Sending a Letter to A Collection Agency,
Information on Fair Debt Collection
Several instances may occur that require a consumer to send a letter to a collection agency. These instances will all likely involve the consumer's rights as granted by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. They include a letter to a collection agency requesting that the collection agency ceases contact with the consumer, a dispute letter, and a settlement letter.
Sometimes, whether due to stress while working under a deadline or trying to procure more commissions, a few debt collectors may cross the line and their work behavior may begin to lean toward harassment or abuse. While this is fairly uncommon, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act grants consumers rights in order to protect them and their privacy if such illegal and unethical behavior happens. These rights enable consumers to write a letter to a collection agency requesting them to cease contact, or a dispute letter, or a settlement letter.
Allowing a consumer the right to request a collection agency to cease contact is one of the more powerful protections granted by the Far Debt Collection Practice Act, a valuable tool in the arsenal of Fair Debt Collection Resources. This is done via a letter to the collection agency stating that the consumer is not going to pay the debt or that he or she wishes to end communications with the collection agency. However, this notice specifically must be in writing in the form of a letter to a collection agency.
A dispute letter is another possible letter to a collection agency a consumer might send. After a debt collector has made first contact with a consumer, the consumer then has 30 days to send a dispute letter to a collection agency. This letter to a collection agency will state that the consumer disputes that he or she owes this debt or a portion of that debt and will request verification for the amount that is supposedly owed.
Once this letter to a collection agency has been received, the debt collector must stop all collection efforts to provide verification. Once this letter to a collection agency has been presented to the consumer, then collection activities may be resumed. Even if such verification of that debt or a portion of that debt were presented in the initial communication with the consumer, the debt collector must present it again. This comes from the off chance that a debt collector mistakenly tried to collect a debt from the wrong person at the start of his or her collection activities.
Instead of a dispute letter, a consumer might send out a possible third type of letter to a collection agency, a settlement letter. Sending this letter to a collection agency is an alternative to debt management, debt consolidation, consumer debt counseling, and filing for bankruptcy. Instead, the consumer writes out a letter to a collection agency stating that he or she disagrees with the amount that he or she owes and that he or she is willing to pay a lesser amount. Negotiating the debt might require follow up in the form of another letter to a collection agency as both sides negotiate. The actual amount that both sides have agreed upon for the consumer to pay in the end is called the settlement.