Good Sample Debt Validation Letter?

[I_Suck]

I was looking around for sample debt validation letters and found this one. Hoping to get some opinions on it's content....



To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is being sent to you in response to a alleged debt. Be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

This is NOT a request for verification or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above named Title and Section. I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you
.
What I need you to provide as the debt validation is as follows:
1. What the money you say I owe is for;
2. Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe;
3. Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe;
4. Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable;
5. Identify the original creditor;
6. Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account
7. Show me that you are licensed to collect in my state
8. Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent
9. Proof that the collection company owns the debt/or has been assigned the debt. (You are legally entitled to collect this particular debt from me.) This is basic contract law.
10. Complete payment history, starting with the original creditor. (I need to have proof of my payment history with original Creditor, what the amount of the debt was when the creditor assigned the debt to your company, and what fees/interest has been tacked on to this debt and how you/they determined these fees.) This requirement was established by the case Fields v. Wilber Law Firm, Donald L. Wilber and Kenneth Wilber, USCA-02-C-0072, 7th Circuit Court, Sept 2004..
11. Copy of the original signed loan agreement or credit card application. (My contract with the original creditor establishing the debt between us.) This is also basic contract law.

At this time I will also inform you that if your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the 3 major Credit Bureau's (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion) this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if any negative mark is found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent

I will not hesitate in bringing legal action against you for the following:
1. Violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
2. Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
3. Defamation of Character

If your offices are able to provide the proper documentation as requested in the following declaration, I will require at least 30 days investigating this information and during such time all collection activity must cease and desist.

[OhioFiler]

I was looking around for sample debt validation letters and found this one. Hoping to get some opinions on it's content....



To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is being sent to you in response to a alleged debt. Be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

This is NOT a request for verification or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above named Title and Section. I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you
.
What I need you to provide as the debt validation is as follows:
1. What the money you say I owe is for;
2. Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe;
3. Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe;
4. Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable;
5. Identify the original creditor;
6. Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account
7. Show me that you are licensed to collect in my state
8. Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent
9. Proof that the collection company owns the debt/or has been assigned the debt. (You are legally entitled to collect this particular debt from me.) This is basic contract law.
10. Complete payment history, starting with the original creditor. (I need to have proof of my payment history with original Creditor, what the amount of the debt was when the creditor assigned the debt to your company, and what fees/interest has been tacked on to this debt and how you/they determined these fees.) This requirement was established by the case Fields v. Wilber Law Firm, Donald L. Wilber and Kenneth Wilber, USCA-02-C-0072, 7th Circuit Court, Sept 2004..
11. Copy of the original signed loan agreement or credit card application. (My contract with the original creditor establishing the debt between us.) This is also basic contract law.

At this time I will also inform you that if your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the 3 major Credit Bureau's (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion) this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if any negative mark is found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent

I will not hesitate in bringing legal action against you for the following:
1. Violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
2. Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
3. Defamation of Character

If your offices are able to provide the proper documentation as requested in the following declaration, I will require at least 30 days investigating this information and during such time all collection activity must cease and desist.

Don't you mean aforementioned declaration?

[treehugger1]

!

You need to do some searching on this forum. It appears you found a DV request that continually floats around on different websites. I think that if you send such a letter, you run the risk of any CA or JDb knowing that you simply are using a source other than your own. They may roll on the floor with laughter.

1. What the money you say I owe is for;

The CA has no obligation to tell you this unless you are sued and respond with such a request under discovery.

2. Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe;

See comment above.

3. Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe;

See comment above

4. Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable;

Probably not necessary because if they have teh judgment, there is nothing to argue about!

5. Identify the original creditor;

Yes, and ask for the address of original creditor.


6. Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account

This a defense if you have been sued beyond the SOL date.

7. Show me that you are licensed to collect in my state

This is a reasonable request. But, check with your state offices so that you don't embarrass yourself.

8. Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent

Why, are you being sued?

9. Proof that the collection company owns the debt/or has been assigned the debt. (You are legally entitled to collect this particular debt from me.) This is basic contract law.

This seems pretty much implied when you request debt validation/verification.

10. Complete payment history, starting with the original creditor. (I need to have proof of my payment history with original Creditor, what the amount of the debt was when the creditor assigned the debt to your company, and what fees/interest has been tacked on to this debt and how you/they determined these fees.) This requirement was established by the case Fields v. Wilber Law Firm, Donald L. Wilber and Kenneth Wilber, USCA-02-C-0072, 7th Circuit Court, Sept 2004..

I keep seeing this argument over and over again. However, the time to sight case law is when you are in the courtroom. DO you, yourself, know exactly what the case entailed and/or can you make the same arguments flow in your case? Before you cite something, I think you need to fully understand the original case. (Don't embarass yourself.)

11. Copy of the original signed loan agreement or credit card application. (My contract with the original creditor establishing the debt between us.) This is also basic contract law.

Again, there is no legal requirement that a CA/JDB provide you with such information. You might request such info under discovery if you answer a lawsuit, but they don't need to provide this to you.

If you think that such a letter puts a CA or JDB on notice, then I wish you the best of luck. If I was a CA or JDB and received such a letter, I'd probbaly throw it in the trash can and continue collection efforts.

Keep your letter simple!

Here is a different sample:

TO <CA/address>
FROM <ME/address>

Date: 00/00/0000


"On <date>, I received a letter from you regarding an alleged debt (see attached.)

I am disputing this debt.

Please provide me with verification of this alleged account.

Please provide me with the complete name and address of alleged creditor.

In addition, it is inconvenient for me to receive any telephone calls. You are not to contact my home, mobile, and employment telephone systems. All future communication must be conducted through the United States Postal Service. My address is clearly stated below.

Please be advised that I reserve the right to monitor and/or record all communications; electronic, phone, and email.

Any attempt to contact me through any third party will be considered harrassment.

All federal and state statutes apply to my request; including <cite your state laws> and the FDCPA.

<your name>
<your address>"

Do some searching on this forum. BigBoy and others have excellent letters that don't sound as if you simply poached some letter off a website. I would think that most CA's and JDB's have seen such form letters and recognize them as such.


None of the above is certainly not to be construed as legal advice. These are just my opinions, but experience has been kind to me.

[I_Suck]

Thanks for the advice.

[optimistic1]

I Suck,


When you send them the DV request, they can simply mail you back a letter stating the original creditor information in a letterhead, and they have fulfilled their obligation. The FDCPA is pretty vague on what it is they are supposed to provide.

They will not give you all that information, your just wasting ink.

My experience has been this,

They will either not respond with anything, or they will send you copies of a bunch of statements, and recently they just sent me a letter stating "this letter is to inform you that this debt has been verified".

Your real weapon is the cease and desist, and the bk button of course.

Go to this link and read about it, there are some samples that you can copy from. And while this was written by an attorney, even he is making the mistake of demanding too much information in his sample letters. Just keep yours short and sweet or keep it long with lots of demands, but the fact of the matter is, is that you sent them one, and you have proof, they must comply and provide you with "something".

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/consumer/fair_debt_collection.html

[HHM]

You can make all the requests you want, but to validate a debt under FDCPA, the collection agency needs to only provide you TWO pieces of information

1. The amount claimed to be owed
2. The name of the original creditor.

All that other crap in that letter is wasted ink.

Now, in a lawsuit scenario, that other information becomes very important, but for purposes of FDCPA, the collection agency is under no obligation to provide any more information than amount owed and the name of the original creditor.

[albacore44]

[QUOTE=HHM;322158]You can make all the requests you want, but to validate a debt under FDCPA, the collection agency needs to only provide you TWO pieces of information

1. The amount claimed to be owed
2. The name of the original creditor.

/QUOTE]

Which in every single letter I have received from a CA is already stated in the header. so it would make a DV letter redundant.

For me the Value of a DV letter is the statement that it is inconvient to take phone calls. that puts them on notice that your not going to put up with harassment.

Let em waste all the ink and postage they want. eventually they either got to sue, or send it back to the original creditor

[bkDude]

I do not have enough posts to post a link so my take my take on the DV / C&D letter is in thread #64911

[frogger]

I think that if you send such a letter, you run the risk of any CA or JDb knowing that you simply are using a source other than your own. They may roll on the floor with laughter.


Again, there is no legal requirement that a CA/JDB provide you with such information. You might request such info under discovery if you answer a lawsuit, but they don't need to provide this to you.

If you think that such a letter puts a CA or JDB on notice, then I wish you the best of luck. If I was a CA or JDB and received such a letter, I'd probbaly throw it in the trash can and continue collection efforts.

Keep your letter simple!

Exactly. That letter just states "Google-licious" and would pretty much be laughed out of the building.

[frogger]

You can make all the requests you want, but to validate a debt under FDCPA, the collection agency needs to only provide you TWO pieces of information

1. The amount claimed to be owed
2. The name of the original creditor.

All that other crap in that letter is wasted ink.

Now, in a lawsuit scenario, that other information becomes very important, but for purposes of FDCPA, the collection agency is under no obligation to provide any more information that amount owed and the name of the original creditor.

And that's all that happens.

Yes, the amount is correct and the creditor was ABC-Widgets.

Debt validated!