3 on collection agencies. The FDCPA (discussed here) lays out many of the requirements for collection agencies. There are a number of lawyers/other people who make a rather decent living suing collection agencies for statutory damages for FDCPA violations. In addition to what Hueypilot said, never send the agency any paperwork with your signature - unscrupulous ones have been known to cut-and-paste onto phony legal documents agreeing to exorbitant repayments, for example. Finally, only ask them information when contacted by phone; many of the 'debts' are just a line in a spreadsheet with your name and an amount. Any action you take to try to negotiate with them/personal info you provide removes the necessity for them to prove the debt in court since you are admitting that it's valid.