If a debt collector contacts you – even if s/he sounds very aggressive and has what they call supporting documentation – it doesn’t mean that you don’t have any protection if that debt collector is actually in the wrong. There are two different tacks that you can take to straighten things out.
The first is a letter of cessation of communication. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, if you inform a debt collector verbally or in writing that you no longer wish to be contacted, then they no longer have the right to contact you. Though this does count if you inform them verbally, by providing the cessation of communication request in writing, you have proof that you have indeed made the request.
Once that has been made – and you’ve ensured some breathing space from the harassment of debt collectors – the next step is to make a request for a validation of debt, also known as a debt verification. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act also gives consumers the right to challenge a debt collector’s claim of a debt and requires that upon request, a debtor must provide written verification of the debt, including the name and address where the debt originated.
You are permitted to dispute a debt at any time, but you can only activate your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act if you send your first written request for a validation of debt within the first thirty days of being notified of the debt. This means that when you first hear about the debt – by phone or in writing – you have thirty days from that point to request validation of the debt. However, this does not mean that if you don’t dispute the debt during the first thirty days that you have admitted debt.
What a proper debt validation actually is has not yet been strictly settled by the courts. Many different cases have come before the courts about that exact topic. However, at a very minimum, when debt validation has been requested, the debt collector is required to identify the amount of the claimed debt, and the person from whom the debt is being collected – including both name and address.