"Unless you notify this office within 30 days" letter

[Optimistic09]

We received a letter with the following from an account that was turned over to a collection agency.

"Unless you notify this office within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of this debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid."

We have a few days to go before the 30 days is up but haven't retained an attorney yet. What is best way to respond to this letter?

Thank you.

[Tbornetun]

Send them a debt validation letter. If you search on this forum you should be able to find a sample one. This will buy you more time.

[jadams]

Sounds like standard collection agency boilerplate.

If you are intending to file, you can likely ignore it. It shouldn't really matter one way or the other once you've filed.

Basically it's this section of the FDCPA:

FDCPA Section 809. Validation of debts [15 USC 1692g]
(b) If the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period described in subsection (a) that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, or that the consumer requests the name and address of the original creditor, the debt collector shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion thereof, until the debt collector obtains verification of the debt or any copy of a judgment, or the name and address of the original creditor, and a copy of such verification or judgment, or name and address of the original creditor, is mailed to the consumer by the debt collector.

If you have the time, find something you aren't sure about and send them a letter disputing the debt and requesting validation. (i.e. the amount they're claiming, that they are legally allowed to collect, original creditor's information, etc.)

The idea is if the validation request is sent within the 30 days, they are supposed to stop any collection activity until they respond with the requested validation. Many times they can't properly validate, so they can't resume collection activity.

[kenshirley]

I got lots of those before I filed. Don't even respond to it.
Sure it's a valid debt (if it is) but why advance the clock in their favor?All they want is contact with you so they can play their games.
I had to wait to file a chapter 7 and I ignored all of this stuff.
Our attorney even told us that even if they sue, which would take months, we would beat them with the filing before they could get a judgement.

[LuciluS]

I would suggest the same advise as given by Tbornetun if you filing is not in the near future. When using the Search button for Debt Validation Letter, it might be faster if you click on 'Collections Section', as it will reduce the number of thread.

If you have the time I would read some of the posts in the Collection Section. Very interesting information in that Section and could be of further assistance to you, since you are buying time before filing. It seems to me the trend is CAs are beginning to push faster on collections. I would chalk it up to the recession we are in. Also, HHM posted something about the debts in the $2,000 - $6,000 (could be off a grand or two) have more chances of lawsuits being filed.

We have received a lot of those types of form letters. I used to fax them to our Attorney who emailed me & told me to ignore them until they tried to sue us and then he would respond. We are filing 9/30/09 using Mar-Aug. Gross Income..so far no lawsuits. I feel confident we are past the time a CA could get a court case filed in time before we file BK. Now, just waiting til Aug. 31 to run Credit Reports, check $ owed on Credit Matrix to the Credit Report, and lots of little piddly things I need to retrieve as of 8/31/09.

[debtBgone]

I guess it depends on when you're filing. I stopped paying on my cc's back in April and so far those are the only kind of letters I've gotten. I don't answer them. I just give them to my lawyer. Their name and address' go on my mailing matrix. I file in a couple days so the letters should stop soon.

If you're going to wait awhile to file or to retain a lawyer then a validation letter might be the way to go.

Good luck!

[catleg]

Remember that this letter means nothing in terms of the legal standing of the debt, it only regulates the behavior of third party collection agencies engaged to collect the debt. You can just send the DV letter, which often makes them go away, or if you have a flair for drama, perhaps the best approach is to scream bloody murder about identity theft, after all the best defense is a good offense. (or is that the other way around?).