The debt validation letter, in full
A collector that contacts you about a debt must send a written validation notice within five days. This is the letter that asks for what the law says they owe you — and the five things it has to contain.
Sources below are the text of 15 U.S.C. § 1692g and § 1681i, and the CFPB’s Regulation F at 12 CFR 1006.34. Checked 15 October 2026.
The letter
Replace everything in brackets, and delete the sentences you are told to delete. Send it to the collector — the company that mailed you the debt.
[DATE]
[DEBT COLLECTOR COMPANY NAME]
[COLLECTOR MAILING ADDRESS FOR DISPUTES]
[ACCOUNT OR REFERENCE NUMBER]
Re: Request for validation of debt — 15 U.S.C. § 1692g
I am writing about a debt you are attempting to collect from me, which you state is in the amount of [AMOUNT], on account number [ACCOUNT NUMBER], owed to [CREDITOR NAME]. This is not an acknowledgment that the debt is valid. [Delete this line if you have already paid the debt in full.]
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a), within five days after your initial communication with me you were required to send a written notice stating the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed, my right to dispute the debt within thirty days, my right to request verification or a judgment copy, and my right to request the name and address of the original creditor. [Delete the next sentence if you did receive such a notice.] To the best of my knowledge I did not receive that notice.
I dispute the validity of this debt, in whole or in part, and I request that you:
1. Provide verification of the debt, or a copy of any judgment against me, if one has been obtained;
2. Provide the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor;
3. Cease collection activity on this debt until you have provided that verification, judgment copy, or original-creditor information, as required by § 1692g(b); and
4. Confirm in writing the balance claimed and the full payment history on this account.
Until you have provided the information above, please direct all further communication about this account to me in writing at the address below.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR ADDRESS]
[PHONE]
[EMAIL]
Enclosures: a copy of the collection notice, and a copy of your initial communication.
The five things § 1692g(a) requires
If your initial communication did not already say all five, the validation notice was late or incomplete. This is the whole checklist.
- The amount of the debt — § 1692g(a)(1).
- The name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed — § 1692g(a)(2).
- That unless you dispute within 30 days, the debt will be assumed valid — § 1692g(a)(3).
- That if you dispute in writing within 30 days, the collector will obtain verification or a judgment copy and mail it to you — § 1692g(a)(4).
- That on your written request within 30 days, the collector will give you the name and address of the original creditor — § 1692g(a)(5).
Disputing does not admit liability
§ 1692g(c) is headed “Admission of liability” and says: “The failure of a consumer to dispute the validity of a debt under this section may not be construed by any court as an admission of liability by the consumer.”
Read with § 1692g(b), it points one way. Silence is not a concession — a court cannot read your failure to dispute as an admission. And raising the dispute is not one either: writing “I dispute this debt” is the act that triggers the collector’s duty to stop and go get verification. That is why the letter above opens by saying it is not an acknowledgment.
Where to send it
To the collector, at the address it is required to print on the notice for disputes and original-creditor requests (12 CFR 1006.34(c)(2)(i)). Not to the creditor, and not to a bureau.
If the debt is also on your credit report, that is a second letter under a second statute, and it goes to the bureau doing the reporting — free of charge, investigated within 30 days (15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(1)(A)). Each bureau prints its own address: Equifax, Experian, TransUnion. If you are dealing with a collection agency rather than the creditor, the collector-side dispute guide covers what else you can ask for.
Questions
Does sending this stop the collection calls?
Yes, for the disputed part, once the letter reaches them. Under § 1692g(b), a collector that receives a written dispute inside the 30-day period shall cease collection of the debt, or the disputed portion, until it mails you verification, a judgment copy, or the original-creditor information you asked for. Collection may continue during the 30 days before your letter arrives — but anything sent in that window must not “overshadow or be inconsistent with” your right to dispute.
Is the five-day deadline business days or calendar days?
Calendar. The statute says “within five days” (§ 1692g(a)); Regulation F says “within five days of that initial communication” (12 CFR 1006.34(a)(1)(i)(B)). Neither says business days — and where the FCRA does mean business days, Congress says so out loud (§ 1681i(a)(2)(A), (a)(3)(B), (a)(6)(A) all say “business days”).
The wrinkle is receipt. A collector may assume you received a mailed notice at least five days after sending it, and that five-day presumption excludes Saturdays, Sundays and federal legal public holidays (12 CFR 1006.34(b)(5)). If the notice only came by email or text, that presumption does not help them.
Does disputing mean I admit I owe it?
No. § 1692g(c) — titled “Admission of liability” — says: “The failure of a consumer to dispute the validity of a debt under this section may not be construed by any court as an admission of liability by the consumer.” So staying quiet cannot be read against you, and exercising the right under § 1692g(b) is what obliges the collector to verify. Say so in the letter, as the template does, so there is no ambiguity on the page.
Sources
- 15 U.S.C. § 1692g — Validation of debts, (a)(1)–(5), (b), (c).
- 15 U.S.C. § 1681i — disputed accuracy, (a)(1)(A)–(B), (a)(5)(B)(i), (b), (c).
- 12 CFR 1006.34 — Regulation F validation notice, (a)(1), (b)(5), (c)(2)(i).