Your rights under the FDCPA
Collectors must send debt details (amount, creditor, your dispute rights) within five days of first contact if not immediately.
Dispute in writing within 30 days and collection must pause until they verify the debt. Sample letters live at the CFPB site, free.
No threats, no repeated harassing calls, no fake legal claims, no discussing the debt with your boss or neighbors. Violations are reportable to the CFPB and your state AG.
You can require written-only contact or bar workplace calls, in writing.
Collectors rely on you not knowing the rules. The rules, it turns out, are surprisingly on your side.
Playing it well
Wrong-person, wrong-amount and too-old debts are endemic. Paying an invalid debt can even restart legal clocks in some states.
Time-barred debt generally can't be successfully sued on, but a small 'good faith' payment can revive it in some states. Get state-specific facts before ANY payment.
Lump-sum settlements for less are normal. No payment moves until the terms, including deletion or 'paid' reporting, are on paper.
Default judgments enable garnishment. Showing up (or legal aid showing up with you) collapses many weak cases.
Go deeper
What is 'zombie debt' and how do I avoid waking it?
Old debt past your state's statute of limitations generally can't be successfully sued on, but in some states a single 'good-faith' payment, or even a written acknowledgment, restarts the clock and revives the lawsuit risk. Collectors buying ancient portfolios for pennies know this, which is why the friendly offer to 'just put $20 down today' exists. Before ANY payment on old debt: confirm the debt is yours, the amount is right, and the limitations status in your state (legal aid answers this free). Then decide strategy: sometimes paying is right, but always as a decision, never as a reflex on a phone call.
A collector actually sued me. Now what?
Show up; that's most of the battle. Default judgments (what happens when you don't) unlock garnishment and levies, and collectors file in volume betting on no-shows. Answering the suit forces them to prove the chain: that they own THIS debt, at THIS amount, inside the limitations window, proof that bulk debt-buyers often can't produce, at which point cases collapse or settle small. Free legal aid handles exactly these cases for qualifying incomes, and even one consult reshapes the outcome. The deadline on the summons is real; the fear mostly isn't.
Sources: CFPB: Debt collection rights and sample letters · FTC: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act