What Is All the Hoopla About The 'Three Little Words' In The Mortgage Industry?  

Requesting validation of the debt works for two reasons.  First it buys you some needed time.  Why is time important?  Well, let’s suppose you are attempting to purchase a home or a car within the next three months, you need time for the sale to go through.  In other words you want the loan approved.  Your next step is to notify one of the three credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion).  The credit reporting agency that you notify is obligated to notify the other two, but you can notify the other two yourself.

Under  FDCPA guideline and rules  all collection activity must cease until the attorney puts that verification in the mail to you. The verification is usually a simple statement signed by the creditor, and it will not take the collection attorney long to obtain it or mail it, but it does stay (stop) collection activities, including law suits, until answered.  

Be sure to mail  out return receipt requested  letters to the three credit reporting agencies Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.  Be sure to include copies of the letter(s) that you mailed to the collection agency or the collection attorney.    The reason why are going to mail return receipt requested letter(s) to the credit reporting agencies is because if the collection agency and/or the collection attorney does not produce the affidavit of statement proving that the debt is yours, within 30 days, that debt,  by law,  must be taken off your credit report by the credit reporting agencies. Once the debt is removed from your credit report, your credit score increases by leaps and bounds.  

Chances are if any of your debt is very old,  collection agencies, collection attorneys and creditors will not be able to locate the validation that proves the debt is yours.  By law, if they cannot prove the debt is yours, it must be removed from your credit report.  Remember, they will not remove it unless you notify them.   Attorneys will try to  pull a fast one and proceed with a collection lawsuit, do not, we repeat do not let the word lawsuit frighten you.  This is scare tactic that they use.  The lawsuit simply means that you are required to appear in court, GO!  Why should you go?  Most judges  favor consumers more than they favor huge credit card companies. 

A  high percentage of collection suits simply proceed to default judgment without any response from the debtor. Default judgment is a collection attorney's dream.  Attorney’s  love consumers who do not answer law suits and, believe it or not, a majority of law suits filed by collection attorneys go unanswered because the debtors feel like they can't fight the debt in court, usually because they feel they owe the money so they have no point in fighting. However, by filing a validation request, you send a very strong message to the collection attorney that you aren't going to give up. He might actually have to go to court himself and you may force him to prove the debt.

Also, by filing the validation request, you actually stay the collection proceedings. If a collection attorney cannot move forward against you in a collection suit, the chance of your having a default judgment against you is greatly diminished. In front of a judge, a consumer has an advantage over a huge credit card company.  Simply state your case to the judge.  If you lost your job or your spouse lost his/her job, tell the judge that.  Judge’s want to know if  you were a two income family but now you are down to one income.   Remember judges are more sympathetic to your case;   you just have to show up in court.