Is it legal for a collection agency to say they will send verification when they receive it ?

Question

I sent a debt validation letter and they replied they will get back to me when they receive information.
Can they take longer than 30 days legally?
The FDCPA states they have 30 days.

Echo how can I find out if they are past the collecting SOL for your state?
Thank you; very informative answer!

Answer 1

Actually they don't ever have to respond if they don't want to.

Though if you requested validation within the first 30 days after their first contact, they cannot legally continue collections until they provide the validation.

Continued collections would be calling or mailing you to dun you, placing it on your credit reports, verifying it if it is on your reports and you dispute it, suing you and even selling it to another collection agency without informing them that the debt is under validation.

The time limit is 30 days to respond. After 35 days have passed (the extra 5 days is for mailing time) from the date they signed the certified green card, send them another validation request and give them a shorter period to respond (like 20 days)

If you are past the collecting SOL for your state, you have a legal right to inform them that it is no longer legally collectible by sending a SOL letter.

edit++++

Click on my profile on here and click on the second to last link to find the SOL for your state.
After looking up the SOL for your state you can scroll down to the bottom of that page and click on the home page. Then scroll down almost to the bottom and click on your state, your states statutes concerning SOL will be listed.

If you are out of the collecting SOL, that site has an excellent SOL letter template. If you use it but need some help with it, click on the last link I have listed in my profile and ask in the credit forum (people know that letter and the site it comes from)

Answer 2

Echo is completely correct.

However, if the SOL has not passed, and the debt not validated, the credit bureau will remove it from your report, however, if the collection agency suddenly can verifiy it, and it is within the SOL, they can re-report it to your credit.

It does not "double hit" you with a collection b/c the first one was removed from your report and credit score calculation.

It is a myth that if they don't respond, that they bar themselves forever from collecting....the reason? Because sometimes a collection is between agencies, they may be searching archived records, there are alot of legitimate and legal reasons why a collection agency won't respond in the timeframe. A creditor is also allowed to have "gaps" in collecting aggressively.

I've seen that time and time again on credit reports.

Answer 3

The collection agency must respond with validation within 30 days. If they fail to respond, they can not legally continue with collection activities. If they try to sue you later, file a counter-suit for their violation. You may end up paying the debt, but you will counter the legal fees and collect a $1000 fine from them in exchange.

Edited: Let me rephrase this.....

Yes, they can make you "wait" a reasonable amount of time so they can gather the validation information. But it can't be a long time.....and while you are waiting they can NOT take any collection activities against you. If they posted this to your credit report they must report that it is under dispute. I would not let them get away with more then 15-20 additional days though.