Backstory: have a charge off with Date of Last Payment 05/11/04. SOL in my state is 6 years so that didn't help. Received a "summons" about 3 weeks ago. Sent a DV (certified mail/ return receipt) within the 20 days (attached DV letter to bottom of post). Today I received a letter with what looks like verification, not validation?
It has: Amount of debt, name of OC, address of OC, OC account number, date opened, date date of charge off, date of last payment. Also included was a generic terms and conditions agreement from OC, no signatures anywhere etc. From what I understand NONE of this pertains to an authentic VALIDATION as per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act? I'm about to get laid off and am going back to school, I recognize it was my stupid move to get charged off by the OC in the first place, but I am in no shape to pay this off. What I know about this CA (Midland Funding LLC) is that they are notorious scumbags, and it seems like they cannot vaildate my dispute.
My question to you fine folks is how I should proceed with this given the new info I recieved today? And also how would I find out if there is a pending court case that I can attend, dispute etc. The original summons doesn't have a date or anything so I believe it's just a scare tactic/phony summons? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated as I have enough going on outside of this to deal with at the mo'.
First off you probably will not get proper debt validation from this company, they are pretty ruthless in thier way of collecting and do not follow the rules. I would not accept this as proper debt validation, I would send it again and again, always certified return reciept requested. I would save all of this and take it to court with you. Lay it out and show the court that you have on several occassions requested proper debt validation. Keep copies and reciepts.
I would bet that they may not even follow through with the summons, alot of times these types of companies will file the summons to by time, once the summons is filed this stops the statute of limitations. Play the game, send the debt validations until the day you go to court and then do it again in court if it goes that far.
I am dealing with a company that filed on me over two years ago, I did exactly what I am telling you and still did not go to court. I can not tell you that your case will turn out the same way, but most of the times the summons is a scare tactic. Read up on the company, do they have an attorney representing them?
I don't want to mislead you, I am just speaking from my experience in a similar situation, mine was/is with cach llc. same type of collector.
It is not proper debt validation because the collection agency have not send you a copy of the original signed contract between you and the OC. In addition to this they must also send you the proof that the OC has sold off the debt to the collection agency as a response to your validation request. Since they have provided you neither of these, you can send them another letter telling them they they are in violation of the FDCP Act.
Now, since you have received a summon, visit the court that has issued the summon and file a response to the summon there. If you do not file a response to the summon, a default judgment may be passed against you. In the court the CA must properly validate the debt else the judgment will go in your favor.
I agree, you must continue to request proper debt validation and keep copies of your letters and your reciepts, you may need it if this all goes to court. If they can not validate it, then they can't collect it.
First of all have you send the debt validation letter by certified mail? If you have send it through certified mail, then the return receipt along with the letter they send you will prove that you did not receive a proper debt validation. If you produce it in the court, the judgment will be in your favor. However, if you have not send it through certified mail, you can ask for debt validation in the court itself.
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