Use A Validation Letter To Make The Collection Agency Prove Their Claim

Q: I received a statement from a collection agency stating that I owe a popular magazine company money for a subscription. When I filled out the post card for the magazine it had stated that I would get 4 free issues and then charged after that if I wished to keep the subscription. Well, it has been many months since I received the magazine and I never sent in the money b/c I decided against the subscription. Now all of a sudden I am getting a letter to collect the money.

My question is, can the magazine send me to collections? I can see if I received all the issues and never paid but that just isn't the case. I have just never heard of such a thing, being sent to collections for a magazine subscription. Is this just a scare tactic to get my money or is this true?

A: Until federal prosecutors start prosecuting companies such as the one you describe for mail fraud, those companies will keep sending fraudulent bills to their accomplice collection agencies to scam people out of money.

In order to keep the collection agency from placing the account on your credit report you need to reply to their demand letter and let them know you dispute the bill. The letter you need to send is called a "validation letter". You can Google the term to come up with examples. I like the one here.

After they are unable to come up with a signed contract or any enforceable legal agreement between you and the magazine company they must close the account and move on to the next victim who is less prepared to protect themselves.

If they do not close the account save all the paperwork and request representation on a FDCPA complaint from a NACA attorney in your area so you can have the collection agency stopped and recover the $1000 statutory damages from them in civil court.