Debt validation letter: Sample letter to dispute your debt

I have been turned over to a law firm and its on an attorneys letter head and also says they are licensed for my state and a few other states. They have threatened for me to be sued if I don't respond within 30 days to this letter or the debt will be considered valid it says. I have just gotten this letter and have until DEC 5, 2010 to respond. Now I got a letter just like this about 4 months ago and ignored it. Well they took me to court and I was never notified of a court date or anything and I contacted the court after and yes they had won by default. But yet I was never served or given a court date or anything, no summons to appear nothing!. I was told by a paralegal locally here in Utah that they don't have to subpoena you or serve you that the letter is sufficient but I want to be notified of a court date and I wasn't and how is that? I was told by this paralegal that they can simply put an ad in the legal section and I had no idea when the court date was and 100.00 turned into 500.00 and I received a letter from the court and even called the court and they themselves were rude and said you was sent a notice to validate the debt and did not therefor a judgment against you was given to this lawyers/collection firm. How do I know if or when I have a court date? As of right now should I send a validation letter off via certified mail for the current one I have just received and wait for their response or can they simply just take me to court anyway and win like the other did. I want to repeat I did not reply and ignored the other letter and thought they had to serve me first so I was not concerned and their bluff was real and they won, I lost. I don't see how they can take you to court without any notification of the court date. Had I known the date I would have been there. I don't want to make the same mistake twice and this current one is for $7200.00 for Discover card. What do I do and when. I want to buy time and like others cannot afford to be garnished. I will have to make payments as I dont have the entire amount to pay them and my wife is out of work as well. This is all due to a job loss after 23 years. Please help and advice.

This letter says the following.
It says they have been retained by discover card to collect this debt
Original Creditor (Discover.......
Debtor #...........
Principal Balance as of Today!........

This office has been retained to collect the above referenced claim against you.
Unless, within 30 days after receipt of this notice, you dispute the validity of the debt or any portion thereof, we will assume the debt to be valid.
If, within 30 days of your receipt of this notice, you notify us in writing that the debt or any portion thereof is disputed, we will obtain a verification of the debt or, a copy of the judgment against you, and we will mail to you a copy of such verification or judgment. If the original creditor is different from the current creditor named above, then upon your written request within 30 days of the receipt of this notice we will provide you the name and address of the original creditor. We have not, nor will we, review the details of your account status, unless you so request in writing. Please direct full payment to this office. (See Utah code section 70C-7-107.

Signed Attorneys for plaintiff

My comments: Now what worries me is can they get a judgment even though I respond before 30 days and the only address provided is a PO box so I cant sent a certified letter and they didn't send this letter certified either so how do I know or do they know If I ever got this letter or if they get my letter. This letter is identical to the other letter I mentioned in my previous post just alot more money involved and we don't have that kind of money. If I am sued I want to be there so how do I know if they are suing me? They wont tell you they just do it and you lose by default and it's not fair to we the people they are getting away without a summons or any notices to appear in court and when. This is a new tactic I have seen. We all need to be aware of this. They can sue you and you never know where or when. They dont give the court or date or nothing but this letter and next thing you get is a letter from the court stating you have a judgment against you. I am really scared and need all of your help and I am sure many others out there are getting these types of letters. What do we / I do and how and when? Please help me and my family and advice us what to do. WHAT DO WE DO . HELP!! vr4nin@msn.com
Dave

I just read all these posts here and alot of you are getting sued the same way. I am filing Bankruptcy that is my only defense. We have no defense when they dont even notify you of a court date or hearing and when and where. They win by default then look what they are doing to the people who posted before my last 2 posts. we are in trouble people and need help. Where is our leader on this forum??? HELP NEEDED BAD

After I send this letter how long do I have to wait to send the 2nd letter?

I CO SIGNED A STUDENT LOAN WITH MY DAUGHTER SINCE SHE NOR I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PAY THIS DUE TO NO JOB FOR HER AND MY HUSBAND IS DISABLE, THE LOAN HAS BEEN PLACED WITH MRS COLLECTIONS. WHAT CAN BE DONE IF SHE SENDS A DV LETTER AND GETS IT TAKEN CARE OF FOR HER PART CAN THEY STILL COME AFTER ME FOR THE DEBT SINCE i AM THE CO SIGNER. WHAT STEPS DO I NEED TO TAKE. THEY ARE NOT CALLING HER ANYMORE JUST ME. THEY HAVE THREATENED ME WITH MY WAGES AND MY 401K. WE TRIED TO MAKE PAYMENTS TO THEM BUT THEY WANT A HUGE SUM UP FRONT WHICH I DO NOT HAVE

in the first post, the sample debt validation letter to help one to ask for debt validation there are certain sections to fill in.

in the letter template, below the compnay name and address is: "Re: Your Account No: "----are we suppose to put our account # here or are we suppose to put our social security # or what? how do we even know our account #?

thanks!

i have a couple of collections and i want to know what is the first thing i have to do to try to fix my credit???

Hello. Thanks for posting this info. It's really helpful. I have a question about the dv letter. You stated the following:

On receiving the debt validation letter, the creditor or the collection agency must provide you with proper validation within a few days from the date they receive your DV letter.

How many days do I give them to respond? What constitutes a few days?

Can I use a dispute letter to clear up account charge off from my credit report?

i received a letter from debt collectors saying that i owe a debt wich is much more then debt that i knew i own i asked them for a settlement they dont want i asked them for a validation then told me that they goin to reduce the amout of the account and also the debt is 10 years old after i spoke to them i send them a letter let it them know that the debt has expired you think that they can sue me because i spoke to them before i send the letter

Windy. be careful with this one the 10 years may have passed and your debt my very well be expired. But any communication with your debtors what so ever can start the 10 year clock all over. I think I would check with an attorney before speaking any more to these people.
I have been down this same road and things can look very bad, but the longer the debt the better the settlement offers are

How can just calling them reset the SOL clock? I called a couple of agencies today to get some information from them. 2 accts are very recent medical bills and I intend on providing proof of medical coverage. The other 2 accts are 5 yrs old and are from the same debtor. They have one acct for the lease amt and the other is some random $5000 which they could not verify and hung up on me while "looking through the documents"

my wife has a problem with Discover and (unfortunatley) Zwicker and Assocs is handling the file.

my wife doesn't receive a paycheck. she draws excess cash from an LLC. the LLC is for a very small business and she is the sole owner. we are in Ct.

if they succeed in getting a Wage Garnishment order, how will this work.

thank you and thanks to everyone here. great site, informative contributors, very helpful information.

I need help filing a Order to show cause in Upstate NY, if anyone knows how to fill it out, please contact me here.

Thank you

Default judgments are a killer, If you were ever served with a summons to appear in court regarding a collection account, YOU SHOW UP IN COURT. once you show up they will not issue a judgment.

I recently reviewed my credit report and noticed that I have a collection on my report for a 2001 bill. I am currently trying to buy a house and just received a collection bill, which i believe is this 2001 bill. The collection letter states that it bought the account in 2001 and they want me to respond within 30 days. Should I send the collection company a DV letter? Can they still report this issue from 2001 even though it is out of the 6/7 year reporting? Please any help is needed.

I think I understand this a little better but I'm still not sure exactly what to do. I recieved the summons and the court date is on tuesday. I have tried validation letters to the attorney's office with no reply...HELP!!! This is an issue that started with GEMB and Care Credit...

OK here is my situation; about 5-6 weeks ago my husband got a call from a collection agency saying they were attempting to collect a debt: They said it was for a student loan he owed from the Phoenix Institute of Technology. He told them that this could not be his debt because he never went to college. And he never lived in Phoenix. They kept insisting it was him he got so upset that he hung up on them. So I called them right back within 10 minuets and was routed to the same person he spoke with I again told her I was his wife and my husband did not get any loan to attend any college in Phoenix or anywhere else, He did not even graduate high school or get his GED so how could this debt for a student loan be his. I to was getting flustered, during our conversation I asked her some questions to try and get any info about this Debt. She told me the loan was taken out in 1988 & it went into default in 2005. At this point I went what? Then she again asked when he was going to pay it. I told her again it was not his debt & if he owed why have we not gotten any info about it before now & why it never showed up on any of his credit checks or background checks for employers or apartments? My husband is 46 almost 47. Then I asked her the name on the account if it was Joseph or Joe because my husbands name is Joe & never has gone by the name Joseph ever. She said it was Joe but then she spelled his last name and I told her that the last name was not spelled the same as my husbands. Then she asked me his DOB That was the same then she asked me his SSN # when I told her she put me on hold and said she needed to check something. When she came back I asked her what SSN# did she have it was the same except for the last 4 digits were different. I again said see it is not my husband’s debt. She again but me on hold when she came back she told me it was a typo error I just said WOW Really so let me get this right your telling me that 23 years ago my husband that did not graduate high school or get his GED got a student loan to attend a college in Phoenix where he has never lived & not only was the SSN# tiptoed so was the Name for 23 years not to mention it took 17 years by your records for this loan to go into default & another 6 years to call him about this debt. So with this information you are going to still tell me that this is my husband. I have a son that took out a student loan and he was just out of college for 1 year and he missed a payment his student loan goes into default right away. Not 17 years later. I asked to talk to her supervisor at this time she said she could send it to the dispute office. She said I could call Monday or someone would call me within 5 days.

Well 1 ½ weeks later my husband got a call from someone in the dispute office he told them the same thing the dispute person agreed the info they had was different than my husbands. He said that he would send out some paperwork for my husband to fill out so they can try and verify the account. So we waited and then 3+ weeks later we get letter in the mail demanding payment and that the department of education had forwarded the account to there office for collection. But when I checked the phone # to call the office it was the same # we used to call the dispute office.
So I am a little confused on what I am supposed to ask them to include to validate the debt. I have in the letter already the following.

Please dispatch copies of the following with your reply:

1. The agreement which authorizes you to collect debt on the assumed debt.
2. The signed agreement from the debtor confirming to pay the debt.
3. The documents regarding the payments made on this account and validation of the amount

I greatly appreciate your time & any help with this matter.

Sincerely Joe and Teresa

Hey does anyone know what to do in a case where I sent a Debt Verification letter asking for the three things listed above and basically got back a bunch of mumbo jumbo - nothing that proves that they own the debt, no copy of my original contract and no documents showing the amount paid or the validity of the amount. Should I send the same letter again? How should I respond

I was served with the lawsuit papers in may 2010. Filed my response right away. Didn't hear anything till July 2011 where they sent me a request for admissions. I'm sending that out on Monday. I never sent them a Debt Validation letter because I was not aware I could do that till now. Is it too late to send them a DV letter???

First rule - Don't give them any information NOTHING! Don't give them your wife's name, social security number, employer or your dog's favorite brand of dog food.

If they ask you "did you live at 123 Main street?" Tell them "look, I have no idea who you are. You could be someone collecting information to steal my identity."

If you have sent the DV letter and they have not fully responded with 21 days, then send them another letter being very clear that they have not answered your questions. Be polite.

Your letters will be evidence in court or to the credit reporting agencies they do not have a valid claim against you.

In your letters, do not any ANYTHING about yourself. Make them answer questions about their claim. Make them prove that they have a vaild action against you. Make them prove that you have contracted with the original party and secondly, that they have legally obtained this claim against you.

Secondly, buy a phone recorder. When these clowns call you, ask them for their name, then their phone number in case you are cut off and then the name of their company and its address. Next ask for the account number. Tell them up front that you are recording the call. Totally ignore anything that they say until you get that information.

In most states, if you tell them not to call you again and they persist three or four times, then you can have the debt discharged in court. That means that you no longer owe it. If you do this, make sure to get at least five recordings with all the above questions answered and then get a record of phone calls from your phone company. Write down when they called.

During your conversations, the only information that you give them is "I have no idea what you are talking about".

Just remember that their requirement make their function quite difficult. If you are demanding, then they will most likely leave you alone.

Do some research. Debts expire (it is different in each state). If you were under 18 when you signed, then the contract is not valid. If you dig, you can usually hit paydirt. If you make them jump through hoops, then you can usually make them miss one.

If you receive a summons in the form of a Complaint from a creditor, this is the beginning of a legal action against you to claim monetary damages for breach of contract. The most important thing to consider is that you must respond timely. The Complaint should be clearly detail how much time that you have but do not take any chances. Every state is different and in some states, you have 20 days to answer and if the 20th day is on a Sunday, then you must have it to the clerk of courts office stamped by Friday.

A court case of this type will go like this:

1) A complaint will be filed against you

2) You must answer the complaint within the time allotted by the court rules

3) Discovery will begin. You can ask them for any “thing” related to this case. You can also write interrogatories which are questions that they must respond to. You can also have depositions deposing people asking them questions under oath. If they fail to respond timely to any of these, then you can have the case dismissed.

4) After discovery is complete, then a trial date is set. Less than 1% of cases go to trial so it could be in your best interest to drag it out and burn up their “lawyer money”.

If you wish to go this one alone, without a lawyer, then it would be a good idea to read the court rules for your state. The court rules for every state are available online. They are not that difficult to read after you get started but it is good to have a legal dictionary. Many can be found online.

I just did a case in the state of New Jersey. In your answer, you cannot generally deny the complaint. If you do, then your answer can be stricken and you lose. If you are going to play the game, you need to know the rules. You have to say something like “defendant has no knowledge of this alleged debt and plaintiff has failed to provide any evidence that the defendant has any obligation to pay this alleged debt.” Or “Defendant has paid this in full and no debt exists”. Or “No contract exists between the Defendant and the Plaintiff”.

With your Answer to the Complaint, attach a motion for discovery asking for the same items listed in the debt validation letter. If they cannot provide them then you move for summary judgment and you have an easy win. They bear the burden of proof that you owe the debt and that you owe it to them.

Has anyone had any dealings with Creditor Interchange? I have a financial aid loan with Salle Mae that I have had trouble paying. My husband and I have been seperated for a number of years, but when I went to school, he did co-sign the loan for me. He recieved a call yesterday from this Creditor Interchange and the woman on the phone, was very nasty to him. She threatened to put a lien on our house, take his car etc. He told her that I had taken the loan and they should call me, however the woman stated "we don't care about her anymore, we are coming after you". She DEMANDED

I received a copy of the validation of debt from the company. I am not denying the debt, only the enrichment or added charges to the account. How do I answer to the court?

I was just recently notified my truck was charged off from original lender I also was notified by phone a collection agnecy was taking over loan The are threatening me to pick up truck and take me to court I was tryng to negoitiate payments with them and they are being very diffiicult I said I need it in writing and they refused I also said I needed paperwork on original lender and thjey would not provide it What can I do

I sent a dv letter and received the reply. I am to reply if I dispute the validity. This debt started with a payment the credit card company never received. The bank says it was not cashed. I offered to reissue but they told me not to since they were investigating where the check may be. I continued to pay them for a year while fighting them over the extra fees and late charges that was suddenly added to my acct even though they said they would inform me once the "investigation" was complete. They stopped sending me statements after a year and I received a notice from a debt collector. I made payments to this CA and another one after that trying to do the right thing even though I told them both I disputed the debt amount. Both CA's quit sending statements and now a third has notified me. I have paid close to what the original debt was before the missing check was lost. I can no longer afford to do this. How do I respond to this last CA?

In the debt validation follow up letter, what does this sentence mean: "whereas the other credit bureaus have sent their verified document. "

I haven't received anything from the credit bureaus... was I supposed to contact them after I sent the DV letter?

Can a collection agency sue you before responding to a dv letter?

Hi, Everyone. Does anyone know if there is a similar technique or letter or form used to dispute a debt with the Original Creditor as opposed to a Collection Agency. I am going through a battle with Verizon, one of the most horrible companies I have ever dealt with. These people literally don't know what they're doing. Thanks!

I received a summons I am disputing the amount, but do I send the response to the court or the laywers paid by the original debtor?

What if you keep asking for validation every time sallie Mae sends to collections and different collections keep changing And no one ever validates

Ok so I sent my debt validation letter and I got a response fro
This agency and they are requesting me more information because they couldnt verify an account. they're asking me for my ssn previous names and address. When I wrote to them I used my married name and just the information I was able to get from
My credit report! They were missing the last four numbers of the acct! So now what should I do?

I was served a summons , that said I had 10 days to respond and I was served 7 days after the summons date, this is in Arizona how much time do I have to respond ?

once a summons and complaint is served, is it too late to send a validation of debt letter??

Hello everyone, I am from Massachusetts and not in a good situation financially to pay someone to do this for me. I have thought about filling for bankruptcy and honestly already have the paperwork ready but looking for other ways to clear my credit without having to do the bankruptcy. I have a lot of charge offs in my credit and a lot of open debts with collection companies some of them I do not even know what they are. My question is:

Should I send a DV to all the charge offs and open accounts?
What is I did not answered a summons and they won the case?
If I received a letter from an Attorney, should I do the DV anyways?

I need help before I completely ruin everything in my credit. PLEASE HELP.....

Im trying to buy a house and some things are showing up on my credit report like CBNA and Asset Acceptance. The debt was charged off and these guys purchased the debt. The SOL has run it's course which is 3yrs here in NC. The Mortgage lender says they either have to paid or removed by my closing date. What do I do?

I received a summons last week w/a file date of 28 Mar 12... It is now September... I have not received any notice via mail or in person otherwise.... Says I have " 20 days " - well, 20days has come and gone... I was not home when my room mate answered the door...

How do I proceed ?

I've been told by a creditor that they don't need my permission to assign my debt. I'm in Idaho and this debt was from a chiropractor who was providing so-called allergy testing, which essentially turned out to be scam. Now they have turned this debt over to collections. Don't I have to agree that my debt could be assigned to a 3rd party collection's agency before the chiropractor can assign this debt??

I have been trying to find a debt validation letter to send to a debt collector. I need help fast.

i'm dealing with a primary creditor on a non-cancellable lease, the date on my contract looks like 10/29/00, also show charged off l0ss 0f 1,960.00 in 2010, i did send a initial letter to dispute, which they did respond, now i need to know how to reply to this, thanks you

Hi,

I have used a debt validation letter very sucessfully against an agressive creditor. Please remember that banks, and bank credit cards are money out of thin air. When you buy a house or a car, they deposit the note and write the check off of the note. Poof, you just created the money.
See Modern Money Mechanics written by the Federal Reserve Board for the full explanation. It's ghastly. THEY LEND YOU NOTHING, and take everything.
Send this letter certified every thirty days for 3 months. The first time at the top of the first Page it says: Offer of Performance
That's because that is what they are giving you. An opportunity to perform. So you have to put the ball back in their court AND MAKE THEM PERFORM.
On your second letter you want to put Opportunity to Cure
On the third letter you can write Final Opportunity to Cure.

Do you have to send letters to validate debt in the mail certified?

I went to court facing the lawyer of a debt collector. He showed up late and the judge was just about to rule in my favor due to the lack of respect that showed to the court, but anyways when the lawyer showed up he quickly agreed to mediation before bringing the case before the judge. I brought up the statute of limitations because in GA it was still being argued that whether credit cards were open ended credit agreements or not. He laughed and said I will win that argument and do every time so I pulled out the certified letter asking for debt validation and asked him if he brought the requested information. His look immediately changed and he said the suit was stupid and that it would cost his company more in legal fees to pursue the debt than to drop the suite. I tried to work out a deal with the credit card company if they would drop some of the ridiculousness interest and penalties, that I would pay it off and they refused. It has been removed from my credit report and it is gone. Debt validation is the way to go and once it reaches a scavenger debt collector they usually do not have the proper paperwork to go after the debt.

Hi!!!
All I received from one creditor was an account list and a summary of what was owed...what do I do now?
Thanks!!

Hi I'm looking for a sample response letter to a judgement. I owe the cash but need some time... 90-120 days; since I am in the beginning of a home refi, even with my poor credit due to this economy. A judgement at this time will end my chance for this refi, which in turn will squash my ability to free some cash to pay creditors. Any sample letter to also stop the penalty charges and additional fees would be appreciated, as well as language to delay the judgement. thx

How long should I wait to send a follow up letter after sending a debt validation letter???

I have never been provided validation of debt. Plaintiff's attorney sent interrogatories, I was out of state with daughter and son-in-law for birth of my first grandchild. Answered interrogatories but not by deadline set by Plaintiff's attorney. Went to court pro se hoping to get a continuance so that I could get an attorney. Judge would not grant continuance and granted judgment for plaintiff, but for half of what was asked. The documentation provided in court by plaintiff was complete fabrication. The amount is not itemized in the judgment. I am judgment proof. Every other month, I am served with a summons to appear to provide financial documentation. I have been out of state caring for my now 2 grandchildren. I returned to my state (VA) to undergo eye surgery only to find a 3rd summons in my city of residence. Can I still ask for debt validation? Circuit court date is May 2nd.