Curious about something...

[whyme]

If you send a CA/Collections Law Firm a DV letter and they fail to respond to your request for validatioin, can they still sue you?

[MSbklawyer]

If you send a CA/Collections Law Firm a DV letter and they fail to respond to your request for validatioin, can they still sue you?

Good to see you back.

Yes, they can. Litigation is not a "collection of a debt" within the meaning of the FDCPA. And in fact, with a law firm, a DV letter may even prompt them to file suit.

Rather than deal with all those squirrelly provisions of the FDCPA, a collections lawyer would say: "To hell with it -- why should I go to all the trouble of proving the validity of the debt under the FDCPA? I'll have to prove it again in court anyway. I'll just sue and then prove the validity of the debt in court and save a step."

Here is a link to the FDCPA. It's a fairly easy read.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf

[whyme]

Good to see you back.

Yes, they can. Litigation is not a "collection of a debt" within the meaning of the FDCPA. And in fact, with a law firm, a DV letter may even prompt them to file suit.

Rather than deal with all those squirrelly provisions of the FDCPA, a collections lawyer would say: "To hell with it -- why should I go to all the trouble of proving the validity of the debt under the FDCPA? I'll have to prove it again in court anyway. I'll just sue and then prove the validity of the debt in court and save a step."

Here is a link to the FDCPA. It's a fairly easy read.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/cons...edit/cre27.pdf

Well, what is the point of a DV letter then?

My husband got a letter from the Couch Stillman lawfirm/ca on ANOTHER account. One that's not even on our credit report. I'm not even sure what this is about. They supposedly represent Arrow Financial. I don't know who Arrow financial is.

[95kindebt]

Good to see you back.

Yes, they can. Litigation is not a "collection of a debt" within the meaning of the FDCPA. And in fact, with a law firm, a DV letter may even prompt them to file suit.

Rather than deal with all those squirrelly provisions of the FDCPA, a collections lawyer would say: "To hell with it -- why should I go to all the trouble of proving the validity of the debt under the FDCPA? I'll have to prove it again in court anyway. I'll just sue and then prove the validity of the debt in court and save a step."

Here is a link to the FDCPA. It's a fairly easy read.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/cons...edit/cre27.pdf

so you're saying NOT to file a DV with a law firm? This is good to know since discover just sent my acct to a law firm that my attny says often files suit. So what would you do then? Call them, tell them of your BK (we're filing in Dec.) and hope for the best? Do nothing? I'm curious what you think.
Thanks.

[MSbklawyer]

Well, what is the point of a DV letter then?

The point of a DV letter is to make a debt collector prove or "validate" the debt to you before continuing with collection activity. It will temporarily stop collection activity until they validate the debt, but it won't stop them from suing.

My husband got a letter from the Couch Stillman lawfirm/ca on ANOTHER account. One that's not even on our credit report. I'm not even sure what this is about. They supposedly represent Arrow Financial. I don't know who Arrow financial is.

A Google search says they are the collection arm of SALLIE MAE -- student loans. So Couch Stillman will now either validate the debt by sending you proof of the student loans, or go straight to lawsuit.

[MSbklawyer]

so you're saying NOT to file a DV with a law firm? This is good to know since discover just sent my acct to a law firm that my attny says often files suit. So what would you do then? Call them, tell them of your BK (we're filing in Dec.) and hope for the best? Do nothing? I'm curious what you think.
Thanks.

No, I'm NOT saying that you should NEVER file a DV letter with a law firm. I'm just saying that the DV letter doesn't stop them from filing suit. It DOES stop them from making further collection efforts until they have validated the debt. If you truly believe you don't owe the debt that the law firm is trying to collect or you believe the amount is wrong, a DV letter may serve its intended purpose of making them prove the debt to you.

Or, it may make the law firm decide to just skip FDCPA debt validation headache and just go to court. They still have to "validate" -- i.e. prove -- the debt in court to the satisfaction of a judge or jury. So why would they go to the trouble and expense of proving the debt to you, when they're ultimately going to have to prove it in court anyway?

[whyme]

The point of a DV letter is to make a debt collector prove or "validate" the debt to you before continuing with collection activity. It will temporarily stop collection activity until they validate the debt, but it won't stop them from suing.




A Google search says they are the collection arm of SALLIE MAE -- student loans. So Couch Stillman will now either validate the debt by sending you proof of the student loans, or go straight to lawsuit.

We (as in my husband and I) don't have any student loans. Do you think they're really going to sue or do you think they're just blowing smoke? Should I send them a DV letter since I really don't know what this debt is for?

I don't know if you remember, but a few weeks ago I mentioned something about this SAME CA/law firm having an acct. of ours. This particular debt is one that we definitely owe. We were considering settling with them on this particular acct. But, just today, I got another letter from them saying that we owe on another acct. which is worth almost 10k. I don't even know what this is! Seriously, I don't. It could be a smaller debt (around 3k) from a few years ago that grew to 10k due to fees and interest. But, I'm not exactly sure. So, basically I really need to validate this debt. However, I don't want to speed up a lawsuit in the process.

I really appreciate your help, MSbklawer!

[MSbklawyer]

We (as in my husband and I) don't have any student loans. Do you think they're really going to sue or do you think they're just blowing smoke? Should I send them a DV letter since I really don't know what this debt is for?

I don't know if you remember, but a few weeks ago I mentioned something about this SAME CA/law firm having an acct. of ours. This particular debt is one that we definitely owe. We were considering settling with them on this particular acct. But, just today, I got another letter from them saying that we owe on another acct. which is worth almost 10k. I don't even know what this is! Seriously, I don't. It could be a smaller debt (around 3k) from a few years ago that grew to 10k due to fees and interest. But, I'm not exactly sure. So, basically I really need to validate this debt. However, I don't want to speed up a lawsuit in the process.

I really appreciate your help, MSbklawer!

Fax me the letter they sent you from Arrow and I'll take care of it.

[whyme]

Fax me the letter they sent you from Arrow and I'll take care of it.

Really? What are you gonna do? I'll fax it to you first thing in the morning.

[MSbklawyer]

Really? What are you gonna do?

Call my old friend Couch and tell him you don't owe it.

I'll fax it to you first thing in the morning.

If he has evidence that you owe the debt, he'll let me know.

[whyme]

Call my old friend Couch and tell him you don't owe it.



If he has evidence that you owe the debt, he'll let me know.

I really, really appreciate your help!

[OhioFiler]

Good to see you back.

Yes, they can. Litigation is not a "collection of a debt" within the meaning of the FDCPA. And in fact, with a law firm, a DV letter may even prompt them to file suit.

Rather than deal with all those squirrelly provisions of the FDCPA, a collections lawyer would say: "To hell with it -- why should I go to all the trouble of proving the validity of the debt under the FDCPA? I'll have to prove it again in court anyway. I'll just sue and then prove the validity of the debt in court and save a step."

Here is a link to the FDCPA. It's a fairly easy read.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/cons...edit/cre27.pdf

I have to believe that most collection agency attorneys are savvy enough to know how easy it is to validate a debt for FDCPA purposes and won't use a DV notice as grounds to file suit. I wouldn't file a suit unless I knew there were assets I could recover regardless of what letter the debtor sends to me.

[MSbklawyer]

I wouldn't file a suit unless I knew there were assets I could recover regardless of what letter the debtor sends to me.

They do it all the time. Recoverable assets doesn't even go into the calculus.

I have to believe that most collection agency attorneys are savvy enough to know how easy it is to validate a debt for FDCPA purposes and won't use a DV notice as grounds to file suit.

I wasn't suggesting that they don't know how to do it. My point was, it's a duplication of effort.