This could be the most important letter that you write.  When you get a call from a collection agency, a follow up letter within 5 days of that call should be received stating that you owe a debt and that collection activities have been started.  You have 30 days to respond to that letter.  The goal is to send a letter disputing that debt and requesting that the debt be verified.  This is a key letter for a number of reasons.  First, most of the time the debt cannot be verified which limits their ability to collect.  Second, they cannot take any further action until they respond to your letter.  Many times they attempt to collect without responding.  In that case, they are in clear violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act which potentially gives you grounds for legal action.

Dean Malone states that a common mistake he sees is a letter requesting that they verify the debt and cease and desist the collection process.  You don’t want to combine those two requests into a letter.  Keep it simple and be direct.