Understanding The Validation Of Debt Letter

By Kente Wallman


A validation of debt letter has a very important role when you try to hammer down the collections process. These letters should be written properly to be effective because it establish your dispute with the claims of your creditor or collections agency.

It is very important that you completely understand your course of action so that you won't fall prey on the constant malicious attempt of your creditor or collections agency amass collections even on old debts without giving valid authentication or validation. Unfortunately, it is you who needs to initiate the validation because your creditor and collections agency will not properly validate the account they are collecting on unless you compel them to.

Merely asking a debt collecting creditor or collector company on the telephone to authenticate a debt through verbal request for validation won't cut it either. These scrupulous companies will refute that you verbally asked and will ignore you by keep coming after your and fronting you with one lame excuse after another as to why they do not need to validate the debt and acknowledge your requests. This is where the significance of a well written debt validation letter comes into the picture.

Unfortunately most consumers know little or nothing about the powerful purpose that a validation letter has. And because of this, there is a need to educate people on how to write an all inclusive demand letter so that the average consumer that is being collected on could invoke the power of Federal law under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

Something that is extremely important to realize as a consumer is that the FDCPA allows sending out a demand for validation. Through debt validation letters, you can determine whether or not you are corresponding with your original creditor or to a third party junk debt collection company who has no rights to collect on the debt. This is helpful because the way that you will dispute the debt when drafting the letters can be rather different depending on whom you're sending the letters to.

Another very important detail to consider is what gives the collector the right to collect and what information is required by law. It is very necessary for you to request more information than is required by Federal law under the FDCPA because at the end of the day the worst answer you would get to such a request is a no.

You can make a validation of debt letter on your own or you may opt to seek professional help. Keep in mind that sending a properly presented validation letter can be the determining factor between thousands of dollars of debt that you may have to pay in the future, whether you settle or not. When sending debt validation letters, you need to send them at the right time during the collection process. When sent too late, debt validation letters can offer almost no protection. There are actually numerous types of validation letters that can be sent at varying times all through the collection process.

Validation of debt letter are given power by the FDCPA or the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This Act, or law, will require all debt collectors to supply validation on every account that they are attempting collection on but only if the consumer asks for it. This Act also prohibits debt collectors from ongoing harassment following a request for validation of debt letter, unless the collector can present lawfully demonstrable validation that prove you in fact owe them money or something of value.

There is a big difference between a debt validation and a debt verification. Some credit collection agencies and debt loan consolidation companies use these two terms interchangeably. This is incorrect and will lead you off track from the defense that a well put together debt validation letter can offer.

A request for verification of debt is simply requiring a debt collector to confirm your name and mailing address. This type of verification does not establish in any way whatsoever that you are obligated to pay the debt collector a dime of money. As you can see this is why it is so imperative to send a validation of debt letter that is properly written, requesting the precise information needed.




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