What information is a debt collector required to provide?

Any person contacting you claiming that you owe money on a debt is required by law to give you certain information about the debt owed. A debt collector must tell you the name of the creditor (the person/entity who is owed money), the amount of money owed to the creditor, and how you can dispute the debt or seek verification that the debt is accurate. During the initial contact, if the debt collector is unable to provide you with this information, the debt collector is required by law to send you notice in writing of this information within five days of the first contact.

An individual can dispute a debt or ask for additional information concerning the money owed, especially if you are unsure you owe money to a certain creditor. If you decide to dispute a debt, or a certain portion of a debt, in writing within 30 days after you received the required information from the debt collector, the debt collector, by law, cannot contact you until the dispute has been investigated and a verification of the debt has been provided by the debt collector in writing.

In addition to disputing a debt, you can also ask that debt collector provide you with the address and name of the original creditor. If this request is made in writing within 30 days of being provide the initial information from the debt collector, the debt collector is required by law to cease all debt collection activities until the debt collector provides you with the requested information.

If you don’t recognize the name of the creditor once you have received the information requested, ask the debt collector if it purchased the debt from a different company and what that company’s name is.