Every day more consumers fall behind on their credit card debt payments and leave themselves open to being threatened by credit card debt collectors. Some people simply cannot afford to pay their growing minimum-monthly credit-card debt payment(s), as a result they begin to feel hopeless and guilty.

A few on the other hand, however, realize if they get control of their guilty feelings about their credit card debt, they can begin to put their financial problems behind them.

A proven legal strategy for dealing with overdue unsecured credit card debt that cannot be paid is to deny it and dispute it with a debt collector (not the original creditor), according to the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide. It is important to understand this is a legal strategy and not a reflection on the character of the person using this strategy. This is analogous to pleading the Fifth Amendment and making the other side prove their case.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires the credit card debt collector to send the consumer a statement saying;

1] Unless the consumer disputes the validity of the debt, the debt will be assumed to be valid by the debt collector and

2. In order to dispute the debt, the consumer must dispute the debt in writing within 30 days, by sending a letter to the debt collector.

According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a consumer can also write to the credit card debt collector saying that they want the debt collector to stop contacting them about the debt.

By taking the action of disputing and denying a credit card debt and then requesting that the collector stop all communications, you have made the debt collection effort harder. The collector must return to the credit card company to obtain documents which they then have to forward to alleged debtor. They have to validate the debt with copies of original documents according to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

In the case of an unsigned and unsecured credit card debt, the credit card debt collector first has to get the consumer to admit their guilt and that they owe this debt. How this first debt collection communication from the debt collector is handled is important. The debt collector is likely to move on to a consumer who requires less work, if they are faced with a denial, a dispute of the debt and instructions to cease communications.

Matt Highlander spent months researching strategies for credit card debt relief. Read his complete 230-page Credit Card Debt Survival Guide