What is a Debt Dispute Letter?

If you have searched through your credit report to find out which items you owe on, and have found that there are some accounts on your report that you did not open or that do not belong to you, you may have to write a debt dispute letter to your creditors in order to clear up your report and increase your score. The dispute letter should be clear and informative, and should give your creditors all the information to clear up your account. Here are few things you should include in your letter in order to get a timely and effective response.

Dispute Letter Example

Your letter should look something like this:

Date
Your Name
Your Address
Your email address
Your best phone number

City, State, Zip
Creditor name
Creditor address
Creditor city, state, zip
RE: File #… Creditor Name… Creditor Acct #.. Amt $…

Be very descriptive when you’re writing about the account; include all information that you think will help the creditor to identify the account to which you’re referring.

Dear Sir/Madam:

I am writing in order to dispute the above referenced debt. I do not have an account with your company/I am not responsible for the balance owed on this account. Please verify this account with all necessary information, including the complete identity of the original debtor

Please suspend all efforts for collection of this account until I have been provided with the validation I have requested.

I can be reached at XXX-XXX-XXXX or at myemailaddress@email.com

Sincerely,
Your Name

It’s usually a good idea to give the creditor 30 days to respond with written documentation and to resolve matters on your account; if you don’t hear anything back after this time, it may be time to take further legal action. If you feel you have been the victim of identity theft, or you see more than one account on your credit report that you know does not belong to you, you may want to speak with an accountant or financial advisor about how to proceed so that you can fix your credit as quickly as possible. You should also make sure that you keep detailed records of all the accounts you have opened, and how much you owe to each creditor so that you can stay abreast of your financial obligations.