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Secrets of a Debt Collector—Interview With A Former Collector

Hannah Locklear | January 04, 2024

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: A former debt collector shares his secrets on how to use a Debt Validation Letter to stop debt collection calls and the best approach to settle a debt. Note: the older your debt, the easier it is to settle. SoloSuit can help you respond to debt collectors and resolve a debt through settlement.

I recently interviewed Bill, a former debt collector for major collection agencies like Avante USA, LTD Financial, and Maximum Recovery Solutions.

In our interview, I asked Bill to share some ex-debt collector secrets like how to stop collection calls and the best way to approach debt settlement.

You can watch the full interview below, or keep reading for the main takeaways.

1. To stop debt collector calls, send them a Debt Validation Letter or a Cease and Desist Letter.

Many junk debt buyers purchase hundreds, even thousands, of old debt portfolios in bulk, and these portfolios don’t always have all the necessary documentation to be able to collect on them. A Debt Validation Letter forces collectors to prove you owe a debt and that they have the right to collect it.

§809 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act outlines a list of information needed to validate a debt, which includes:

  • (1) the amount of the debt;
  • (2) the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed;
  • (3-5) statements that explain the consumer has thirty days to dispute the debt, and if disputed within that timeline, the collector will send a verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against the consumer, along with the name and address of the original creditor (if different from the current creditor) to the consumer via mail

If a collector can’t validate your debt, they have to stop calling you about it and they won’t have the grounds to file a debt lawsuit against you.

On the other hand, if you send a Cease and Desist letter, this can stop debt collection calls for a time, but it won’t block further collection efforts like legal action.

At SoloSuit, we have a Debt Validation Letter template you can use to ask for debt validation. This template has been used by thousands of average, everyday people like you to stop debt collectors from collecting on old, already paid, or otherwise invalid debts.

Make debt collectors validate your debt.

2. The older your debt, the better your chances are for debt settlement

If a collector knows that the statute of limitations on a debt is about to expire, they may be more likely to accept a settlement offer. They might even accept a lower amount than normal as a last-ditch effort to collect at least some money on the debt.

According to our former collector friend, many collectors get paid bonuses at the end of each month, so negotiating a settlement towards the end of the month may yield better results.

We also have a service at SoloSuit to help you negotiate a debt settlement called SoloSettle. It’s a tech-based approach to debt settlement. SoloSettle is a software that helps debtors draft and send debt settlement offers to debt collectors and debt law firms and starts settlement communications. The software acts as a middleman between debtor and creditor and/or collector. It relays offers and counteroffers back and forth until an agreement is reached.

If the thought of calling a debt collector to negotiate a debt settlement is intimidating to you, using SoloSettle can ease your anxiety and help you start the conversation. As a part of the service, all communications will be properly and legally worded to increase your chances of settling.

Settle your debt before going to court.

Let’s consider an example of a real SoloSuit customer who successfully settled her debt.

Example: Megan took out a personal loan in 2019 to fund her small business. During the pandemic, her business failed because of Covid. Her bank sold her debt to one of the nation's largest debt collectors. The debt collector then sued Megan for $26,500. Without SoloSuit, Megan would not have been able to respond to the lawsuit. She would have lost the lawsuit automatically and her wages would have been garnished at 25% out of every paycheck, possibly for the rest of her life. With SoloSuit, Megan responded to the lawsuit, blocking an automatic defeat. She then used SoloSettle to settle the lawsuit with the collector for a total cost of only $11,000. So, she deleted $15,500 of debt in less than 14 days, thanks to SoloSuit.


How can SoloSuit help you?

SoloSuit has helped 170 thousand people respond to over $1 billion in debt lawsuits. But it doesn’t matter what stage of the debt collection process you’re in. We can help you request a debt validation, stop debt collector’s calls, respond to a debt lawsuit, request that your case be moved to arbitration, and most importantly, negotiate a debt settlement so you can resolve the debt before your court date.

More than anything, know that SoloSuit is rooting for you. We sincerely want to help people clear their debts and move on with life.

Thanks so much for reading, and good luck resolving your debts.

Settle with SoloSettle

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