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I just found out that I'm on the hook for $300 that wasn't paid by my mom's insurance for an urgent care center visit six months ago. They told me I'd be notified if there was anything for me to pay after the insurance paid their share, but I never received any notification until now, when I found out that the sum has been sent to a collections agency. If I just pay this right now, I'm guessing that I'm going to take a credit hit, right? Should I ask for a debt verification and try to get a pay-for-delete, then? Do I need to sign and date my debt verification request letter? I noticed a post on CreditBoards that said "Don't sign anything sent to a CA. Signatures have a pesky way of jumping from one document to another." Is that true? Is this an appropriate debt verification request letter? It's copied right from the OP: quote:<agency name>, Safe and Secure! fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Jun 13, 2012 |
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Jun 13, 2012 04:33
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Safe and Secure! posted:Is this an appropriate debt verification request letter? It's copied right from the OP: Request everything from them. Add on that you want them to include the original documents including whatever contract it was that you signed. Whatever paperwork you can think of that you think they might not have, demand that they send it to you. I sent that exact letter and all I got back was a paper breaking down my debt with my name on it that essentially said "yep this is yours." Since I didn't actually ask for the original paperwork, they didn't send it to me, so now I could maybe dispute it but I don't know if it would work or not. The two companies I'm dealing with seem to be fairly reputable, and at the very least my "cease communications" request worked and they made sure to add in the letter that they wouldn't be contacting me anymore unless I requested it.
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Jun 13, 2012 06:42
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I recently received a letter from an agency. I was going to e-mail them about a pay for delete situation, but their website has no e-mail address and it has this message: "Please note: To ensure compliance with state and federal laws pertaining to debt collection, we are unable to answer any questions or discuss any debt collection issues via email. This is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained may be used for that purpose." So, what's next? Is it better to call, or mail a letter? It's EOS/CCA, for what it's worth. emotive fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Jun 14, 2012 |
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Jun 14, 2012 00:46
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Safe and Secure! posted:I just found out that I'm on the hook for $300 that wasn't paid by my mom's insurance for an urgent care center visit six months ago. They told me I'd be notified if there was anything for me to pay after the insurance paid their share, but I never received any notification until now, when I found out that the sum has been sent to a collections agency. Has this even hit your credit report yet? You're jumping the gun here. Has it actually been purchased by an external collections agency? If it's still owned by the original creditor, they don't have to validate.
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Jun 14, 2012 01:26
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Well, I did say in my letter that requested verification (and I asked for absolutely everything you can ask for, including what they paid for the debt and how they arrived at the figure they are asking for, etc) that if they did not provide the requested information they were required to delete it or I would take legal action. Not sure if that is something they will actually listen to. I do have to give these two agencies credit for ceasing all phone calls immediately on receipt of my letters. I don't know what they expected, though. I'm not an idiot; I'm well aware that they bought my debts for pennies on the dollar and they're asking for the full final balance on the two accounts ALL AT ONCE RIGHT NOW. Ha, ha. Yeah, right. 
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Jun 14, 2012 02:21
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This is a very long thread and my answers and probably buried deep within but I figured I'd just post about my situation. I have a bill in collections from a college that I attended for $705. The collection agency tacked on $235 in "collections costs". I mailed out a verification letter CMRR and they received the letter 4/26/12. Just today 6/14/12 I received their response, which was an acknowledgement of my cease & desist request and their verification which consisted of a screen shot with my name, old address, and student ID number (no social security number though) and the original amount of the debt, and a copy of the college's academic calendar from Summer 2011. Since it took them more than 30 days to verify, am I in the clear? The OP says to just keep collecting the paperwork they send; does that mean I'll eventually have to take this to court? Do I send them a letter telling them that they violated the FDCPA?
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Jun 14, 2012 23:15
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Kate Hate posted:This is a very long thread and my answers and probably buried deep within but I figured I'd just post about my situation. You the consumer have 30 days to send a debt validation request before losing a bunch of your rights, but unfortunately there is no time limit for collection companies to respond. However what they sent you isn't really a proper validation, and including an academic calendar is actually laughably bad. IANAL but personally I would respond saying that's not proper validation and request actual documentation. Read up on the FDCPA before you do that. Since the amount is so small I would be surprised if they put much more effort into collecting it.
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Jun 15, 2012 00:28
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One thing I'm wondering, what is the legal difference between the terms "verification" and "validation"? I've seen them used interchangeably here, are they legal synonyms or is one of them different from the other? Even the text of the FDCPA uses both, and I figure they wouldn't use two different terms for the same thing.
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Jun 15, 2012 01:00
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Between 2004 and 2007 I was going to school in El Paso, Texas. In 2007 I moved back to New York and began working full time and basically just ignored everything that was my life in El Paso. Apparently I had an unpaid balance of around $5000 to the University I attended in Texas and was recently contacted by a CA trying to get the money that I owed. I know the SOL in Texas is 4 years and I can pretty easily prove that I was certainly not attending school there at least that long just by pointing to the anniversary date on my pay stub, however in New York the SOL is 6 years and New York is where I currently live. Which state's statute should I be using for this debt?
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Jun 15, 2012 20:06
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AuntBuck posted:You the consumer have 30 days to send a debt validation request before losing a bunch of your rights, but unfortunately there is no time limit for collection companies to respond. However what they sent you isn't really a proper validation, and including an academic calendar is actually laughably bad. IANAL but personally I would respond saying that's not proper validation and request actual documentation. Read up on the FDCPA before you do that. Since the amount is so small I would be surprised if they put much more effort into collecting it. What do you consider proper validation, then? Not like wikipedia is a great source, but this is basically the law: "The FDCPA does not define what constitutes proper debt validation, and the issue has not been fully resolved by the courts. In the leading case of Chaudhry v. Gallerizzo, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals adopted a relatively low standard: "Verification of a debt involves nothing more than the debt collector confirming in writing that the amount being demanded is what the creditor is claiming is owed; the debt collector is not required to keep detailed files of the alleged debt."
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Jun 15, 2012 20:13
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Trillian posted:What do you consider proper validation, then? Not like wikipedia is a great source, but this is basically the law: Confirming in writing should be more than just a printout saying, "You owe $X, pay us now" as anybody can type anything up in notepad, and generally it should at least include some statements or the original agreement. This page mentions that requirement being established by Fields v Wilbur: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/debt_validation.shtml Fields v. Wilber case from September 2004: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-7th-circuit/1033194.html I think Wikipedia's right in that what constitutes proper debt validation is still questionable, requiring statements or the original cardholder agreement doesn't seem to be the law so much as a generally accepted standard.
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Jun 16, 2012 00:15
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I found a template online which looked like this:verification letter template posted:[Your Name] I filled in the blanks and sent that to my creditors. It seems to have worked pretty well so far because I doubt that they want to give me the information requested in that letter. They don't want to tell you how much they paid to buy the debt, and how much they are adding in as fees, etc. In my case each of the two agencies I am dealing with asked for payment in full of the final balance on each account, and I'm well aware that they bought my debts for pennies on the dollar. Once I sent each agency this letter they immediately ceased all phone calls and I have not heard a thing from them since in writing.
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Jun 16, 2012 04:02
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I just had a house rental application rejected because of an item on my credit report which I thought was history. Long story short, in 2008 I stupidly moved out of an apartment without doing a final walkthrough. Three months later I got a call from a collection agency saying I owed about $2,000. I basically hung up on them and assumed if the claim had any merit I would have been contacted by the property management company and/or they would sue me. I do not feel that the debt was ever legitimate and especially now that it belongs to a CA I have no intention of paying a cent. So now I am well outside the initial 30 day window and am trying to decide among my options as I see them: - Send out a DV letter anyway; call their bluff and hope the claim disappears from my report - Chalk it up to experience and just wait for the SOL to kick in I have already initiated the electronic dispute process on the online credit report (in 250 characters!) Aside from this rental rejection, my free credit report says I have "good" credit and the limits on my cards keep going up. I'm worried that this might affect my ability to rent but at the same time I refuse to grovel or pay off people just for the "privilege" of paying rent. Perhaps the company which rejected me is just more strict than most?
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Jun 18, 2012 20:57
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Novo posted:I just had a house rental application rejected because of an item on my credit report which I thought was history. Long story short, in 2008 I stupidly moved out of an apartment without doing a final walkthrough. I would check the state laws, you may already be outside the SOL for this.
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Jun 18, 2012 21:05
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LorneReams posted:I would check the state laws, you may already be outside the SOL for this. According to about.com in my state it's 6 years for all types of accounts. I'm pretty sure the initial claim was mishandled (they sent it straight to collections and didn't contact me once) but I'm not sure if that can help me at this point.
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Jun 18, 2012 21:24
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Novo posted:
Quick note: The SOL prevents them from suing you but does not prevent them from trying to collect (they just can't file suit) and it won't remove it from your credit report.
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Jun 19, 2012 13:47
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Novo posted:According to about.com in my state it's 6 years for all types of accounts. I'm pretty sure the initial claim was mishandled (they sent it straight to collections and didn't contact me once) but I'm not sure if that can help me at this point. I'm not talking about the SOL for an agreement, I'm refering to the SOL for a property owner to provide reciepts for expenses before raiding your deposit and charging you. Also in CA: quote:California Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection LorneReams fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Jun 19, 2012 |
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Jun 19, 2012 17:06
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Roger_Mudd posted:Quick note: The SOL prevents them from suing you but does not prevent them from trying to collect (they just can't file suit) and it won't remove it from your credit report. poo poo, seriously? I always thought that it could be removed from a credit report after the SOL. I've been kinda just waiting out the SOL for some of the poo poo i couldn't get removed. This is a bit disheartening.
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Jun 20, 2012 23:53
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kstatix posted:poo poo, seriously? I always thought that it could be removed from a credit report after the SOL. I've been kinda just waiting out the SOL for some of the poo poo i couldn't get removed. This is a bit disheartening. It will drop off your credit report eventually, but that's not tied to the debt's SOL. In most cases, it will drop off the credit report seven years after the debt became delinquent.
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Jun 21, 2012 00:32
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ibntumart posted:It will drop off your credit report eventually, but that's not tied to the debt's SOL. In most cases, it will drop off the credit report seven years after the debt became delinquent. Since last activity. See reaging.
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Jun 21, 2012 01:27
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I had a free consult with a lawyer and he told me that because of the age of the claim and the relatively small amount of money at stake I am probably better off trying to drive a wedge between the CRAs and the CA. I am incensed that it was so easy for a small fly-by-night company to put a dent in my CR and I'm not willing to pay them off so I guess that's my only option at this point. If I can get it off my report or at least flag it as disputed then I'm not as worried about the SOL; if they haven't sued me yet they probably won't. (*knocks on wood*) Then again, perhaps initiating the dispute process with the CRA will eventually put this back on the landlord's radar. Ugh. As an aside, on the very same day my rental application was rejected I got approved for $2,600 credit via the Apple store (I was rejected when I tried in 2009) so surely my credit is not so bad that all potential landlords will think I'm a deadbeat, right? Edit: LorneReams posted:I'm not talking about the SOL for an agreement, I'm refering to the SOL for a property owner to provide reciepts for expenses before raiding your deposit and charging you. Novo fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Jun 21, 2012 |
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Jun 21, 2012 01:36
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Novo posted:
How long ago was this, I'm pretty sure Civil Section 1950.5 was in effect at least from 2003, probably earlier.
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Jun 21, 2012 04:19
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LorneReams posted:Since last activity. See reaging. I do not doubt that many debt collectors do so, but at least in the FTC's opinion, they do so illegally. Making a payment on a debt resets the SOL and affirms the debt, but that is a completely separate issue from the length of time it stays on a credit report.
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Jun 21, 2012 05:04
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I have an item on my credit report for an account I never opened. As far as I can tell, it's a book club subscription, about $90. I seriously have no idea where this came from. I would like this to be deleted from my credit report. I disputed the item with Experian when I saw it. Today they "updated" the account to say that they debt was valid. What? What's really creepy is my credit report now has 2 versions of my name on it-- the real one, and one with the wrong middle name. That makes me even more convinced that this company just has a case of mistaken identity. I read all over Experian's website but I couldn't find a place to dispute the dispute (heh). Does this mean I need to contact this shady collection agency? Also, I have been periodically receiving phone calls from Comcast saying that I owe them some equipment. I have never had a Comcast account in my life. The funny thing is that they leave messages saying that Kristen so-and-so had better return her Comcast equipment! (My name is not Kristen). I have just been ignoring the phone calls after I told them the first time that I am not Kristen, but now that this other company is putting false information on my credit report, I'm really afraid that Comcast will do so too. Do I need to pursue this too? It's bad enough that debt collectors suck the blood dry of people who made poor financial decisions, but now they're going after people who didn't even do anything too? From reading the thread, it sounds like I should start sending out some certified letters, but it's such a hassle. hitension fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Jun 21, 2012 |
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Jun 21, 2012 18:33
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I'm helping a friend. She has a sold-off card with a low thousands balance, and sent a verification letter that asked several things, including a signed contract. They responded with a few statements and what I'm guessing is a random cardmember agreement. What's the next step? Do we dispute by mail with the credit agencies, saying that we asked for this information and they didn't send it?
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Jun 21, 2012 19:25
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Enderzero posted:I'm helping a friend. She has a sold-off card with a low thousands balance, and sent a verification letter that asked several things, including a signed contract. They responded with a few statements and what I'm guessing is a random cardmember agreement. What's the next step? Do we dispute by mail with the credit agencies, saying that we asked for this information and they didn't send it? Yes. You want to continue to set checkpoints for possible violations. You don't need to mention the reason you are disputing, just dispute saying inaccurate.
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Jun 21, 2012 19:28
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I just called in to pay off my debts and the woman told me it was removed from my report because of my dispute, but then followed up with "whoops no it wasn't we just transferred it." I can't decide whether it was really set to be removed or if she really is just horrible at reading information. I've got the number for the new company that has it, I might try to negotiate with them, but for right now I'm going to see if this thing falls off my report at the end of the month. Failing that, it's listed as closed on my credit report, so I'm thinking that since I technically have the money now I might just let it hang around the government background check. If it comes up, I'll gladly pay it, if it doesn't, gently caress these people. Especially Shelly. Anyway can I dispute it a second time now that it's been transferred to a wyoming branch? What sort of new rules apply here?
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Jun 22, 2012 17:37
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I just got a letter demanding $316 in debt, relating to a bank account that I have never heard of, from a bank that I've never opened an account with (but with all the bank mergers, who knows). They're trying to be nice guys by saying I only have to pay half the debt. I'm furious and terrified, of course. Let's just say that I read Kafka and saw Brazil way too early in my adulthood. I've checked my free credit reports immediately after seeing this, thinking maybe some other a-hole stole my identity and ran up some charges, but the credit reports all reflect expected values, all my accounts are either closed or open, all in good standing. This account doesn't seem to have anything to do with me. I've made late payments here and there, but my debts are all taken care of. Nothing is delinquent. I'm positive that these guys are wrong, but if they're right, it's not that much to make it go away. But I'll be damned if I just cave. This is them: https://www.payconvergent.com/facsweb/weblogind.htm http://convergentusa.com/ This is the debt verification letter template I'm going with: quote:
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Jun 23, 2012 03:35
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So, my two collectors have failed to verify. I decided to go look into disputing/getting the accounts removed from my credit reports. Experian won't even let you dispute unless you buy a report first, which seems pretty dirty to me. Equifax let me look at stuff for free. I'm slightly puzzled by what I saw. The two accounts in question still show under the original creditors as CHARGE-OFF, which I expected to see, but there is absolutely nothing under collections activity. It's been over 60 days since those two accounts were charged off and sold to collectors, shouldn't they have reported that activity? Do I dispute/challenge the original accounts, or do I have to wait for the collections activity to show up?
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Jun 23, 2012 15:11
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Powdered Toast Man posted:So, my two collectors have failed to verify. I decided to go look into disputing/getting the accounts removed from my credit reports. Experian won't even let you dispute unless you buy a report first, which seems pretty dirty to me. Equifax let me look at stuff for free. That sounds like an inaccurate report that needs to be disputed. I'm still waiting for mine to swap companies, but it just happened recently as far as I know so I'm giving it a few weeks before I start calling people up.
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Jun 23, 2012 18:10
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I should have added these questions to my previous post: like I said, my credit report shows no negatives, everything is in good standing. Is it possible that these folks are right and I owe what they say, it just doesn't show on a credit report? Could they just add it to my credit report? Another poster on this page said to ask for the original contract and paperwork representing the debt, would that be appropriate to ask for here, or would that just be ignored?
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Jun 23, 2012 18:49
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Powdered Toast Man posted:So, my two collectors have failed to verify. I decided to go look into disputing/getting the accounts removed from my credit reports. Experian won't even let you dispute unless you buy a report first, which seems pretty dirty to me. Equifax let me look at stuff for free. Just make up an adverse action claim and you get free reports. No, it doesn't have to be a real one, no they don't bother checking anything.
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Jun 24, 2012 09:09
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Or, if you don't want to make stuff up, get a car insurance quote from GEICO. They use credit score as a factor, so if you're credit is bad, you get quoted a higher premium, and that's an adverse action.
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Jun 24, 2012 10:58
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Rusty Shackelford posted:I think you are overthinking this one. The hospital had a counter from the day you were treated and when the they hadn't been paid after day 45 or day 60 or whatever day they use, it went to their collection agency. What you probably don't understand is that the hospital sends everyone to collections at that mark and it isn't necessarily a negative thing, it's just how the hospital does business. This is from a long time ago but here is an update: A company representative, someone from the collection agency, and myself had a phone conversation to discuss the debt. My company said that they would look into it but would pay it and ask that it not be reflected on my credit report. The collection agency didn't commit to that and in fact, kept avoiding giving an answer either way. After chasing them around a bit, we just gave up and left it at that. In the end, it turns out the hospital billed everything to a wrong account and everything was taken care of, payment wise. Since there wasn't any committal to getting this debt off of my credit report, I was still worried but didn't want to constantly keep pulling reports. In March 2011, I ran a report and found nothing about this. I just recently ran the reports and didn't find anything about this. Sometimes these things in the end turn out okay  Thanks to everyone who helped out because it was frustrating being on the hook for something that I wasn't really responsible for.
The Experiment fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Jun 24, 2012 |
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Jun 24, 2012 13:35
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Powdered Toast Man posted:So, my two collectors have failed to verify. I decided to go look into disputing/getting the accounts removed from my credit reports. Experian won't even let you dispute unless you buy a report first, which seems pretty dirty to me. Equifax let me look at stuff for free. If you're American, you can get 1 free credit report per year from each credit reporting agency. If you haven't used your Experian yet, head on over to annualcreditreport.com
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Jun 24, 2012 14:31
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As an update to my below post... I had found an e-mail address for EOS/CCA by searching the depths of the internet. I e-mailed them with this: "I am inquiring regarding a recent collection notice I received in the mail. Account #XXX. Client reference #XXXXXXXXXX. I need to confirm that this debt is in fact mine and request you validate it by producing the contract and documentation showing proof of said debt. If it is found and proven that this debt is in fact mine, I am willing to negotiate a pay-for-delete contract. I will not, however, admit to this debt until I am provided the requested documentation. Do not contact me by telephone about this debt, I will only discuss it in writing. You have 30 days to validate this debt, if you do not, remove it from my credit reports, do not contact me in any way about this debt again, and do not sell or give this debt to any other agency." ------- Yesterday I received a signed letter from them saying this: "Our client, XXX, placed the aboved referenced account with our office on 5/23/2012. The account has since been closed and returned to the client, and as such, our office will not contact you any further. EOS CCA has not reported this account to the credit bureaus." I'm not sure where to go from here. I contacted them before my payment due date so I'm not sure why they said it's been closed. Advice? _adam posted:I recently received a letter from an agency. I was going to e-mail them about a pay for delete situation, but their website has no e-mail address and it has this message:
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Jun 24, 2012 18:09
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So...do I just wait, at this point? Are my original creditors going to try again with different collection agencies? I guess I don't understand what I need to do now that they failed to verify.
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Jun 26, 2012 19:25
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Powdered Toast Man posted:So...do I just wait, at this point? Are my original creditors going to try again with different collection agencies? I guess I don't understand what I need to do now that they failed to verify. Once they've failed to verify via mail, dispute it with the online credit bureaus. If they tell them "yeah this debt is totally legit," they're breaking the law because clearly it isn't or they would have sent you verification. You call them up, tell them that they didn't verify your debt and that you're going to sue their pants off if they don't get rid of that right this second. From what I understand, anyway.
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Jun 26, 2012 19:37
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Redfont posted:Once they've failed to verify via mail, dispute it with the online credit bureaus. If they tell them "yeah this debt is totally legit," they're breaking the law because clearly it isn't or they would have sent you verification. You call them up, tell them that they didn't verify your debt and that you're going to sue their pants off if they don't get rid of that right this second. I poked around the disputing process and the only records I found were the original accounts, both of which show charge-offs. One of the dispute options was, "I am no longer responsible for this account" or something of that nature. Should I dispute those records?
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Jun 27, 2012 02:23
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I sent NCO financial a letter to confirm debt and they did. So they have all their ducks in a row, how should I go about negotiating a pay for delete with them? via mail or give them a call? Any advice on that company?
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Jun 27, 2012 03:57
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