Complaint Review: Afni

Read the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and send a letter to the DEBT COLLECTOR.

I hope this helps. I developed this procedure in 2004 because a debt was mistakenly attached to my SSN and a DEBT COLLECTOR in Norcross, Georgia made numerous phone calls to me and would not tell me who owned the debt until I threatened to contact the New York State Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission. Once I contacted the CREDITOR via certified mail, everything was corrected in my favor.

First - Read the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act at ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm.

Second - send a certified letter, return receipt requested, to the DEPT COLLECTOR to dispute the debt and request written 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. Also, include a statement stating that you do not wish to be contacted again until you receive all the written debt verification information you have requested.

Once they receive the letter, they must cease all collection efforts until they provide the written information requested. This is in accordance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Third - Once you received the written verification information requested, contact the CREDITOR (who owns the debt) via certified mail to resolve the matter.

Please note that simply sending the letter telling them to leave you alone does not absolve a valid debt. What the letter does do is force them to provide you with written validation of the debt and to stop all collection actions until you receive the information. Once you have the information, you should act on it accordingly by contacting the CREDITOR via certified mail.

Some other notes: Any statute of limitations does not absolve a valid debt; it merely prohibits the creditor from going to court to obtain a money judgment against you. IF there is already a money judgment, the statute of limitations most likely is longer in New York State it's 20 years.

You can check the statute of limitations for debt in your state at fair-debt-collection.com/statue-limitations.html.

In addition, a credit report listing does not in any way determine if a debt is valid or not, or collectible or not that is what courts are for. There are few ways a valid debt can be absolved; you pay it off, the creditor forgives it, or bankruptcy court orders it absolved.

Section 809 of the FDCPA covers debt validation nicely:

809. Validation of debts [15 USC 1692g]

(a) Within five days after the initial communication with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt, a debt collector shall, unless the following information is contained in the initial communication or the consumer has paid the debt, send the consumer a written notice containing --

(1) the amount of the debt;

(2) the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed;

(3) a statement that unless the consumer, within thirty days after receipt of the notice, disputes the validity of the debt, or any portion thereof, the debt will be assumed to be valid by the debt collector;

(4) a statement that if the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, the debt collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against the consumer and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to the consumer by the debt collector; and

(5) a statement that, upon the consumer's written request within the thirty-day period, the debt collector will provide the consumer with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor.

(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.

(c) The failure of a consumer to dispute the validity of a debt under this section may not be construed by any court as an admission of liability by the consumer.