Your collector got the number wrong.
The statute already priced it.
Send the letter they sent you. You get a count list inside 12 hours, every line citing the statute it breaks, and a demand written for your signature. Then 40% of what it recovers, and nothing at all if it recovers nothing.
A technical violation that cost you nothing still carries a statutory floor. Wrong amount, missing disclosure, a call after 9pm, a dispute that went unanswered for 40 days. The harm is not the argument. The count is.
What a count is worth before anyone argues
| Count | Statute | Statutory |
|---|---|---|
| False or misleading amount, wrong balance, unearned fee | 15 USC 1692e(2)(A) | $1,000 /action |
| Validation notice missing, late, or short a required line | 15 USC 1692g(a) | $1,000 /action |
| Collection continued after a written dispute | 15 USC 1692g(b) | $1,000 /action |
| Disputed tradeline reported as undisputed | 15 USC 1692e(8) | $1,000 /action |
| Call before 8am or after 9pm local | 15 USC 1692c(a)(1) | $1,000 /action |
| Tradeline inaccurate after a written dispute | 15 USC 1681s-2(b) | $1,000 /violation |
| Reinvestigation ignored, 30 days run out | 15 USC 1681i(a) | $1,000 /violation |
| Robocall or autodial to a cell, consent withdrawn | 47 USC 227(b)(3) | $1,500 /call |
| Same conduct, California | Civ. Code 1788.30(b) | $1,000 /violation |
| Same conduct, Florida | Fla. Stat. 559.77(2) | $1,000 /violation |
Attorney's fees ride on top under 1692k(a)(3) and 1681n(a)(3). That is why a letter with three counts settles and a letter with a story does not.
What we read for, line by line
- Validation notice absent, or mailed after day five
- Balance above principal, fee not in the contract
- Interest at the wrong rate, or from the wrong date
- No "attempt to collect a debt" disclosure
- 30 day dispute right missing or misstated
- Original creditor not named where it differs
- Threat of suit with no intention to file
- Payment deadline shorter than the contract allows
- Collection resumed during a dispute
- Calls before 8am or after 9pm
- Voicemail that names the debt to a third party
- Autodial to a cell after opt out
- Disputed debt reported to the bureaus as undisputed
- Dispute unanswered past 30 days
- Paid or settled item still reporting a balance
Send the document
The letter, the statement, the credit report page with the tradeline. Photo or PDF. If there is no document, there is no file, so send whatever paper you already have in the drawer.
The fee, in the same breath as the number
- Read
- $0. Count list, 12 hours.
- Demand package
- 40% of recovery. Nothing if nothing recovers.
- Priority lane
- $49, back inside 4 hours, credited against the 40%.
Three documents, three products, $99 on the same terms. The 40% is on money actually received. It is not on the number in the demand, and it is not billed by the hour.
How the 40% works, without the small print
You sign the demand. It goes to the collector and to its registered agent, tracked, on a fourteen day clock. If it settles, the cheque clears and 40% is invoiced the same day. If it does not settle, you get the file to file yourself in small claims and we do not charge for that handover. You never owe a fee out of pocket and there is no hourly rate anywhere on this page.