<prompt> Human: I was evicted from my apartment a few months ago nonpayment, being unemployed sucks. When collections called, they said I owed 3500, so I asked to dispute the debt. They tried to tell me I wouldnt be able to do payment plans plus a bunch of other crap if I disputed it, but I told them I was sure I wanted to. Fast forward to now, the debt was reduced to 1700 and were working on a payment plan for it. Thanks again for your advice! Edit: Some clarification on the 3500. The management did a lot of shady stuff, and Im not surprised that they tried to make me pay twice as much as I owed. If youre in a similar situation, Id recommend reading over the comments, as people are posting good information. Asking to validate the debt worked well for me, but make sure you know what youre doing.  <response>: Please note that this, and nitpicking the fdcpa guidelines, only apply to 3rd party debt collectors. Very rarely does this trick actually work with 1st party collections 