Use this letter whenever a debt collector first contacts you. If you request verification of a debt within 30 days of the date that the debt collector sends you a notice advising you of your right to request verification, the debt collector must stop all collection efforts until it provides you with verification. The debt collector is required to send you this notice within 5 days of his first contact with you.
You do not have to dispute a debt to request verification. You can simply ask the collector to produce the documents that show you owe this debt. In many cases, the debt collector simply will not bother, or will find that the documents do not exist. In those cases, the debt collector is not allowed to continue to try to collect the debt.
If you do have an honest dispute over the debt. Explain your dispute in the letter and request that the debt collector produce documents that show that the information you dispute is incorrect. Remember to be honest and polite. Don’t make up a phony dispute. If you have to sue, you will be made to look like a liar in front of the jury and your case will go right down the drain.
May 4, 2011
Via Certified Mail, No. 8978 3245 3999 3876 2329
Debt Collector
Address
City, State Zip
Re: Sears Credit Card Account No. 9898989, Your Account No. 43098
To Whom It May Concern:
I received your notice that you will be collecting this credit card account from me. I need some information from you:
I need to know that you are really the person I should be dealing with on this debt. I don’t want to make a payment to you and then find out that I should have paid someone else. Please provide me with documentation that you either own this debt or have authority to collect it, so that I will know that if I make a payment to you, the payment will be going to the proper person.
I also need to know how you calculated the balance you say is due. Please provide me with an itemized breadown of what you claim that I owe, identifying and explaining any fees, interest or other charges you’ve added and provide me with a copy of my contract so I can verify the charges. I don’t want to have to pay more than I really owe.
Thank you for your help with this matter.
or
I am writing to dispute the amount you claim is due on this account. You are trying to collect $250.34 from me that I have already paid. The actual balance on this account is zero, as I paid off the account in a timely fashion and requested that it be closed in October of 2010.
I have enclosed a copy of my statements from October and November of 2010, the letter requesting that my account be closed, and the letter from Sears confirming the closing of my account. The October 2010 statement shows a balance due of $250.34. The November 2010 statement shows that a payment in that amount was received on October 22, 2010 and shows a balance of zero. My letter requesting that the account be closed is dated October 15, 2010. The letter from Sears confirms that the account was closed at my request on November 21, 2010 with a zero balance.
I am requesting that you correct your records to indicate that I do not owe anything on this account. If you are collecting this account on behalf of someone else, I am asking that you provide them with a copy of this letter.
In addition, please provide me with the following information:
I need to know that you are really the person I should be dealing with on this debt. I don’t want to make a payment to you and then find out that I should have paid someone else. Please provide me with documentation that you either own this debt or have authority to collect it, so that I will know that if I make a payment to you, the payment will be going to the proper person.
I also need to know how you calculated the balance you say is due. Please provide me with an itemized breadown of what you claim that I owe, identifying and explaining any fees, interest or other charges you’ve added and provide me with a copy of my contract so I can verify the charges. I don’t want to have to pay more than I really owe.
Thank you for your help with this matter.
Sincerely
Jane Q. Consumer