What is the purpose of the Validation of Debt Letter?

Simply stated, the purpose of the Validation of Debt Letter is to request in writing that a Third Party Collection Firm provides you evidence that the debt exist, and that you owe the debt. Requesting Validation is a right granted to you under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).  But, oftentimes, sending a Validation of Debt serves additional purposes as well. 

Manage Collection Calls

A Collection Firm is not required to validate a debt when you send them a Validation of Debt Letter.   The Firm, however, cannot contact you or continue collection efforts until they provide written validation. This means that until they send a written response to your request, they are not allowed to call you to collect on the debt. For some Collection Firms, it may take weeks or even months – if they decide to respond to your request.  Some Collection Firms choose to not respond to Validation of Debt letters.  The longer it takes for the Collector to respond, the less collection calls your will receive.    

Since the Collection Firm cannot call you until they validate the debt, it is important to keep track of when the Firm receives your Validation of Debt Letter.  You can keep track of this by always mailing the Letter by Certified Mail with Return Receipts.  When you send mail this way, the receiving party must sign that they have received the letter.  This is your proof that the Firm has received your request and from then, the collection calls must stop until the debt is validated in writing. 

Time to Save for Creditor Resolutions

When working towards resolving your debt for less, it is likely that it will take some time to save up enough money to begin making offers to your creditors.  And added benefit of sending a Validation of Debt Letter is that it can allow you time to save up your funds without active collection activity.  Should a collector decide to validate the debt, it may take many weeks or months to research and process. This allows time to save money for eventual resolutions. If a collector decides to not or cannot validate the debt, you will have additional time to save even more money.

Remember, sending a Validation of Debt Letter is your right.  It is important to take advantage of this right.  You have 30 days from receiving your first collection letter from a new Collection Firm to request Validation.  Once you update the new Collection Firm’s information in Paydoff, you will be prompted to create and print the Validation of Debt Letter – as shown in the images below.