LONG story short. Providian/WAMU/Chase closed my account without notifying me. Always paid on time for 18years with automatic draft. When I finally found out. I stopped automatic payments and tried to work out a repayment plan on closed account with out interest. NO DICE. Let it go to collections thinking I would just work out with them. (Yes I know, stupid) Never heard anything, no letters or anything for 4 months. Finally started receiving calls with no messages. Called number back, found out it was collection agency. Tried to work out repayment plan with them, via certified letters. NO DICE. About a month later got letter from local lawyer saying they were going to sue. But on letter, dollar amount was close but not exact, and also listed a different name for the original creditor. I suspect it is the same account, but not sure. I am more than willing to repay something I owe, but I wanted to make sure it was for the same debt. Law firm suggested I send validation letters. I have sent two, one initial and then another after 30days and no response. It has now been another 30 days(total of 60days) and no validation from collection agency or the law office they hired. Law office even contacted me about two weeks ago. When I explained what was going on, the firm even said they had no records to validate. So what do I do now??? I don't want to be sued, and I am more than willing to pay what I owe, but I want to validate who is getting paid(so debt does not come back) and the amount. Any suggestions??? I did online dispute when this all first happened with Credit agencies and got typical-verified results. Should I go back with a certified letter asking for method verification from agencies and state Collection agency never validated debts? Should I ask for debts to be removed?
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Hi Solluna
I can understand the anxiety you are going through. I believe you have sent these requests through certified mail? Sending such requests through certified mails would allow you to keep proofs that you have asked them to validate the debt which they have not been able to. You may use this to your benefit later when they try to sue you for that same debt.
Validation is the first step that you need to take when asked for payment. It is the responsibility of the creditor to validate the debt until which the nest steps may not be taken.