No lawsuit yet · a window that closes
This is the only stage where you get to ask first.
A collection letter comes from a company. A lawsuit comes from a court. Tonight you are holding the first one, and that is worth more than it feels like.
Nothing here is about your letter. This page covers what the first letter from a debt collector generally is, and what Brian Parker teaches people to do with one.
The letter in your hand
This communication from a debt collector is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.
The validation notice
Unless you notify this office within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of this debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid.
Wording from a collection letter in the KillDebt library
Tonight
Do not call them back.
Everything useful at this stage happens on paper. A letter you send certified leaves a record you keep. A phone call leaves a record they keep.
Brian Parker’s checklist for a first contact from a debt collector starts before the conversation does.
“STOP - Do not engage in conversation yet … Request all communication in writing … Do NOT admit to owing anything … End call politely: ‘Please send everything in writing’”
The Five Don’ts of Debt Collection Protection · checklist
He gives the rule a name and repeats it in every set of letter instructions in the library: Keep a Paper Trail, Register by Mail. Certified, return receipt requested, and a copy of the letter he actually signed.
The object itself
What the letter actually is.
The first letter from a debt collector has a name. Brian’s show notes call it the dunning letter, and they treat it as the start of everything that comes after it.
“The First Letter (1692g) is Everything.”
Debt Collection Validation and Cease and Desist · show notes
Under 15 U.S.C. 1692g the notice generally carries the amount, the name of the creditor the debt is owed to, and, on a written request, the name and address of the original creditor if that is a different company. Seeing two company names on one page is common. One of them opened the account. The other bought it, or collects for whoever did.
We have a page on seven of the companies that buy accounts and sue on them.
His notes also say where courts end up looking.
“It is about the person, not the debt. Courts and cases focus on the debtor’s response or dispute of the debt more so than the proof of the debt itself.”
Debt Collection Validation and Cease and Desist · show notes
Brian, on the letter
Debt Validation Demystified: How to Challenge Debt Collectors
The ask
What a written dispute actually asks for.
The letter prints a tick-box. Brian’s validation instructions tell readers to go past it.
“Don’t just rely on the check box method of the CFPB.”
Debt Collection Validation Instructions · library
His template letters open with one question, “Do you have the right person?”, and then ask for four things.
- WhoThe name and address of the original creditor and of the current creditor.
- How muchVerification of the amount, showing that a contract creates the amount claimed.
- ChainEvery assignment showing the debt moving from the original creditor to the current one.
- OwnershipProof that the original creditor securitized the debt.
The four are one question in four parts, and his instructions name the question.
“The focus of the Validation request under the FDCPA is whether the Collector or Current Creditor has a right to pursue the debt against the debtor.”
Debt Collection Validation Instructions · library
The phone
The calls came with it.
A letter and a run of calls usually arrive together. Brian’s rule for the calls is one line, and he repeats it across the library.
“Never, ever, admit you owe the debt on the phone. EVERY CALL IS RECORDED. You must act as though it is recorded.”
Top Ten Tips on How to Talk with a Collection Attorney · show notes
His notes on the letter and the phone calls give the reason in two lines: “Why? There is no value in doing that. Only the debt collector and eventually their debt collection lawsuit benefits.”
He is as flat about the small payment people send to show good faith. A payment can restart the clock on an old debt. Whether it does, and how long that clock runs, is a question of state law, and this page cannot answer it for your account. The old-debt page is where that question lives.
The second question
Who owns it is a separate question.
The company writing to you may service the account rather than own it. Brian’s securitization letter instructions open on that point.
“You are seeking the true ownership of a credit card debt as most credit card receivables are securitized at origination.”
Securitization Letter Instructions · library
The same instructions say what this stage is for: “At this stage, it is all about the paper trail.” In the video below he says why ownership is worth asking about at all.
Brian, on ownership
Understanding the Securitization Request Letter
Members put that question to the filings themselves with the Securitization (EDGAR) Searcher, which reads SEC asset-backed filings for the trust an account was sold into.
The cheapest version
A dispute letter costs a stamp.
The CFPB publishes sample letters for people who get a collection notice, free, on consumerfinance.gov. Printing one, signing it and mailing it certified is the whole cost. For a lot of people that is the entire job.
Brian’s argument with those letters is about how much they ask for. He still tells people to put something in writing. If a free sample letter covers what you need tonight, send it and close this tab.
A subscription buys the rest of it: a draft built around the letter you were sent, somewhere to keep the signed copies and the green cards, and the filings that answer the ownership question.
If this is not quite your situation
You can start on it tonight.
Draft the dispute in writing tonight, and keep the paper trail in one place.
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