Hi,
I have a charge-off about 3 yrs old. The original creditor still owns the debt. They hired a collection agency to collect it. About a year ago yr ago the CA send a collection letter. I sent validation and never heard back. Also, the collection letter was in violation of TN state law because it did not have the required wording about being licensed in TN. I did include this in my validation request.
The OC is the only one reporting and they still report a balance. I sent an email requesting details of the account to the OC it's with. The OC wrote me, said yes they still own it and I need to deal with their CA.
Any thoughts as to what to do now? I would like to settle the account to qualify for mortgage, the balance is figuring into utilization and showing me maxed out. Does the OC have any responsibility in the CA they hired following the state law, and also not validating?
OC responsible for actions of CA
Hi Josilyn,
Can you tell if you have proof the validation letter sent to the collection agency? If yes, you can dispute this debt with the credit bureaus. However, if you have no written proof of the letter, you can send in another validation letter to the collection agency via certified mail, requesting a return receipt. After you get back the return receipt send dispute letter to the credit bureaus. This is known a s the 1-2 punch.
Thanks,
Aaron