UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
June 13, 1995 F. Guthrie Castle, Jr., Esq. Dear Mr. Castle: This is in reply to your letter of March 17, 1995, concerning proper verification of a debt under Section 809 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). I apologize for the delay. In answer to question #1: Section 809 of the FDCPA does not prescribe any effective date for a Section 809(b) verification. Therefore, providing a verification which pre-dates the debtor's dispute does not appear to be a violation of that Section. In answer to question #2: in view of the recent Supreme Court case, Heintz et al v. Jenkins, (No. 94-367; 1995 U.S. Lexis 2840), decided April 18, 1995, which considered litigation activity to recover a debt to be "collection activity" covered by the FDCPA, it does not appear that a debt collector may attempt to reduce a disputed claim to judgement without obtaining the verification required by Section 809(b). I hope this has been helpful. Sincerely, John F. LeFevre |