How to Dispute the Validity of a Debt Letter

If you receive a debt collection letter in the mail, your first instinct may be to call the collection agency and make arrangements to pay it. But when it comes to debt collection, you need to protect yourself from predatory collection agencies that act on debt that they are not legally allowed to collect. The way you protect yourself is to ask the collection agency to validate your debt and prove that they either own the debt or they are legally charged by the owner of the debt to collect on it.

Instructions

1

Check with your state attorney general's office to see if the collection agency is registered to do business in your state. If they are not, then report the collection action to the state attorney general and discuss your options with the associates at that office. If they are registered then you will need to draft a validation letter.

2

Refer to the Resources section for a model of how a debt validation letter should look and what kind of information that you should include. Among the information you should include is a copy of the letter from the collection agency, a request in the letter for the complete history of the debt including the signed agreement that started the debt and a complete payment history and the agreement that makes the collection agency the legal owner of the debt or a representative of the owner.

3

Mail the letter to the collection agency certified and request a signature. It is not necessary to send copies to the state attorney general or to get any attorneys involved. If the agency does not respond or cannot validate the debt, then you can take a copy of the information you sent the agency along with the proof they received the information to an attorney.

4

Wait for a response to your information. According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act made law by the federal government, the credit collection agency must respond with the proper validation information within 30 days of receiving your validation request.

5

Keep all of your information, including copies of all correspondence from the collection agency.