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.

Some who go through this, however, realize that they do not need to feel guilty and submit to debt collectors.

They understand they can use a proven legal strategy to make the debt collector prove the debt is owed. Denying and disputing an unsecured credit debt with a debt collector, not the original creditor, works, according to Credit Card Debt Survival Guide. This strategy forces the other side to prove their case.

A credit card debt collector is required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to send a statement to the consumer with the debt saying that:

1) Send a consumer a statement saying that the debt will be assumed to be valid unless that debt is disputed.

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.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act also allows the consumer to notify the credit card debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay the debt and that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease further communication with the consumer with respect to the debt.

If a consumer follows this advice and refuses to admit to the credit card debt, by disputing it and denying it, and then writes to the credit card debt collector asking them to cease communications regarding the debt, that may cause the debt collector to decide to collect from other easier-to-deal-with consumers. For them to proceed with the task of recovering this debt, they will need to prove the debt exists by getting copies of original documents from the credit card company and sending them on to the consumer.

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.