Debt validation letter

United States, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. A collector must send you a written notice within five days of first contacting you: the amount, the creditor, and a statement that you have thirty days FROM RECEIVING THAT NOTICE to dispute. Dispute in writing inside those thirty days and it must stop collecting until it mails you verification. That is why this letter is dated from the notice, not from the first phone call — and why it says so when no notice ever arrived.

This is the United States regime for third-party DEBT COLLECTORS, under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. It does not reach the original creditor — a bank chasing its own loan is not covered, and sending it this letter achieves nothing. The thirty days run from the day you RECEIVED the collector's written notice — the one setting out the amount, naming the creditor and telling you that you have thirty days — and not from the first phone call. The collector has five days from first contacting you to send that notice; if it never arrived, say so on the form: the thirty days have not started, and the letter says so. Dispute in writing inside the window and collection must stop until verification reaches you; dispute the amount only and the pause covers the disputed portion. Past the window the letter is still worth sending — it asks, it concedes nothing. Send it by a method that proves the date, keep the receipt, and keep a copy. If the debt is not yours because someone used your identity, report it to the Federal Trade Commission at IdentityTheft.gov and keep the report: a consumer reporting agency must block information you show to be the result of identity theft. Nothing here is legal advice, and your state may give you more than federal law does — several do.

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