Per the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) you have 30 days from the receipt of a collection letter to ask the collector to validate the debt. Failure on the part of the collector to validate requires them to cease collection efforts and not report to the bureaus. Are you interested in validation, but the 30 day window has closed? Here is a credit repair technique that will force the process anytime.
Reasons to Validate
There are many good reasons to validate a debt. You may recognize it as bogus or previously paid. Or you may have no clue as to what it is. In these cases debt validation may very well cause the collection to vanish from your credit report, and the collector from your life; both outcomes are nice.
It Happens Every Day
Or maybe you recognize the debt as valid and want to pay it. We advise members of our credit repair service to let us validate their debt before they pay. You would be surprised how often the collector is unable to document ownership of the debt. You do not want to pay a collector, and get dunned later by another collector for a debt that you already paid. It happens every day.
Cool Credit Repair Trick
But what if you are contacted by a collector by telephone, and want to validate, but have no memory of getting a collection letter. Or you got it, but did not validate within the 30 days allowed? Collectors hate to validate, and there is little point in sending a request unless you have a fresh collection letter in hand. So, what to do? Here is a cool credit repair trick we love to recommend.
Your New Telephone Philosophy
When the collector calls, calmly tell him that you do not discuss your finances with strangers on the phone, but if he will send you something in writing you will be happy to look into it. Be prepared for resistance; collectors are trained emotional terrorists (seriously). But stand your ground and they are likely to send you a new collection letter, reactivating your right to validate.
We Are Happy to Help!
If you are in our credit repair program we will validate any collection letter you get, just forward it over as quick as you can. We will also check out the statute of limitation and advise you of any legal exposure you have, before doing anything. If you are not in our program, sign up today and we will help you untangle any credit issues you have.