This is the first validation letter I have written. please provide any feedback. I am new at this so I want to make sure I don't shoot myself in the foot or sound like an idiot!! LOL
Hello.
I recently pulled my credit report and noticed that I have a collection in the amount of 386 through your company. The original creditor is listed as "PCC" I have no idea who "PCC" is and why I would owe them and money. The account number proviced is "xxxxx" and I am asking for a full validation of the debt.
What do you need to provide to validate?
1. Proof that you are entitled to collect this debt from me.
2. The amount of debt I owe you, and how that amount was determined (invoices work well here.)
3. A copy of the agreement between myself and the origninal creditor.
What if you cannot validate the debt?
1. You are not allowed to collect the debt,
2. You are not allowed to contact me about the debt, and
3. You are also not allowed to report it under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Doing so is a violation of the FCRA, and the FCRA states that I can sue for $1,000 in damages for any violation of the Act.
Please let me know if I can be of any assistance in this process. Also, please note that contacting me via telephone is not my preferd means of communication. You can reach me by writing to the above address.
Thank you for your cooperation,
Graphickellie
In my opinion and experience, there is no point in sending a DV letter for an account already on your report, so I'd have to say " Save it ". Have you disputed this with the CRA's yet? If not, do that, don't bother with a DV at this point.
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There is NO reason not to send a DV letter. At the very least, it invokes a cease collection bar on them until they decide to validate. It requires them to assert, in writing, that they have validated through the OC that the debt is legitimate, and also requires identification of how they determined the debt.
As for your letter, it is, in my opinion, much to wordy, and requires things that are not requirements under the FDCPA for adequate debt validation.
Provision of OC account records, "proof" of the debt, etc. are not required. Additionally, there is no need to lecture them on the law.
I would simply state that, under the provisions of FDCPA 809(, you request full validation of the debt, including the full name and address of the original creditor, and an itemization of the debt.
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There are lots of reasons not to send a DV letter for accounts already on a CR. First and foremost, it leads people to think they are doing something with the derogs on their CR's, when most of the DV letters sent on accounts already on a CR result in:
Most important, a good percentage of the DV letters one mistakenly sends to a CA already reporting the account would have resulted in deletions if the consumer had done the most basic step first:
Dispute with the CRA's directly, where a good percentage of first disputes result in deletions due to the reasons above. IIf, after you've written basic disputes to the CRA's directly, and the second dispute (reinvestigation) of the same account results in " verification " by the CRA, THEN the consumer can--and should--send a DV letter to the CA.
Not as a first step....
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Haha see this was where I was getting confused. Of course, I'm new to this, and couldn't figure out if its best to go through the CRA or CA.
I will reword it and make it shorter. I thought it was too wordy as well but wanted some thoughts from you guys :-)
Any other opinions?
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Yes, don't send it. Send a basic dispute letter instead. Consider using the Jack Attack on this site to craft a dispute letter to the CRA's.
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Loved this thread! Thanks for the insight guys - I'm facing some similarities myself so this was really helpful!
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There are lots of reasons not to send a DV letter for accounts already on a CR. First and foremost, it leads people to think they are doing something with the derogs on their CR's, when most of the DV letters sent on accounts already on a CR result in:
see #1 above
you've given this same WRONG advice many times. If you're going to continue, please at least give accurate, helpful advice
Ask yourself this question:
Can sending a DV HURT? If so, exactly how? If not, then what's the harm?