I received a letter from Afni, inc regarding a 7 year old telephone bill from when I was in college.in 7 years I have never heard from GTE/VERIZON, bought cars/houses. Whatever, and it never came up. Now this rip off company wants to collect. Well I sent them a debt validation letter.
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter is being sent to you in response to a notice sent to me on May 10.
Be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.
This is NOT a request for verification or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above named Title and Section. I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you.
Please provide me with the following:
What the money you say I owe is for;
Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe;
Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe;
Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable;
Identify the original creditor;
Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account
Show me that you are licensed to collect in my state
Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent
A statement that unless the consumer dispute the validity of the debt within 30 days of receiving the notice, the collector will assume the debt to be valid.
A statement that the debt collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of judgment against the consumer in case of debt dispute.
A statement that consumer will be provided with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor, on written request by the consumer within 30 days.
A statement that the communication is from a debt collector attempting to collect debt and that information obtained will not be used for any other purpose than this.
Detailed payment history, starting with the original creditor.
Agreement with any of your clients that grants you the authority to collect on this alleged debt.
Restrictions on Debt Collectors: Debt Collectors are not allowed to do the following before providing with Debt Validation:
Collect debt
Contact the consumer about debt
Report under FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act). Violation of this can however take away $1,000 as penalty from the collector. So go ahead and exercise your rights. And pay debts only when it's yours.
At this time I will also inform you that if your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the 3 major Credit Bureaus (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion)
this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if any negative mark is found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent I will not hesitate in bringing legal action against you for the following:
Violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Defamation of Character
If your offices are able to provide the proper documentation as requested in the following Declaration, I will require at least 30 days to investigate this information and during such time all collection activity must cease and desist.
Also during this validation period, if any action is taken which could be considered detrimental to any of my credit reports, I will consult with my legal counsel for suit. This includes any listing any information to a credit reporting repository that could be inaccurate or invalidated or verifying an account as accurate when in fact there is no provided proof that it is.
If your offices fail to respond to this validation request within 30 days from the date of your receipt, all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit file and a copy of such deletion request shall be sent to me immediately.
I would also like to request, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment. If your offices attempt telephone communication with me, including but not limited to computer generated calls and calls or correspondence sent to or with any third parties, it will be considered harassment and I will have no choice but to file suit.
All future communications with me MUST be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter by USPS.
It would be advisable that you assure that your records are in order before I am forced to take legal action. This is an attempt to correct your records, any information obtained shall be used for that purpose.
They sent me a copy of a 7 year old bill. That is it. Nothing else. How can I nail these bastards or get them off my back?
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