Consumers who are notified by a debt collector are entitled to several benefits or promises from the debt collector to even prove that your debt is valid. It is up to the consumer to know their rights and what must take place before the debt is proven valid.
Firstly, from the moment you are contacted by any debt collector, they have a total of 5 days to send you proof in written form their intent to collect on your debt. The notice often includes language that states that within 30 days, you have the right to dispute the validity of the alleged debt. By doing so, this prompts debt validation. If you do not dispute it, you lessen your chances of being able to get out of any debt you may legally owe.
When you consult with Freedom Loan Resolution for your debt validation and resolution needs, we then work on your behalf. We will prepare notices of dispute on your behalf whether or not you actually owe the money they claim. We send these dispute notices to ensure the collection agency has the right to collect the debt you owe.
Once the debt collector receives our dispute notices, they will then have 30 days to prove they are legally allowed to collect and they are not allowed to continue their collection efforts until they prove they have a valid claim to do so. This dispute request does not have to be sent to the debt collector within 30 days as it can be sent at any time, however, if the dispute request is not sent within 30 days, the debt collector only has to stop their collection efforts if you dispute the claim within the 30 day timeframe. Once a debt collector receives a dispute notification for validation, they must validate the claim. Many debt collectors will try to mislead you to make you believe they do not have to validate – but no matter what they tell you, by law., the debt needs to be validated.
When we submit your paperwork requesting a validation notice, it is then in the debt collectors hands to provide proof that you owe the debt- they must supply the validation documents to us within 30-days of our request. If the debt collector fails to do so within 30 days, the debt will then be considered invalid and therefore, legally non-collectible. Should this happen, the debt collector is required to remove the account notations from your credit reports, and you will no longer be obligated to pay your debt – saving you thousands of dollars! Additionally, once a debt has been proven to be invalid, you will not be responsible for paying any taxes on the forgiven amount.
You may be thinking, what’s the catch? You may even legally owe debt that you have not paid for personal reasons. However, when debt is sold to debt collectors, oftentimes information is lost along the way. By having our debt lawyers work with you and represent you on your behalf, you have the potential to reduce what you owe, completely, legally. Even if the debt collector responds within the 30 day timeframe, to validate your alleged debt with an insufficient response, we have the follow-up requests to ensure the collector either send the proper documentation or otherwise, their debt will be invalid.
There are also cases where the debt collectors are up to date with all of their documents and respond within the allotted time frame. Even then, it may still not be enough. We require a copy of the original account agreement and all the statements from the time of the inception of the account. After receiving these documents, we then do an internal audit and forensic accounting of your alleged debt to ensure your collectors or original creditors didn’t overcharge you or miscalculate any interest or fees which would violate the Credit Card act of 2009 and the Truth in Lending Act. Any errors and violations we find can help to invalidate your debt.
Contact Freedom Loan Resolution to speak with our experienced debt resolution counselors. If one of your alleged debts has been fully validated, oftentimes, with our help, we can then settle the debt for less than the amount you owe and will still be able to save you a ton of money. The amount of debt collection agencies that are not able to validate their claims is surprisingly, especially on the accounts that were sold to third-party debt purchasing companies.
Get in touch with the debt resolution counselors at Freedom Loan Resolution today by calling us at 949-272-8538.