Guide

The first 48 hours: a calm sequence

1. Keep the envelope. Postmarks and arrival dates start legal clocks. Write the date you received the letter on the envelope and keep both.

2. Photograph everything. Both sides of every page. Letters get lost; deadlines do not care.

3. Say one sentence on the phone. 'Please put everything in writing.' Then hang up politely. Do not acknowledge the debt, do not agree the amount is right, do not promise or pay anything while you are deciding — in many states a payment or a signed promise can restart an expired clock.

4. Start the log. Every call from today on: date, time, number, who, what was said. Save voicemails. The log is the difference between a story and evidence.

5. Run your dates. The free checker on this site takes your state, the letter date, and your last-payment month and tells you where you stand, your 30-day deadline, and whether the debt appears too old to sue on (time-barred) — before you write or pay anything.

6. Decide in writing. Validation demand, cease-contact, time-barred response, or a planned next step — the right one depends on your stage, and the guide for your stage is linked from your decoder result.

Included in the $39 DebtDecoded Kit

  • The letter builder — answer a few questions and it writes your letters: the one that makes them prove the debt is yours, and the one that orders them to stop calling. Wording follows the federal rulebook (Regulation F). Ready to print and mail
  • The old-debt trap worksheet — checks your dates against your state's restart rule before you pay or sign anything, so one small payment can't quietly restart the clock on an old debt (the trap lawyers call 'revival')
  • The call log — counts their calls against the legal line: more than 7 calls in 7 days about one debt counts as harassment (12 CFR 1006.14(b)(2))
  • The 'what they can't take' pack — what a court judgment can and cannot take in your state, including the rule that shields two months of federal benefits sitting in your bank account (31 CFR Part 212)
  • The offer-math worksheet — what a 'deal' really costs once fees and the tax on the written-off part are counted (that tax shows up on Form 1099-C)
  • The complaint walkthrough and the honest directory — who to call instead when a free or better route fits you

One payment. Every stage of the road, and the deadline tables for all 50 states — every number with its law cited. No account, no subscription — and the free checker above stays free whether you buy or not.

Get the Kit — $39

DebtDecoded is education, not a law firm. If the checker points you to a free route — legal aid, a lawyer who fights debt collectors, a nonprofit counselor — take it. We would rather lose the sale than sell you the wrong tool.

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