I just received my first collection letter from a company that said they overpaid me workmans comp during my disibility. I truly am going to dispute this because they completely ripped me off, what should be my first step as far as in response to the collection letter? Should I send the collection agency a verification letter?
You should send the company a request for validation and state therein that you dispute the alleged debt for whatever your reason if they are a collection entity as defined by the FDCPA. If not a collection entity as defined by the FDCPA, you should send the company a request for verification pursuant to the FACTA amendments provided within the FCRA. Please be advised that they do not have to reply to the aforesaid communication regardless of their status (however, they cannot take continued collection activity if they are a debt collector and your request for validation was sent within 30 days from the initial communication until they properly validate the underlying debt). For this reason, dispute the amount that is allegedly owed under the auspices of the FCBA. They do have to respond to this if they are to report or are to continue to report the account on your credit reports if your dispute is timely and sent to the correct department.
Apex is right on this, make sure you send any and all letters certified mail with retunr receipt and make sure you send it withing the 30 day time frame.
Besides the advice given above, I suggest that you speak to your state's Attorney General Office. This is more than a "credit item", this is spilling over into a legal insurance item. You may need legal counsel on a matter like this.
