James
APO,#2Consumer Suggestion
Fri, June 30, 2006
They are, however, in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Send off a letter, Certified Mail Return Receipt, demanding they prove you owe them the debt. Make sure to demand a full accounting of the debt, your signature on a contract, and the purchase or assignment contract giving them authority to collect the debt. Add a limited Ceease and Desist agains any communication other than by US Mail. Wait 5 days, then dispute the information with the Consumer Reporting Agencies (your credit reports). If they verify the debt, they violated the FCRA. If they did not report the debt as disputed by consumer, they violated the FCRA. If they call you again, they violated the FDCPA (unless the call is to let you know they are absolving you of the debt, apologies, etc). Check how they are reporting the debt... Is it open? Is it reporting as a Factoring Company Account? Is there a past due balance showing? Is there anything in the "terms" block? If the answer is yes to any of these, they are each a violation of the FDCPA. Each verification with the CRAs is in violation of the FCRA. The FDCPA places the consumer in an actionable position for violations to the tune of $1,000 per action. The FCRA is a little more complex. Once the creditor/collection agency is notified by the CRAs of the dispute, the consumer is placed in an actionable position for up to $1,000 per VIOLATION! If they don't give in fast, sue them! You can make a lot of money off of their blatant disregard for the law, and the damage to your credit. Read through the FCRA and the FDCPA to see what I am talking about. Add in FACTA, and you are in a VERY actionable position. BTW: being such an old debt, Sprint has nothing to do with them. Sprint assigned a collection agency back in 2002 to collect on this account. You are now in the realm of Junk Debt Buyers. They buy out of statute debt, and use threats of actions they cannot legally take in order to collect the debt. If they can't collect, they sell it to another agency. They will continue on forever, until someone pays them $500 for a debt they paid $0.05 for. The statute of limitations on this debt depends on your state's laws, but is usually 4 years or less. Let them threaten to sue you (another violation of the FDCPA)... Your defense is that the debt is time-barred, and you counter-sue for their violations of the FCRA and FDCPA. Good luck, and take them to the cleaners!