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My husband has recently received a letter from Financial Recovery Services Inc. Which states that a debt from Chase Bank back in 2009 has not been paid. The current creditor is LVNV Funding which now shows on his credit report. He does not remember this debt or has never been notified since 2009 in any way that he has had this debt. I have done some research and found that we have the right to ask for debt validation, however, should I do anything? I ask this as the first bold paragraph on the letter states the following: "WE ARE REQUIRED BY LAW TO GIVE YOU THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THIS DEBT. The legal time limit (statute of limitations) for suing you to collect this debt has expired. However, if somebody sues you anyway to try to make you pay this debt, court rules REQUIRE YOU to tell the court that the statute of limitations has expired to prevent the creditor from obtaining a judgment. EVEN though the statute of limitations has expired, you may CHOOSE to make payments. However, BE AWARE: if you make a payment, the creditor's right to sue you to make you pay the entire debt may START AGAIN." It states at the bottom to respond within 30 days to either approve or deny the debt. And after that from what I understand then they can chase after my husband to pay this entire debt. My question is, if I'm understanding this correctly, if we do not respond, does this mean they cannot sue us or chase us down for this unexplained debt? If so, would it just disappear from his credit report in 7 years? Or do we start this process to defend that we do not owe this debt? Which could unveil a debt that he may have forgotten about? Any advice on how to proceed will be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Chrissy

Just read this and thought I should share: Briefly talks about debt collector law suits and how you should show up and say "prove it": http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2014/09/08/these-2-words-could-get-out-paying-debt/ And here the direct link to the mentioned story of "This American Life" http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/532/magic-words

Has anyone ever heard of Legal and Debt Recovery Services?

Hi all, I would be really appreciative for any advice that can be offered. This is just a bit of background, but not exactly necessary reading if you want to skip to the bottom of the post. I graduated from school in May 2012. At graduation, I was 2 credits short of the requirements, and thus made a plan with the school that I would walk in the Spring graduation and take a course during that summer to finish out my credits. The class was $3000 (crazy expensive for one course, but my school had a rule that your last 50 credits had to be taken on campus, so I had no other options). I was unable to take out any more student loans, for some complicated reason that I can't remember, but related to my "graduated" status. My father said he could pay the bill and decided to take out a PLUS loan. I thought everything was taken care of, I finished the course, passed, received my grade, and a few months later received my diploma and my transcripts. A few days ago I received a letter from a debt collector, stating that I owe my school about $6000. I immediately thought this was a mistake, for the reasons listed above. My school makes it clear that if you have a financial hold on your account, you will not receive your grade, diploma, transcripts, etc. Additionally, I never received any notices or bills from my school and my credit report is clean. I called my school and they verified that I owe them the exact amount noted on the letter from the debt collector. They said that the existing amount owed is due to compounded late charges. When I spoke with my dad, he assured me that the bill had been paid and said he would look through his records so that we could provide proof. A few days pass, and he calls me to say that unfortunately he never received the loan money, and that after he applied for the PLUS loan he never checked to see if the application was accepted or not. So, clearly it was not accepted, and no money was ever paid. Here's what I'm asking for advice on: I want to negotiate to pay a lump sum equaling the original amount owed ($3000) and to have them drop all of the late charges (another additional $3000). I feel that I have leverage because my school allowed me to finish the course and sent me my diploma and transcripts without ever mentioning that I still owed money. I never received any emails, letters, phone calls, etc. The problem is that they won't discuss it with me and say that all negotiations have to be made with the debt collector. Today I sent the debt collector a letter to verify the debt. I'm anticipating that they will be able to provide all of the necessary paperwork since the number they quoted matches the number that my school said that I owed when I called. When I receive this paperwork, I want to send the debt collector a letter negotiating to pay them a single lump sum of $3000. How do I draft such a letter? Do I mention that the original creditor never informed me of the amount owed, thus my reason for wanting them to drop the late charges? What sorts of terms are necessary to state here? Thanks!

Hello all, I am an attorney based in San Antonio, Texas. I have a client to is receiving calls at her work from a woman who goes by "Stacy Baker" from a company named "Accurate". The call back number is 866-254-9165. I have found a couple of other numbers for the company: 855-259-9944 and 855-209-3596. I called the company and according to "Nick", their ONLY form of communication is via telephone and they have no fax, mailing address or email they can provide. Although I know this is ludicrous, I have attempted to search all available resourses and cannot, for the life of me, find ANY information on them. If there is anyone who has had any dealings with this company and can provide me with a mailing address, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for your anticipated assistance! Kevin Hays Law Office of Kevin D. Hays 321 Jackson San Antonio, Texas 78212 Tel: (210) 226-4878 Fax: (210) 807-8805

Hi guys, I've been lurking, reading the boards intensely over the weekend, and finally decided to join and post a question. On Friday, I received a call from a debt collector. They've called me before and I missed almost all the calls and they never left a message. The call I got about 3 weeks ago was from a man that didn't seem to have a grasp on English. He wouldn't identify himself or his company but kept trying to get personal info from me. I told him to send correspondence in writing and hung up. The call on Friday was different; it was from a woman and she identified herself and the agency using proper protocol. She said she had two debts for me. I asked her to send me documentation regarding the debt. She said that she needed to settle the matter with me in seven days or else. She could only offer me a settlement within the 7 days but the debts were too old to sue me for. I again asked her to send me documentation; she said with the Memorial Day weekend it would never reach me in the 7 days but she would put in a request to have them mailed to me. I told her send the paperwork as I couldn't give some rando my financial or personal info just because. She mentioned to me during the conversation that the debts were from 2005 and the collection agency had only had them since 2008. I told her I never recevied correspondence about them. SHe claimed they tried to contact me but received returned mail. I verified my address (a mistake I think since reading the boards I realized they should already have had my address) and she was trying to pull a fast one. After the conversation, I realized that tha agency had to have had my address the whole time since that is they only address for me that is associated with this particular phone number. Was this just a way to keep the debt from aging out? Do I send them a letter or do I wait for paperwork to materialize?

Hey everyone, There is a debt collector contacting me who calls from a Washington DC phone number but there written correspondences are from Canada. What are the rules regarding US debts when the debt collector corporate office is in another country. It is pretty expensive to send a certified letter to canda but the debt collector will not stop calling. The debt collector is four star capital Thanks Lori