What is debt validation?
Debt validation is the debtor's right to ask for validation of a debt a creditor claims he owes. A letter requesting validation of the debt should be sent to the creditor or the collection agency, if they claim that you owe the debt, either by sending a collection letter or by reporting the debt on your credit report.
Debt validation letters (DV letters) should always be sent by certified mail requesting a return receipt or faxed, so that you have proof that you have asked for the debt to be validated if the creditor fails to validate the debt. When you ask for debt validation from a debt collector, they need to provide you with a copy of the original signed contract between you and the original creditor and the account statement showing your outstanding debt. In addition to these two documents, the collection agency must provide you with proof that they have been given the right to collect the debt by the original creditor, or they have purchased the debt from the original creditor.
On receiving the debt validation letter, the creditor or the collection agency must provide you with proper validation within a few days from the date they receive your DV letter. If they fail to validate the debt within this period, then you are no longer liable to pay the debt under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Here is a sample debt validation letter which will help you to ask for debt validation.
Your Name
Your Address
Name of CA
Address of CA
Date:
Re: Your Account No:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I checked a copy of my credit report and realized that there was a collection reported from your agency, which I was not notified about. I do not reject to provide with the debt amount. However, this is a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b), that your claim is disputed and a validation is demanded. This is asking for proof regarding the debt that I owe and verifying it.
I am requesting you to stop all collection activities including reporting this information on my credit report. I am sure that you are aware of the fact that non-compliance with this request may end up in legal obligations.
Please dispatch copies of the following with your reply:
1. The agreement which authorizes you to collect debt on the assumed debt.
2. The signed agreement from the debtor confirming to pay the debt.
3. The documents regarding the payments made on this account and validation of the amount.
With regards,
Your Signature
Your Name
Hope this helps :)
Anthony, What she is saying is she was already down at the courthouse on her husbands behalf and they found nothing under his name or the the number on the summons. So if there is nothing listed how is she or her husband suppose to file a response?
If nothing is listed as per the court records I think that the court summon is not legal and there is no need to file a response to the summon. But you should at least get this in writing from the court or notify the court in writing about the situation and get a certified copy of your letter from the court for future reference. After that you should contact Washington Mutual and inform them of the situation in writing.
FALSE HOPE
So, I went down to the court in person to show them the papers and they were in fact able to locate the case :(
One question... is a "response" and a "sworn denial" the same? or are they two different documents?
Sorry to hear this. I am not sure of the answer to your question. It sounds to me as if they are. Hopefully Anthiny will come back and give you more definite info. Usually a creditor, if the debt isn't extremely large will now want to go to actual court. Sometimes they will call you and want to settle at a half decent amount. Have they tried to contact you? I can not remember if this debt was in SOL?
A sworn denial is a statement which is filed with the court clerk in the court where you have been sued. In sworn denial, you deny the debt or the amount of the debt for which you have been sued and a copy of such denial has to be sent to the collection agency lawyer.
you must follow through as anthony has so openly discribed, you have to file it with the clerk of courts and then send a copy to the other side, the only thing that I would add is to send everything certified and return reciept requested. keep us updated and if you have any other questions, please come on back.
Good luck and please stop back and let us know how you are doing and if you need any help.
Judement Hearing 10/06 -- Question
Would it be upsetting to the Judge ,, If I wait until the hearing to ask for proof (Discovery process) ? I don't think they (the CA) Have it.
Thanks Shane
I would not care if it upset the judge or not, what else can one do, if you have ask for it and they did not provide it and then they have the gull to go ahead and sue you, I think goodnatured is exactly right by asking for it, especially since she has proof that she requested the it several times.
This is great stuff however no one actually stopped and Gumped down the answers to the initial question. So I am going to re-ask it.
I recieved a sommuns there are7 claims on the complaint .
1. My juisdiction is proper for the court
2. defendand enter into agreement on Nov / ... bearing account # ...
3. Upon information and belief, defendant has possession of credit card agreementupon which claim is based
4. Def. areed to terms
5.Plantiff has fully complied
6. Def. has defaulted under terms and conditions
7. There is presently due $5000.00
Plantiff prays for judgement in the amount of $5000 plus costs and interest.
O.k. At this point do I request a DV . And how do I answer the complaint with the court? Please be detailed I am very nervous.
Also- the plantiffs address is different from the original creditor? They are based Minnesota and the summons says Norcross, GA. Are collection companies allowed to claim the plaintiff as the original creditor even after it has been charged off? Is this legal? Or common?
sorry for the typos I am at work and have to type blind.
Mann Bracken LLC
I am so happy to find a site with people who actually know what they are talking about.
I received a notice of collection from Mann B. and immediatly responded via certified mail with a letter of dispute and validation. I wrote out 10 points of evidence to validate this debt according to the FDCPA sec. 809B. I waited the 30 days until (July 10th) for a responce and received nothing.
Yesterday I received a verification of debt letter ( Sept. 2nd postmarked)
They stamped the papers inside with the dates of June 20th, and a notary stamped it with the date June 30th, and the front page is stamped with JULY 28th.
The "verification" they provided was the the name of creditor (Chase) the acct number, my SS#, My address, My name, the date acct was open, and the total charge-off amount.
That's it. They didnt provide me with my signature of owning the debt, proof they can collect in my state (CA) or any o the other validation requests.
I don't know what the next step is for me. Since I didn't receive a reply within 30 days (and not certified either) and they didn't validate anything I asked...
Can you tell me what my next step should be? i am very confused at this point.
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!
Mac,
Who is suing you? is it the original creditor or is it someone representing the original creditor?
If it is a collection agency that bought the debt then you have a good chance at beating it.
Either way, you have to answer the summons and have it back to the clerk of courts and send a copy to the ones that are suing you. If you do not they will win by default and you don't want them to win by default.
So, let me give this a shot.
[/quote]
1. My juisdiction is proper for the court
2. defendand enter into agreement on Nov / ... bearing account # ...
3. Upon information and belief, defendant has possession of credit card agreementupon which claim is based
4. Def. areed to terms
5.Plantiff has fully complied
6. Def. has defaulted under terms and conditions
7. There is presently due $5000.00
Plantiff prays for judgement in the amount of $5000 plus costs and interest.
1. ADMIT
(There is no reason to contest this if it is right)
2. ADMIT or DENY
(Depends, is this the right information) But I would add to this the company name that you have the credit card with. If it is a collection agency suing you then this will show that you did not enter into a card contract with them.
3. ADMIT or Deny
(again depends, do you have a copy of the agreement and is it with the company that is suing you? If not, then say Admit, but not with ****, agreement entered into with ****)
4. ADMIT or Deny
(Again need to know if it is the original creditor suing you)
5. Apparently not, if they are suing then the agreement was not upheld right?
6. Depends on if the original creditor or a collection agency is suing you.
7. Again, is it the original creditor? If so, what was your balance. If it a collector, then deny.
We really need to know if it is the original creditor or not, If you come on here and let me know, I will try to help you. I am in the same predicament. So far, I have not paid a dime.
I think after they do not respond that you can dispute them on your credit report and have it removed, send copies along with your dispute to the credit reporting agencies.
Okay Gn. Question. Since the place be it the OC oe DC didn't validate within 30 days does this help in court (since his right to have it validated went past 30 days) or does it just help him/her get it off their report?
MANN BRACKEN WIPED OUT
Wow What a nightmare. I think they may have went about this illegally. Number one after 4 years you are prtected by the Satute of limitations. this meaning they can no longer legally sue you for this debt. They can try to collect it but can not take you to court, unless you are willing to pay they can not get any money from you after the SOL. Here is CA:
California Statutes of Limitation
Written agreements: 4 years, calculated from the date of breach.
Oral agreements: 2 years.
The statute of limitation is stopped only if the debtor makes a payment on the account after the expiration of the applicable limitations period.
So you need to contact find someone who will be able to help you get the money back. Maybe your state rep.
Don't go to far away others will stop and probaly have much better answers.
Fireyone is right, you should contact your state attorney general's office and let them know what the company did and how they went about doing it.
Thats exactly what you need to do. I can not figure out how they could sue and get away with it after 9 years.
I don't believe that they can go through with this and if they used any type of threat or intimidation to have you pay this bill then they have violated the fdcra laws of debt collection and you could sue them for that also.
That was me up top of here, it signed me out somehow?????? I was a way from the computer for a little while.
I can n ot see how they cleaned out his checking account and will not show proper proof of court papers showing they were entitled to do so. How did they get the bank to honor these papers if they didn't take him to court to get the order?
Goodnatured, thank you for the response on Sept 12. To answer youor question i am being sued by "Target National Bank" However on the summons the address for Target is different that the Target National Bank in MN. The Sommuns says Target National Bank Norcross GA., The attorney is : Shermeta, Adams & Von Allmen, P.C. in Rochester MI. Can collection attourneys claim that the plaintiff is the original debtor even when they are not? Or could this be an attorney for Target National Bank? I did some research on the attourneys and they are hiring online for skip tracers and collection personell. This makes me think they are a collection company rather than an attorny for Target National bank in MN. After reading the previous posts it seems like this is a slam dunk if the plantiff is not actually Target national Bank. I responded to the complaint using information obtained by this and other sites. I responded within the 21 day limit and used certified mail with return service. I denied all paragraphs other than the ones I had not knowledge of such as jurisdiction. I also included the statement :"The Defendant denies the allegations numbered 2,3,4,6 & 7 of the plaintiff’s complaint for lack of sufficient information to justify a reasonable belief therein.". So to summarize. I don't know who the real plaintiff is because Target National Bank is not located in Norcross GA. They are located in MN. I know if they can not produce the original copy of the agreement the case will be dismissed for lack of evidence. Please help me my court date is early October. Lastley I still have not requested debt validation. Is it worth it at this point. I already have a court date. There was charge off on my credit report last month. I called Targets automated service to check on the card in questions status and the automated system stated that the information was not found. Could this have been sold to a collection attourney that is claiming Target National Bank is the plantiff even thought the debt was already sold?
Mac. It is probaly the same company. Most of these places work out of many different staes. GN is very familiar with this type of thing. She isn't on line at the forum all the time. May I sugget that you PM her? If you scroll down the side of the screen you will see private messaging and all you have to do is click on it and it is self explanitory from that point. It will help draw her attention to the post and you will get an answer alot quicker.
great thanks ! Question. How common is it for companies to charge off an account then use an outside attorney to submit a complaint? Also I googled Target National Bank Norcross GA. Nothing came up. All findings pointed to MN as the address. Why would they use a different address in the lawsuit?
Motion to move to discovery.
Are there any sample letters here on the discovery process ?
Hi Mac
Even if a company charges off a credit account, he can sue you to the court to recover the debt, till the time the SOL in your state has expired. Charge off does not mean that you are not required to pay off the debt. Even if the account is charged off, the creditor can sue you and bring judgment against you. A creditor normally charges off a credit account after 6 months from the date of your last payments towards the debt.
Yes you definatley are not protected until the Statute of limitations expires. I do not think the address is going to make any difference in court though. Is your debt past the SOL?
What state are you from? if you list it, then someone here will find out all you need to know and post it.
GN thats a good question. A state listing would be nice.
I am in Michigan court date is set for this friday Oct 10. We got a settlment in the mail. Can they garnish in Michigan? What is my next step? Is there reson for me to mention to the court that I do not feel that the plaintiff is who the attorney says they are. Can they name a plaintiff even if it is not the one suing me?
I am in Michigan court date is set for this friday Oct 10. We got a settlment in the mail. Can they garnish in Michigan? What is my next step? Is there reson for me to mention to the court that I do not feel that the plaintiff is who the attorney says they are. Can they name a plaintiff even if it is not the one suing me?
I'm not sure if they can Garnish in Michigan but I am thinking that is one of the states they can. I believe there are only 4 states you can not be garnished (except for taxes and child support) . I will let others address your other questions.
Outcomes need to be posted - Knowledge is power.
I am posting this here because it is were I started my search for answers over 4 moths ago.
I want to thank everyone that has been apart of the forum – Thanks all (You all, are the best) True Americans in my opinion.
Lots of the questions and replies in this forum have great value, when applied correctly to courts documentation and clerk of court filling process. (Please use this process- It’s a huge defense process)
What, I don’t see are people that have posted with question, following up with outcomes of their experience with the advice learned from this forum. And I think, it is for fear of Law firms following the post. (Let them follow, is all I can say) Anything mentioned here or posted, here, is mere hearsay and is not permissible as factual evidence in a court of law, this is your chance to help others.. Please post outcomes based on knowledge gained from forums like this. (It gives the average Joe,, like me,, and others the power to represent as Pro Se.—(An American birth right !!)
The next post below will be my own outcome based on knowledge learned in the forums – and I did find out the law firm was watching these post. (Why with their college degree and experience,,did they not learn from the post but only try to use it is totally baffling to me. )
I will make a bold statement to help. You as Pro Se (Representing one self) have not been schooled in Law. ( A Lawyer is a business and is not needed as representation , most of the time Lawyers are only representing the money they possibly could make----Not you) So it is wise to hire one if you are the plaintiff,, The Lawyers has a higher profit margin to make and will go the extra mile to make his/her profit representing you.
Lawyers representing a defendant are taking a calculated risk and are,, only considered if profit is to be made. ( OK to be fair there are some Lawyers and Pro bono law firms that are really in it to be true lawyers ,,but I have not meet many in my life.) I always believe in being fair.
I guess you all can see I have a lot to post. This has been very exciting to me. Ok the next post will be about out come of Knowledge learned here.
Shane Mac
Order to show cause?
Hello again...
My husband received summons, we responded to the summons before the 30 days. Now we get a letter from the court with a hearing date to show up in court. It says its an order to show cause.
Can anyone explain what will happen when we show up in court on this date?
hi Worried wife
On the court day, you will be informed of the charges against you by the collection agency or the creditor as the case may be and your situation will be discussed. Creditors may also be present in the court. Here you may ask the creditor for validating the debt if you have not yet asked for debt validation and the creditor may need to validate the date within 30 days from the court date and the next date may be fixed accordingly. Now if the judgment goes against you, your wages may be garnished to recover the debt. Here you can request the court not to garnish your wages and may make the court agree to allow you a repayment plan to pay off the debt.
debt assigned or bought?
What is the difference between debt assigned and debt bought?
Hi Any
As far as I know, if a collection agency is assigned your debt, it means that the original creditor has only transferred the right to collect the debt to the CA and has not sold it off to the CA. In other words, the CA in this case do not own the debt and the creditor may take back the right to collect the debt from the CA. However, if the debt is sold off to the collection agency, then the CA becomes the owner of the debt and the OC ceases to have any right over it.
Yes, I agree with Justin. This means that even if the debt is assigned to the collection agency, you may come to a repayment agreement as well as a PFD agreement with the original creditor and both the OC and the CA listing against a debt may be removed from your credit report once you pay off the debt in full to the OC. However, if the debt is sold off to the CA, you can only make a PFD agreement with the CA and not the OC, and in case both of CA and the OC listing are there in your credit report, only the CA listing will be removed and the OC listing will stay there for seven years.
Great information!
I had just written myself a note to look up one of these letters, then I came across this post.
Thank you for your help. I know with the help of you good people and this website, I'm going to make my credit super-fabulous!
Repsond to the summons.
You must respond to the summons or they win by default.
1. What is the last date of activity with the original creditor?? That is when the SOL begins. Not with the collection agency.
2. I would go to court and ask for proof of signature on the contract agreement from the original creditor. You can easily say you do not recall this debt and you would like proof that it is in fact yours. If they don't provice proof, guess what??? You win! Most likely this agreement is somewhere archived and it will not give them time to find it.
3. Ask the Collection agency for the original paper contract from the original creditor SIGNED BY YOU specifically naming the colleciton agency as a person entitled to enforce a commercial claim against you pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code 3-401 and general Contract Law.
Hope this helps. To learn how to keeps these fools in check, I recommend www.AttractiveCreditSecrets.com
I'm sending this letter with add on today to spiegel which went out of business so another company trying to charge again
I'm sending this letter with add on today to spiegel which went out of business so another company trying to charge again
great, please let us know what the results are and if you need any other assistance with this account, we will be more than happy to help you out.
Mad, Are you trying to reach Speigel or just simply letting us know your trying to reach speigel and get something cleared up? If the company went out of business did they offer you some kind of ppayoff-offer? We had a furniture store go out of business in our area years ago. My hubby and I had an account with this company and they offered us a discount if we would pay off the account early since they were going out of business. I believe they only wanted 60% of what we owed. Of course we paid cause it was a great offer and it wasn't going to effect our credit. I would suggest giving this company (if it is an option) a ring and seeing if they will accespt some type of pay off offer.
Default Judgement
I want to question something here. What happens if you were actually never given the summons and actually didn't know anything about it, until it has actually showed up on your credit report. How do you handle that?
I asked this question too. I keep hearing that you have 30 days to vacate a judgement but thats about the only answer I get. Sometimes judgements are left with the wrong person assuming thye will pass it on to the person who is actually being served. It was explained in another post. I have tried finding this post but can not. If you want to get a direct answer I would suggest posting a seperate thread. If you look to the side of your screen you will see a box at the top that says "ask the community" put your question there and the rest will be self explanatory.
Thanks
Thank you for the reply. I might just have to do that. I'm in the process of trying to get my credit report cleared up and this is actually how I found out that I even had a judgment up against me.
so if I send a debt validation letter and receive no reply within a given amount of time I am no longer for the debt and everything pertaining to it will be removed from the credit report? If the account is in "cease and desist" status now would this be opening the legal can of worms and result in court action against me?[/b]
If you send a DV letter to the creditor and the creditor do not respond to the request within 30 days of receipt of your letter, then as per the fair debt collection practices Act, the creditor loses his right to collect the debt. If the creditor cannot validate the debt, you can ask the creditor to remove the listing from your credit report. However, if the creditor do not remove the listing from your credit report, you can send a dispute letter to the bureaus telling them that you do not agree with the listing. You can find sample debt validation letter if you visit the link letters of credit