Back in January 11th of 2008 Midland Credit Management( out of San Diego) sent me a settlement letter for and old debt I owed to FCNB Spiegel CC. On January 23,2008 I them a debt validation letter certified mail of course and got back the signature card about 5 days later. I never heard back from them until yesterday Oct 4th. Nine months after I DV'd them.
They sent me a letter saying the following: along with a copy of a bill ( if you can even call it that) with the charge off amount.
Per your request enclosed are the documents for the above referenced-account.
Midland Management is requesting an immediate payment of balance in full. Upon receipt of payment and clearance of the bank we will report a "paid" status on your Credit Report. Please call us so we can discuss this matter further.
That is all they sent me. This to me does not seem like proper Validation even after all the months it took them to get it too me.
I checked my Credit Report it has there from Spiegel 30 days late has of Oct 2005, 60 days late Nov 2005 and finally that it was charged off as of Mar.2006 for 2,500.00.
Should I send them a 2nd DV letter asking for Proper Validation? Seeing that this account is getting close to SOL do you think they will try and Sue me now. I live in California and i know it's 4 yrs over here.
Any feedback will be much appreicated. Thank You.
.
As per the fair debt collection practices Act, the collection agency must validate the debt within 30 days of receipt of your DV letter, else you are no longer liable to that particular CA for that debt. Now, if you have send them the earlier debt validation letter by certified mail, and you have the receipt, then there is no need to worry because if they sue you to the court they cannot bring judgment against you. This is because firstly they have not validated the debt within 30 days of receipt of your letter and secondly, they have not provided you with proper validation. However, if you do not have any receipt of the DV letter you have sent, you should send another one by certified mail with return receipt.
You have still one year for the SOL to expire. Now if you make any payment towards the debt, the SOL will rewind. So you must be sure first that the debt has actually been sold off to Midland and this can be done only if they can properly validate the debt. Validating the debt means that they have to send you document which will prove that they have purchased the debt from the original creditor. Now since nine months have already passed since you have asked for debt validation, I don't think that they have the right to collect the debt as per FDCP Act.
I read somewhere where they dont have a given tim to response your your DV, basically they can send it to you anytime they want. So this is NOT true?
Hi Guest
As per the fair debt collection practices Act, the creditor or the collection agency to whom you send the debt validation letter must validate the debt within 30 days of receipt of your letter else you are no longer liable to them for the debt. So it is always better to send a DV letter by certified mail with a return receipt as a proof that you have asked for debt validation. It would be a defense for you in future if the creditor or the CA sue you to the court to bring judgment against you.
Debt validation would mean that the creditor or the CA must prove that they owe the debt or has been given the right to collect the debt. The validation must include the complete payment history from the OC and the copy of the original signed loan agreement. If they do not provide these documents within 30 days of receipt of your letter, send them a second letter with a copy of the receipt document, that they have violated the FDCP Act and ask them to remove the listing. Send this letter by certified mail. If however, they still do not respond, send a dispute letter to the Credit Bureaus asking them to remove the listing from the credit report.