According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, within five days of initial contact, a debt collector must send the consumer a 30-day validation notice. This law provides the consumer with this reasonable amount of time to request proof that the debt the agency is attempting to collect is valid, and if it is not, they have a right to dispute it.
The debt collection agency must validate that they are the owner of the debt, thus entitling them to the right to collect on it. They must provide the consumer with the name and address of the original creditor, validate that the amount is correct, that it is being collected upon within the statute of limitations, etc. Basically it falls on them to prove you owe the money. Most importantly, they must cease the attempts to collect upon the debt until they have validated it.
Sometimes debt collectors will ignore this validation request because the information is not easy for them to prove, and they don’t want to stop their attempts to collect. Ignoring a consumer’s validation request is illegal.
If the validation information or lack there-of, leads the consumer to dispute the charges, they must provide positive proof, may not continue contacting you, nor may the debt hit your credit report unless it states “in dispute.” The attorneys at Lemberg & Associates highly recommend that if you need to validate or dispute a debt, you send the letters by certified. (Visit here for a sample of a dispute letter.) If a debt collector refuses your validation request or dispute, they are breaking the law, and Lemberg & Associates can help make sure that their calls stop and you receive the damages you deserve.
