January 6, 2010

By: Michelle Grinberg

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) provides that a debt collector must provide notice to the consumer, either in the initial communication or 5 days thereof, that the consumer has 30 days to dispute the validity of a debt. See 15 U.S.C. 1692g(a)(3). If the consumer notifies the debt collector in this 30 day validation period that they dispute the debt or any portion of it, the debt collector must provide to the consumer verification of the debt. See 15 U.S.C. 1692g(a)(4). However, what is less clear from reading the statute is whether debt collectors must cease ALL collection activity during this 30 day validation period.

The answer is as simple as this: a debt collector is not required to cease all collection activity during the 30 day validation period unless the consumer has actually requested verification from the debt collector or disputed the debt. In reality, most consumers do not request such validation.

Further, debt collectors may not confuse the consumer while collecting a debt during the validation period. That is, the debt collector may not overshadow or contradict the required validation notice. For example, a letter received by a consumer on December 1st which contains the required validation notice but also demands payment of the debt by December 15th. Such demand for payment by December 15th overshadows the validation notice since the consumer may not understand whether they actually have 30 days to request validation. Our firm routinely pursues debt collectors for such overshadowing.