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What Is a Creditor Legally Required to Do if You Dispute a Debt?

Sarah Edwards | April 23, 2024

Sarah Edwards
Legal Expert
Sarah Edwards, BS

Sarah Harris is a professional researcher and writer specializing in legal content. An Emerson College alumna, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication from the prestigious Boston institution.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Hannah Locklear
Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

Summary: Dealing with debt collectors can be a stressful experience. However, if you submit a dispute, collectors must stop contacting you until they’ve proven you owe a debt. SoloSuit takes you through the rights you have when disputing a debt.

If you’re receiving calls from debt collectors, it can be tempting to panic. And when you’re stressed about a debt, you’re more likely to pay immediately without thinking.

Don’t do this. Instead, the first thing you should do if you’re contacted by a debt collector is take a deep breath. Instead of rushing into paying, take a moment to understand the rights you have — and what a debt collector has to do if you exercise them.

Creditors have to prove a debt is valid if you dispute it

Creditors often hire debt collectors to contact consumers who have fallen behind on their payments and owe a debt. Some big creditors (like banks or credit card companies) even have their own internal collections department.

If you’ve been contacted by a debt collector about a debt you think is invalid, you can dispute the debt within 30-days. Here are some things a creditor is legally required to do if you dispute a debt:

  • Stop all debt collection activities until verification of the debt is obtained or a judgment copy is provided.
  • Mail these verifications or the original creditor's details to the consumer.
  • Collection activities can continue during the initial 30-day period as long as they don’t contradict the consumer’s rights to dispute the debt or request the original creditor's information.
  • Any collection efforts in this period must not undermine or conflict with the disclosure of the consumer's right to dispute the debt or request information about the original creditor.

These rights are outlined in FDCPA § 809, a federal law that governs debt collection practices throughout the United States.

The graphic below summarizes what a creditor is legally required to do if you dispute a debt:

When should you dispute a debt?

Essentially, you should dispute a debt any time you don’t believe you owe it. Here are some example scenarios:

  • You don’t recognize the debt.
  • Your identity has been stolen.
  • You already paid the debt.
  • It’s past the statute of limitations.

Debt collectors deal with thousands of accounts, so it’s entirely possible for them to make mistakes. When in doubt, disputing is a good idea.

Understand your right to dispute under the FDCPA

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a federal law designed to protect your rights as a consumer. It’s a complex document, but its protections fall into three general categories:

  • Your right to receive notice of a debt.
  • Your right to dispute the debt.
  • Your right to verify the debt.

The FDCPA also bars debt collectors from using dishonest collection tactics, threats, or abusive language. For example, collectors may not threaten to have you arrested if you don’t pay.

Your right to dispute a debt is an important right, it's also time-restricted. If you believe you don’t owe a debt, you must send the collector a written notice of dispute within 30 days of receiving the first notice of the debt.

Generally, you want your written dispute to include the following elements:

Request for validation of the debt

If you’ve dealt with debt collectors before, this step might be familiar. In a dispute, you should request the exact same documentation as you do in a Debt Validation Letter, including:

  • The name of the original creditor.
  • How much you owe.
  • A copy of the signed contract with the original creditor.
  • Proof that the original creditor authorized this collector to collect the debt.
  • The collector’s license to operate in your state of residence.

Even if you don’t need to file a dispute, SoloSuit makes it easy to request debt validation with a Debt Validation Letter. You can create and send one in minutes!

Get started on your Debt Validation Letter right now.

Disputing a debt can be helpful in many ways

It’s a good idea to send a Debt Validation Letter even if you know you technically owe a debt. When you send a validation request, you don’t have to argue that you don’t owe money. Under the FDCPA, if you send a Debt Validation Letter within 30 days of the first notice, the collector must verify the debt if they want you to pay.

However, if you’re filing a dispute, you should do more than just ask for validation. And for the sake of clarity, it’s important to indicate why you’re filing the dispute in the first place.

Check out our video on how to write a quality Debt Validation Letter:

Plenty of supporting documentation is key

If you believe you don’t owe a debt, it’s important to do your best to prove to the debt collector that you don’t owe it. Before sending off your notice of dispute, gather as much supporting documentation as you can. Here are some examples:

  • Proof of payment of the debt.
  • Police reports regarding identity theft, if your debt is the result of identity theft.
  • Proof the debt was discharged during bankruptcy.

Make sure you take your time with this step. The more documentation you have, the more likely the collector is to admit you don’t owe it.

What does a collector have to do if you dispute a debt?

If you file a dispute with a collector, the FDCPA requires the collector to stop contacting you until they validate it. If the collector wants you to pay, they must validate the debt to you. If they can’t — or won’t — validate the debt, you don’t have to pay.

If you never hear anything back and collection activities stop, the collector likely agreed with your dispute and dropped the account. However, you should still monitor your credit report. Some debt collectors will keep reporting the debt to credit bureaus even if they’ve stopped trying to collect it. To see how this works, let’s consider an example:

Example: Tina gets a notice of debt from EFG Collections. Right away, she can tell she doesn’t owe this debt. She sends a written notice of dispute as soon as she gets the letter from the collector. Two months go by, and she doesn’t hear anything from EFG Collections. Just in case, she gets a copy of her credit report and sees that EFG Collections still shows up on her report. She calls the company and asks them to stop reporting the account. It turns out that the reporting was a mistake, so the company removes the account from Tina’s report.


If the collector does validate the debt by sending you the appropriate documentation, they’re allowed to continue contacting you. If you want the company to stop calling you or sending you mail, you may ask them to stop with a written request. However, keep in mind that this step doesn’t get rid of the debt.

Ready to dispute? SoloSuit is your ally

When you dispute a debt, you might end up owing less than you did initially. Even though it may result in a positive outcome, disputing the debt can still be incredibly stressful.

Fortunately, you don’t have to navigate this situation alone. Whether you need to send a Debt Validation Letter, an Answer to a lawsuit, or something else, let SoloSuit make the process as easy and stress-free as possible!

Need to respond to a debt collection lawsuit? Draft an Answer with SoloSuit!

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