How to respond when a debt collector contacts you in three easy steps | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2024)

FAQs

How to respond when a debt collector contacts you in three easy steps | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? ›

If you're not sure that the debt is yours, write the debt collector and dispute the debt or ask for more information. If the debt is yours, don't worry. Decide on the total amount you are willing to pay to settle the entire debt and negotiate with the debt collector for the rest to be forgiven.

Don't Provide Any Personal or Financial Information

Debt collectors will want to find out as much as they can about your finances, but you should not disclose anything until you receive validation of your debt. This will protect you from assuming responsibility before discovering whether it is legally yours or not.

If you receive a text purporting to be from a debt collector, do not share personal or sensitive information via text message, especially if it's from someone you do not know. Instead, ask for validating details so you can confirm the debt and the person texting you are legitimate.

Dear debt collector: I am responding to your contact about collecting a debt. You contacted me by [phone/mail], on [date] and identified the debt as [any information they gave you about the debt]. You can contact me about this debt, but only in the way I say below.

Don't provide personal or sensitive financial information

Never give out or confirm personal or sensitive financial information – such as your bank account, credit card, or full Social Security number – unless you know the company or person you are talking with is a real debt collector.

Regardless of how they're contacting you, you have the right to tell a debt collector to stop. This request must be made to the debt collector in writing. The CFPB offers sample letters for asking a debt collector to stop contacting you.

I am writing this letter to bring to your notice the following information added to my credit report. The [dispute item] along with the [creditor's name] are falsely added to my credit report without my prior knowledge. The mentioned details are incorrect and I request you to revise the report after due diligence.

You do this by filing official paperwork with the court. Be sure to address every point in the complaint, raise any defenses you have, and file the paperwork within the time frame provided. Debt collectors are counting on you not to answer the lawsuit so that they can win by default.

A debt collector must stop all collection activity on a debt if you send them a written dispute about the debt, generally within 30 days after your initial communication with them.

If you owe the debt, you may be able to work out a settlement or other resolution with the collector. Responding doesn't mean you're agreeing that you owe the debt or that it is valid. If you don't respond, the court could issue a judgment or court action against you, sometimes called a “default judgment.”

How can I get a collection removed without paying? ›

If there are negative items on your credit report but the information is accurately reported, you can write a goodwill letter to ask the creditor or collection agency to remove the collections account from your report. This isn't guaranteed to work, but it won't hurt to ask.

It is not uncommon today for people to be pursued by debt collectors for money they don't owe. This occurs for several reasons: the original creditor may have made an accounting error, you may be a victim of identity theft, or the creditor may have found the wrong person with a similar name.

Debt collectors cannot harass or abuse you. They cannot swear, threaten to illegally harm you or your property, threaten you with illegal actions, or falsely threaten you with actions they do not intend to take. They also cannot make repeated calls over a short period to annoy or harass you.

For starters, once a debt is charged off and reported to the credit bureaus, the damage to your credit score is already done. Paying the charged-off account won't remove the charge-off from your credit report, and it typically won't significantly improve your credit score in the short term.

If you receive a notice from a debt collector, it's important to respond as soon as possible—even if you do not owe the debt—because otherwise the collector may continue trying to collect the debt, report negative information to credit reporting companies, and even sue you.

Dispute in writing, and include any evidence that supports your claims (such as copies of cancelled checks showing you paid the debt or a police report in the case of identity theft). If the debt collector knows that you don't owe the money, it should not try to collect the debt.

Find a number you're comfortable with and say, “this is what I can afford to give you,” period. They can take or leave it, it's your choice and not theirs.” Oftentimes, debt collectors will agree to accept as payment-in-full a lump-sum amount that is only a fraction of the total debt.