According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a legitimate debt collector should be able to tell you their company name and mailing address, as well as information about the debt they say you owe. To verify a debt collector, ask them to provide:

• Their name
• Company name
• Company street address
• Telephone number
• Professional license number, if your state licenses debt collectors

• They threaten you with criminal charges - it is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for a collector to threaten you with arrest.

• They refuse to give you information about your debt - generally, collectors are required to provide information about your debt, known as validation information. This is usually provided in writing as part of the initial notice or within 5 days of the initial communication, either by mail or electronically.

• They refuse to give you a mailing address or phone number.

• They are for personal financial information.

If you’re still concerned, government resources such as the Better Business Bureau can help.

If you feel that your collections notice has been made in error, stop right there! Get as much information about the agency as possible. This includes the representative’s name, the company’s name, address, and phone number. Don’t volunteer any of your own information, even to correct the agency, in order to protect yourself from a potential scam. During the initial call or within 5 days of the initial contact, the agency is legally required to provide you with information on your debt and how to get in touch with the initial creditor. Once you’ve gotten that information, send a letter - called a verification letter - to the address. The collector must then respond with a validation letter of their own confirming a record of purchase or a court judgment proving that you do owe the money claimed.

The best place to start is with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. It outlines where and how collectors can contact you and what information they must share, for example:

• Debt collectors can only call between 8:00 am and 9:00 pm without your permission.

• Debt collectors cannot harass, physically threaten you, or threaten you with arrest. They cannot threaten to start a legal claim unless they are actually planning to do so.

• A debt collector cannot call you at work if you tell them not to.

Importantly, these rules do not apply to debts incurred by a business and they don’t apply if the collector is the entity to whom you owe the debt directly. That is to say, while a collections company hired by your credit card issuer must obey these rules, the credit card company itself does not have to.