One of the first questions I am asked as a credit and debt consultant is often how to dispute a debt. Dispute is a fancy word meaning to disagree, debate, or argue something. I have found that in my experience almost all credit card dept should be disputed.
It is necessary to know that disputing a debt needs more effort than calling up your creditor and telling them that you disagree that you owe them money. Effective disputes require specific steps and accurate timing. I know these steps so well that significant portions of my clients end up free from debt, or they take advantage of opportunities to settle with creditors or debt collectors for a fraction of their original debt. I recommend to continue learning if you would like these outcomes for your specific debt situation.
Like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, some customers opt to dispute their debt by a phone call to their credit or debt collector. These phone calls do nothing to protect you and do nothing to strengthen your argument in case the debt collector or creditor decides to sue you. You give the creditor or debt collector an easy way out because they can deny that you disputed the debt due to the fact that there is no written record of the dispute. Most importantly, the creditor or debt collector will treat you the exact same way they did before, poorly.
I have often seen advice given to consumers that they should send debt verification letters to their creditors or debt collectors. This advice is flawed because a debt verification letter requires only a name and an address to be verified on an account. Any creditor or debt collector could go on the Internet, if they didn’t already have the consumer’s name and address, and find all the information they need in a matter of seconds. Because of this, debt verification letters do little or even nothing to help the situation of a consumer.
Debt verification letters also have a few other flaws. A verification letter does not require a creditor or debt collector to provide any evidence of your account with them. These letters also do not provide any legal protection. Finally, debt verification letters do nothing to stop the harassment that comes from creditors or debt collectors. Debt verification letters are usually not the correct tool to use when deciding how to dispute a debt.
I will bet that after hearing all of the ways you shouldn’t dispute your debt that you are wondering what the best way to dispute a debt actually is. The way that I have seen the best results when disputing debt is through the use of debt validation letters. Debt validation letters are much more powerful than debt verification letters because they are backed by the FDCPA or Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This Act sets forth specific requirements for debt collectors and creditors to provide accurate and validating information on any account that a request for validation is made.
Consumers can easily use debt validation letters to stop debt collector’s collection attempts. The FDCPA requires any debt collector, once they have received a request for validation, to completely and accurately validate all details about the account before they continue their efforts to collect. Without this validation, the debt collector is prohibited by law to make any more collection efforts. Debt collectors usually do not have the information required to validate an account, so by sending a debt validation letter, you can put an end to the debt collector in their tracks.
The best way I have found to continue learning how to dispute a debt is to take a mini course on debt validation letters. These courses can impart many suggestions from professionals to help you make the most of your debt dispute process.
Want to learn more about how to dispute a debt, then visit Allan Henry’s site on how to choose the best debt dispute for your needs.