THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. READ MY FULL DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO
By Jessi Fearon 5 Comments
If you’ve ever defaulted on a debt before, you know how horrible those collections calls and demanding letters can be. But it’s even worse when you really don’t owe the money….
Currently, my husband and I are in an epic battle with a huge health care conglomerate here in Georgia. This particular health care organization has been known over the last few years to have serious billing issues and unfortunately, we’ve been hit as one of their latest billing victims.
A few weeks ago, my husband started getting collections calls but we were completely clueless on what this debt was. Then we received a collections notice in the mail for a bill we already paid.
After several hours of communication between the collections company and with the health care organization, I realized this was going nowhere. The frustrating thing is that every single statement that we’ve been mailed shows that the balance has been paid as well as the checks I sent have all cleared.
I even had the company resend me all the statements they have on file for me to make sure that somehow a statement didn’t disappear. And so far, nothing. Not a single statement shows this money as being unpaid.
It’s frustrating when you pay your bills but someone doesn’t properly record it. It’s even more frustrating when somehow the company “doesn’t have record of communication” showing that you’ve contacted them. So, what do you do when you’re faced with an issue like this?
Related post: How We Paid off $5,000 of Debt in One Month
The first thing to do is contact the person that you originally owed the debt to. Some companies just make a mistake and are willing to admit to it and fix it. Other times, you may find out that you actually do owe the money and others; you’ll have to dispute the debt.
***You can contact the collections agency but keep in mind that their sole job is to get money from you. So unless you’re planning on paying the debt even though you don’t believe you owe it, make your first call to the original company where you owed the money.
After you’ve contacted the company of the original debt, if they won’t call off the debt, the next thing you need to do is send a dispute letter to the creditor. You’ll need to do this within 30 days of receiving the collections notice and you’ll need to send it certified mail.
Related Post: Is Credit Counseling Right for You?
This will put the “burden of proof” in their hands. Meaning that they will need to do the legwork involved to figure out if, you do in fact owe that debt. Now, word of caution here – do not send this dispute letter if you know that you actually owe the debt. If you owe the debt, you have to pay the debt. Point.blank.period. This dispute letter is only if you truly believe you do not owe the debt.
Once you’ve sent the letter that will hopefully be the end of it and you’ll see the debt disappear from your credit report (for more on figuring out what is on your credit report for free, visit this post here). But if they come back with that you do owe the debt you may have to seek legal counsel if you still aren’t convinced that you do owe it.
I wish there was an easier process for getting rid of a debt that you don’t owe, but unfortunately, there’s not one that I know of. If you need a dispute letter template, you can grab the one above here.
If you’ve been through the process of disputing a debt you didn’t really owe, please share your tips below!
JOIN THE CHALLENGE!
Money controlling you? I know the feeling. My family has been living this real life on a budget for a long time and I can tell you that there's never a perfect season, but with a few changes you can start to reign in your money issues.
Join the 5-Day Challenge today and start getting your money life in order this week!
