV letter if the account is past SOL in Missouri.
3. Basically it's like this. If you send them a DV letter via CMRRR, they have 30 days to validate. (check out the 1 2 punch sticky in the beginners thread)If they don't respond to you in the allowed 30 day time period, you can dispute with the CRA's that they are in violation that they did not validate the debt with you. A lot of times, the CA's don't validate when you do it via snail mail.
4. Correct.
5. You can send a Cease and Decist letter, but I would only recommend this if the account is passed SOL. This is just to get them to stop calling you.

A creditor does not have to validate the debt with you via a DV letter, they can simply ignore it, DV letters only work on CA's.

As far as the creditor, if the account was actually sold to the CA, you're only have is to send them a goodwill letter politely stating the reason why you didn't pay on the account and that you would like the account removed from your credit report. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but persistence does pay off.

[runtotorun121]

Thank you for replying.

So it sounds as though there is nothing that I can do for five years if a CA is contacting me??? I am unclear what the CA would sue me for if I asked for DV? Am I not just requiring them to prove that this account was actually my account and hoping that if they cannot do this then they cannot collect on an account that is not validated as mine? How would this be illegal? I would think that if they can validate the debt with my signature on the account then I am obligated to pay, or they could sue me, but what would they be suing for if I am just asking for DV?

I am confused how anyone is able to get their DV letter in within 30 days of being contacted by a CA if that is the case. I would have to wait over four years to send a DV letter to this CA, and I cannot imagine either having to deal with them for that long or that they would continue to contact me for that length of time. . .

I want this matter cleared up, but I am vehement that on principle I am not going to pay a CA over 400% of the initial charge on the account, which was due to a vendor error to begin with. I had spoke with the creditor about this, and we agreed that after I followed up with the vendor then the creditor would remove all fees/finance charges/interest and make sure nothing was reported to the credit bureaus. Then when I called to speak with them I found they had sold the account to a CA, made reports to the credit bureaus, and by the time they were done tacking on charges/fees the original charge of $107.00 was almost $500.00 that the CA states they must collect. I would gladly pay the $107.00 since the vendor did charge the creditor, even though they were not authorized, but I have corrected that with the vendor so the mistake does not occur again. The CA stated that unless I have something in writing from the creditor then I am responsible for all the fees and charges; however, I am under the impression that a verbal contract is legally binding.

I am just so frustrated beyond belief about this situation. My credit has been good prior to this one issue, and anyone looking at my credit reports could clearly see that there is not some pattern with me not paying creditors or having collection action. I made an agreement with the creditor in good faith, but all it takes is a quick google search to find this is not an isolated incident between the creditor and me. Unfortunately for me it seems as though they are an unscrupulous creditor, and now they have passed me on to a nasty CA.

So is there anything to do?


Thanks again for your time and reply,
Kristie

[zyal8trr]

Originally Posted by runtotorun121

Thank you for replying.

So it sounds as though there is nothing that I can do for five years if a CA is contacting me??? I am unclear what the CA would sue me for if I asked for DV? Am I not just requiring them to prove that this account was actually my account and hoping that if they cannot do this then they cannot collect on an account that is not validated as mine? How would this be illegal? I would think that if they can validate the debt with my signature on the account then I am obligated to pay, or they could sue me, but what would they be suing for if I am just asking for DV?

I am confused how anyone is able to get their DV letter in within 30 days of being contacted by a CA if that is the case. I would have to wait over four years to send a DV letter to this CA, and I cannot imagine either having to deal with them for that long or that they would continue to contact me for that length of time. . .

I want this matter cleared up, but I am vehement that on principle I am not going to pay a CA over 400% of the initial charge on the account, which was due to a vendor error to begin with. I had spoke with the creditor about this, and we agreed that after I followed up with the vendor then the creditor would remove all fees/finance charges/interest and make sure nothing was reported to the credit bureaus. Then when I called to speak with them I found they had sold the account to a CA, made reports to the credit bureaus, and by the time they were done tacking on charges/fees the original charge of $107.00 was almost $500.00 that the CA states they must collect. I would gladly pay the $107.00 since the vendor did charge the creditor, even though they were not authorized, but I have corrected that with the vendor so the mistake does not occur again. The CA stated that unless I have something in writing from the creditor then I am responsible for all the fees and charges; however, I am under the impression that a verbal contract is legally binding.

I am just so frustrated beyond belief about this situation. My credit has been good prior to this one issue, and anyone looking at my credit reports could clearly see that there is not some pattern with me not paying creditors or having collection action. I made an agreement with the creditor in good faith, but all it takes is a quick google search to find this is not an isolated incident between the creditor and me. Unfortunately for me it seems as though they are an unscrupulous creditor, and now they have passed me on to a nasty CA.

So is there anything to do?


Thanks again for your time and reply,
Kristie

When sending a DV letter to a CA, it also acts as a Cease and Decist request. Basically, you're telling the CA to validate the debt and also cease any collection activity, no phone calls, no contact, nothing. This puts the CA in a spot, where, since they can no longer contact you, the only way they can collect is to sue you, which only they can do if within SOL, if not, they cannot sue you.

If you have nothing in writing with the creditor as far as removing errorneous information, interest charges etc...there is nothing you can do at this point. They have sold the debt to the CA, the only company you can deal with is the CA. I know this is frustrating but you won't get anywhere saying, "we verbally agreed etc etc..." You only have 1 item to deal with here, some people have 10 or more.

Lets forget about what you owe right now. If the debt is passed SOL, DV the CA. There's a good chance they don't even respond, which means, you pay no money, you dispute it with the CRA's, the item gets removed and looks like the creditor never sold the account to the CA to begin with.

If the item is within SOL, you want to work on a PFD, pay for delete with the CA. You can offer them say, half of what they are collecting for in exchange for full deletion from all 3 credit bureaus. If that doesn't work, you can them up your offer to something higher. Some CA's will only agreee to a PFD unless you pay them in full.

As far as getting the account removed pertaining to the original creditor, you can send them a goodwill letter, stating your case, telling them there was a "verbal" agreement etc etc....People have success with goodwill letters.