Why It Is Important To Keep Every Collection Letter You Receive.
Why It Is Important To Keep Every Collection Letter You Receive.
Collection agencies love to send collection letters.
You, as a consumer, don’t like getting them so you may be tempted to throw them away.
Please don’t — instead save all collection letters you receive.
Keeping records of all collection activities — including collection letters — may help you to determine if you can sue the debt collector under the FDCPA.
Let’s talk about several reasons to do this:
First, if you are sued, it will help you understand which account you are being sued for.
This may sound silly but normally the collection lawsuits will not tell you the account you are being sued on.
Instead they will say something vague about an old Bank of America or Synchrony Bank or some other account.
But you often won’t have the account number.
Having collection letters can show you which account you have been sued on so that if you win the collection lawsuit, you can easily look at your credit reports to see if false credit reporting has occurred.
You can also see if the credit reporting was updated to show the account is disputed once you have disputed it.
If either of these happen — false credit reporting or failure to mark as disputed — then you may be able to sue the collector.
You’ll be glad you kept the collection letters to show the court the account that’s in dispute.
If you get sued, you can see if the amount sued for is the same or different than in the collection letter you received.
Sometimes the amounts are different in the lawsuit and your collection letters (not to mention your credit reports).
Sometimes the difference doesn’t mean anything.
Other times it is very important.
Remember debt collectors cannot do anything that is deceptive or is a misrepresentation.
So if the collection letter says you owe $3,000 but you are sued for $5,000 and your credit report shows the same account with the debt collector as $8,000, this is something to investigate.
Hold on to your collection letters and have a consumer lawyer look at them.
They may be perfectly fine.
Or they may show a violation of the law.
You won’t know until you show them to a consumer lawyer.
Contact Us.
If you live in Alabama and want for us to look at your total situation — collection letters, credit reports, etc. — then give us a call at 1-205-879-2447.
Or fill out a contact form and we will get in touch with you as soon as possible.
We will be happy to talk with you in a free consultation.
I look forward to chatting with you.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day!