By: Jim Kemish
Submitted: 2010-02-21 21:48:13 | Word Count: 675
The Surprise in Your Mailbox
Have you ever opened your mailboxes and discovered a collection notice? The occasion is unpleasant, but if you know your rights you can control the situation. Credit repair offers a significant arsenal of tactics to contend with collections. Credit repair can help you eliminate bogus collections, stop unwanted collection activity, and even settle legitimate collections for pennies on the dollar.
[ advertisement ]
Validate the Debt
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act gives you the right to validate a debt within 30 days of getting a collection letter. This powerful credit repair tool allows you to determine the legitimacy of a purported collection and the accuracy of the dollar amount. All you need to do is respond to the collector letter in a timely manner and request documentation of their legal ownership of the debt and an accounting of the amount due.
Solicit a Letter
As noted above, you can only effectively validate a debt within 30 days of getting a collection letter. So, what should you do if you do not have a letter, or if your letter is too old? You can still use this credit repair tool, but you will need to get a little creative. Just call the collector and tell them that you would like to get something in writing from them before considering payment. They will send a new letter, which you can then use for debt validation.
Do Not Discuss on Phone
Collectors can be aggressive! In fact, they are specifically trained to use a variety of psychological techniques to dominate the conversation and create fear. You are not required to speak with a collector. As a general rule you should never discuss your personal financial matters on the phone unless you personally know and trust the other person. Collectors do not fall into this category. Stand your ground and tell them that they must send something in the mail for your review.
Stopping the Calls
If a particularly aggressive collector insists on harassing you on the telephone you have several credit repair options to stop the calls. Per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, collectors are not allowed to call you during working hours if your employer does not approve. All you need to do is inform the collector of your working hours.
The Attorney Technique
If stopping calls at work is not sufficient you might consider consulting an attorney to implement a particularly effective credit repair technique. If you tell a collector that you have employed an attorney they are supposed to stop all contact with you right away and address their communications only to the attorney. This is an especially useful credit repair technique, and one which often marks the end of all collection activity, as most collectors will not contact the attorney, knowing the lawyer will not tolerate pressure or manipulation.
Dispute with the Bureaus
If you get a collection letter for a debt that you do not recognize, in addition to validating the debt with the collector you should use a secondary credit repair technique. Collectors are not supposed to report to the credit bureaus until after the validation period has passed. Notwithstanding, you should get copies of your credit reports at once. Older active collections may have already been reported, and some collectors report prematurely. If you find the questionable collection on your report, exercise your credit repair rights and dispute the account directly with the credit bureaus.
After Validation
If the collector is not able to validate a debt they must stop all collection activity and bureau reporting. This is an ideal credit repair outcome. But if they do validate the debt you now know that they are allowed to collect. You should also have adequate proof of the dollar amount. This can be a fine starting point for negotiation. Be aware that collectors are almost universally open to negotiation, and depending on the age of the collection you may be able to settle for a small percentage of the full amount.
Author Resource:-
Jim Kemish is the president and founder of Sky Blue Credit Repair, a leading credit repair service. Sky Blue Credit has been dedicated to providing intelligent customized credit solutions since 1989. Visit http://www.skybluecredit.com
