You have the right to send what's referred to as a “drop dead letter. '' It's a cease-and-desist motion that will prevent the collector from contacting you again about the debt. Be aware that you still owe the money, and you can be sued for the debt.
To whom it may concern: I have been contacted by your company about a debt you allege I owe. I am instructing you not to contact me any further in connection with this debt. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a federal law, you may not contact me further once I have notified you not to do so.
However, they're required to send a debt validation letter within five days of first contacting you. If you don't receive a debt validation letter within 10 days of initial contact, you can submit a complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
If you receive a notice from a debt collector, it's important to respond as soon as possible—even if you do not owe the debt—because otherwise the collector may continue trying to collect the debt, report negative information to credit reporting companies, and even sue you.
The amount and age of the debt: Ask for a copy of the last billing statement sent by the original creditor, the amount owed when the collector purchased the debt, the date of last payment and whether the debt is past the statute of limitations.
If you are struggling with debt and debt collectors, Farmer & Morris Law, PLLC can help. As soon as you use the 11-word phrase “please cease and desist all calls and contact with me immediately” to stop the harassment, call us for a free consultation about what you can do to resolve your debt problems for good.
While debt validation requests can be a useful tool, they are not effective at resolving the issue. In most cases, creditors and collection agencies are able to provide the necessary documentation to prove the validity of the debt.
Once your debt has been sold you owe the buyer money, not the original creditor. The debt purchaser must follow the same rules as your original creditor. You keep all the same legal rights. They cannot add interest or charges unless they are in the terms of your original credit agreement.
Although the unpaid debt will go on your credit report and have a negative impact on your score, the good news is that it won't last forever. After seven years, unpaid credit card debt falls off your credit report. The debt doesn't vanish completely, but it'll no longer impact your credit score.
Once you receive the validation information or notice from the debt collector during or after your initial communication with them, you have 30 days to dispute all or part of the debt, if you don't believe that you owe it. If you receive a validation notice, the end date of the 30-day period will be specified.
A 609 letter is a credit repair method that requests credit bureaus to remove erroneous negative entries from your credit report. It's named after section 609 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a federal law that protects consumers from unfair credit and collection practices.
In this article, “debt validation letter” means the initial notice a debt collector must send you under federal law, and “debt verification letter” means a letter you send to the debt collector to request more information and/or to dispute the debt.
If you're being sued, you'll receive official court papers
If you are being sued, you'll receive at least two documents. One is called a Summons and the other a Complaint. These documents are typically handed to you or might be left with someone 18 years or older at your home, work, or mailing address.
Let's Summarize... If you're facing debt collection, it's important to understand how the process works and what options you have. If you ignore a debt in collections, you can be sued and have your bank account or wages garnished or may even lose property like your home. You'll also hurt your credit score.
As a precaution against scams, don't give a debt collector any personal information besides your name. Ask for the debt collector's contact information and the details about the debt. Call the debt collector back after you've verified both the debt and the debt collector, and once you have an action plan ready.
You cannot remove collections from your credit report without paying if the information is accurate, but a collection account will fall off your credit report after 7 years whether you pay the balance or not.
How likely is it that you will be sued for a debt? According to one Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report, 1 in 7 — or about 15% — of consumers contacted about a debt in collections were sued. But the likelihood of a debt collection lawsuit depends on several factors.
When it comes to debt collection calls, it is never clever to ignore them. In fact, it may make things a lot worse for you. The debt collector may file a collections lawsuit in court, which could lead to the garnishing of wages, seizure of personal property, or money taken from your bank accounts.
A charge-off can lower your credit score by 50 to 150 points and can also look very bad on your credit report. It signals to potential lenders that you could skip out on your debt obligations for extended periods of time.
Can a Debt Collector Collect After 10 Years? In most cases, the statute of limitations for a debt will have passed after 10 years. This means a debt collector may still attempt to pursue it (and you technically do still owe it), but they can't typically take legal action against you.
For most debts, the time limit is 6 years since you last wrote to them or made a payment. The time limit is longer for mortgage debts. If your home is repossessed and you still owe money on your mortgage, the time limit is 6 years for the interest on the mortgage and 12 years on the main amount.
Send the agency a letter by mail asking them to confirm their debt in writing. Search for the company name on the internet, review their website, call their number, etc. Do your homework. If they refuse to answer all of your questions, there's a good chance you're in the middle of a scam.
If the collection agency failed to validate the debt, it is not allowed to continue collecting the debt. It can't sue you or list the debt on your credit report.
While a legitimate debt collector may ask you about payment, they will verify the information they already have on file for you. This includes account numbers, date of birth, and Social Security Number.