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I've read through many of these threads and haven't really found anything similar.
I had a cell phone with *****. Long story short, they are claiming I owe them a balance. I am claiming that it was paid in full.
I'll get a letter from a CA, dispute it, and never hear from them again. Then I'll get a letter from a different CA, dispute it, and never hear from them again. I'll find one on my credit report, dispute it, it will get deleted.
How do I make it stop? The debt just gets transferred to someone else and re-aged.
Hi Lindsay
A debt is sold by the original creditor to a collection agency if he considers it as a bad debt. Normally the collection agency purchases outstanding debts in bulks at 50% of the outstanding debt amount and sometimes even less. Most of them even do not collect the original signed contract which was made between you and the original creditor and so they cannot validate the debt properly. If they cannot validate the debt properly they lose their right to collect the debt.
Yes, if the collection agency cannot validate the debt due to absence of documents, it loses the right to collect the debt as per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and so they sell of the debt to another collection agency. The new collection agency purchases the debt in the hope that you will not ask for debt validation and come to repayment agreement to pay off the debt. They think in such a way because most of the debtors are in fact ignorant of debt validation. Now if you again ask for debt validation, and they cannot validate it, the new CA again sells it to another CA and this process continues till you repay one of them or till the seven year period expires.
It is very difficult to stop them from reporting the debt to the credit bureaus. Whenever, you find any such listing in your credit report, and you ask for debt validation, you should send the DV letter by certified mail with return receipt. If they cannot validate the debt within 30 days, send dispute letters along with the copy of the return receipt to the bureaus asking them to remove the listing. To get a sample dispute letter, visit the link letters of credit
I just asked this question on another thread. Is there a legal way to keep collectors from reselling a debt time and time again? How about if a person can prove they paid this debt in full? It seems like it would be a headache and very time consuming to keep proving you paid this debt time and time again. Not only that you would continually have to monitor your credit report and dispute it if a listing was put there. With all the credit card protection laws put into place you would think there would have to be something addressing an issue like this.
credit
REALLY good point, FIREYONE. I suppose if the CA's aren't going to Validate debts, it's worth it to NOT get paid for them. LOL Also...as we are on the subject of Validation, would it matter if you actually SIGNED a 'contract',..or..if it was an an E-Signature? I would think if it was an E-Signature, you could Dispute on just THAT fact.
Even if you have applied for the debt online, they have the proof in their system that you have applied for the same. They can take a print out of the e-statement which will also act as a proof that you have accepted the debt. For example, if you have taken a loan through e-signature, they must have transferred the loan to your bank account, and they have with them the transaction details. So you cannot escape even if you have got the loan online.
Yes, Justin is right. Even if you go for a credit card and apply it online, it automatically gets into their system. Mostly the credit card companies send the credit cards by certified mail and when you sign and receive your credit card, it automatically means that you have signed the credit card agreement. The credit card can use this receipt as a document during the time of debt validation.
I never heard of them sending certified mail but it is a good protection on both the custimers side and the credit card company's. It would keep you prtected from ID theft and cc theft if the card was stolen out of your box and protect them by being able to prove you signed for the card. We applied for our discover card on line years ago and it was sent regular mail. I do not remember ever signing a contrat agreement. Maybe activating the card and a statement sent along saying "By activating thos card'..Could that be it. Not planning on defaulting just was thinking when the e-signature question was asked.
A quick correction Anthony...
Failure to validate by the collection agency DOES NOT mean they can no longer collect the debt. They are just as able as they ever were. They simply cannot (legally) report the information on your credit reports.
Unless a judgment or court order requires the cessation in collection activity, there exists no obligation on the part of the CA to stop.
Most CA's simply give up if you fight... Then they sell it for a loss...
The good news is, as these debts change hands repeatedly, there marketablity goes further and further down, and the cycle eventually ends.
Glad you dropped in here Doc. Let me say you have really been a big help to this forum. I thought if a debt was not validated the judge could throw it out since they violated the Fair debt collection act. How can they still legally collect on a debt and where then is the consumers rights and protection? Alos one more quick question..how long is that tiem period before the cycle generally ends. I have seen posts where a debt could be consudered extainct and some one is trying to collect on it.
credit
Yea, Doc.....your advice is great!! However.........if the CA's keep selling the debts to OTHER CA's, how do we know, when we ask for 'Validation', that a 'valid' one will be sent to us? Hope the question is clear.
validation
If a CA who couldn't validate in the first place, sells to another CA the required/requested validation info isn't going to suddenly appear. They would have to go back to the original creditor of your loan/credit card for that information. And usually when a debt is passed around more and more, the further it gets away from the information from the original creditor. The original creditor would have already written it off for a loss and moved on. The CA is trying to make money off of the discounted rate they bought it at, so they try to collect the whole thing. But that's why they offer you a lowered settle amount. If one CA can't produce the necessary information to validate the debt, and you request it, the only thing they can really do is try to sell the info they have, which still won't contain the customer agreement w/ signature etc. But so few people really know the laws surrounding debt collection (from Case, not original creditors) that CAs make their money off of people settling with them without validating.
debt validation
A ca sent a collection letter. I asked them to validate the debt. Return receipt. They sent me a letter that they suspended the debt. I got another letter from another ca. What happens if the origional ca did not validate the debt?
It seems that the debt has been assigned to the new CA. You'll have to send a debt validation letter via return receipt request. The original CA has nothing to do with the debt now.