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Dealing With Bad Debt Collection Agencies
Are you being harassed by a debt collection agency? Not sure what your next move should be? If you're getting phone calls and letters from debt collectors you probably feel like the walls are closing in and you're running out of options. Luckily for you there are several lines of
defense at your disposal and we're going to look at the first and most important one; the debt validation letter... The debt validation letter is the most important letter you can send to an agency because it forces them to prove that you own the debt they are trying to collect. In case you don't know, these agencies don't play by the rules and they're not about to tell you what the rules are; even if they're supposed to.
So here's what you're going to do. You are going to write a letter asking them to validate that the debt in question is yours. Tell them that they are incorrectly reporting negative information to the credit bureau that isn't yours and demand that they provide proof that the account is yours via signed contract with your signature on it. Send the letter by certified mail so that you know that they got it.
The reason you need to deal with them by mail is because most of them have your information stored on a computer so in most cases they won't be able to provide you a copy of the original contract. Having your information on a computer is called evidence of debt, not proof of debt. The collection agency must prove that you own the debt or it needs to be removed from your credit report. The collection agency has 30 days to investigate your claim so you'll need to be on top of them during this process. Don't be afraid to follow-up with them every 10 days or so and when you do, make sure everything is done via certified mail. Also during this 30 day period is it illegal for the debt collection agency to contact you while your claim is being investigated, so if they do happen to call or write you don't hesitate to report them to the FTC.
The last step in this process is to follow-up with the collection agency to ensure that the negative item that wasn't yours has been removed from your file with the credit bureaus. Send the collection agency a letter of confirmation asking them to provide proof that the item has been removed from your credit report and "cc" the 3 major credit bureaus too. By law they are required to confirm that negative inaccurate information has been removed from your account so again if they fail to do this, don't hesitate to send a follow-up letter and report them to the FTC.
Last year there was over 120,000 complaints filed to the FTC against bad debt collection agencies; they know you don't know your rights and take advantage of it.
Now that you know what a debt validation letter is; use it against them and stop them in their tracks.
To find out more information about how to deal with collection agencies visit the best 140 page online guide to credit repair http://dynamitecreditrepair.comArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kelli_Schow
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Dealing With Debt Part 1
Dealing With Debt Part 2
Dealing With Debt Part 3
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