How to Dispute a Credit Card Department Letter

A letter from your credit card company is usually an attempt to collect a debt. Your account may be seriously delinquent, and your card company may be on the verge of closing the account, listing it as charged off and selling it to a collections agency.

If you want to dispute that you owe the debt you'll have to wait until it has been charged off. Under the terms of The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act the debt is considered valid -- meaning you owe it -- as long as the account is held by the original creditor. Circumstances change once the account is picked up by a debt collector, and you'll be able to dispute it then.

Instructions

1

Review your credit card statement to determine how delinquent you are. After six months, the card companies generally sell accounts to collection agencies. If you are less than six months behind, write the card company asking for hardship status. Hardship status could result in the card company dramatically lowering your minimum monthly payment to as little as 1 percent of the balance for up to a year. Interest fees would be lowered as well, with a goal of giving you a chance to rebuild your finances following a hardship such as long-term unemployment or serious illness. Send the letter and wait for a response. Or if you are determined to dispute the debt, wait until it has been charged off and you have been contacted by a debt collector.

2

Write a letter to the debt collector challenging the validity of the debt. This must be done within 30 days of first being contacted by the debt collector to preserve your rights under The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. After 30 days, the debt will be considered valid and you will have waived your right to dispute it. Use your letter to force the debt collector to prove that he has a legal right to collect from you, and that the amount he says you owe is accurate. Do this by asking the debt collector to send you a copy of your final statement from the original creditor. Send your letter by certified mail so that you will receive proof of delivery.

3

Read the response from the debt collector. You should assume that the debt is valid if the final statement and amount owed appears to be correct. If the statement appears incorrect, follow up with another dispute letter demanding additional documentation. By law, the debt collector must suspend all collection activity until the company provides proof that it has a right to collection from you.