# Understanding your notice You got a notice from us — by phone, email, or letter. What does it mean? What do you do next? This page walks through what a typical notice says and what your next step might be. Take a breath — most people resolve this in a few minutes online. ## What the notice is telling you A notice from ai-collect contains: * **Who we are.** ai-collect is a third-party collection agency. * **Who we work for.** The name of the business that placed the account — the one that says you owe money. * **What's owed.** The amount, and what it's for (a brief description of the original invoice). * **What you can do.** Pay, dispute, ask for proof, set up a plan, request that we stop contacting you. * **Your rights.** A summary of the protections you have under law. For more detail, see [Your rights](/for-debtors/debtor-portal/your-rights.md). ## Why am I getting this The most common reasons: * An invoice from a business you do business with (or used to) was not paid. * Someone in your company received and approved goods or services but the bill never got paid. * A previous payment didn't go through and never got fixed. * An invoice was sent to an outdated address and never reached the right person. * A mistake — wrong company, wrong person, already-paid debt. **This happens. Disputes are easy if so.** ## What to do right now ### Option 1 — Look it up [Log in to the portal](/for-debtors/debtor-portal/logging-in.md) and check what the account says. You'll see: * The original invoice. * The amount. * The history. It might be obvious right away whether the debt is yours. ### Option 2 — Pay it If the debt is correct and you can pay, [make the payment](/for-debtors/debtor-portal/making-a-payment.md). Done. ### Option 3 — Pay it over time If the debt is correct but you can't pay it all today, [set up a plan](/for-debtors/debtor-portal/setting-up-a-payment-plan.md). ### Option 4 — Dispute it If you don't think the debt is correct, [open a dispute](/for-debtors/debtor-portal/opening-a-dispute.md). All collection activity pauses while we sort it out. ### Option 5 — Ask for proof If you're not sure either way, you can ask us for proof of the debt. There isn't a dedicated "request verification" button in the portal yet — to ask, [send us a message](/for-debtors/debtor-portal/messaging-the-creditor.md) or reply to any email we sent you and say you want proof of the debt. We will collect the supporting documents from the business that placed the account and send them to you. ### Option 6 — Ask us to stop contacting you If you don't want to deal with this, you can ask us to stop contacting you. See [How to stop contact](/for-debtors/compliance-and-rights/how-to-stop-contact.md). This does **not** make the debt go away — the business can still pursue it in other ways — but we'll stop reaching out. ## What you don't have to do * You don't have to pay immediately. * You don't have to give us a credit card over the phone. * You don't have to talk to the AI agent if you don't want to. The portal covers paying, disputing, and messaging on your own. * You don't have to admit anything before you've checked the facts. ## Common worries > "If I don't pay this, what happens to my credit?" We do **not** report consumer or sole-proprietor accounts to personal credit bureaus. Whether we mention or pursue any business credit-bureau reporting at all is controlled by a platform setting and per-debtor FDCPA status. See [What happens if I don't pay](/for-debtors/debtor-portal/what-happens-if-i-dont-pay.md) for details, or [contact support](/troubleshooting/contact-support.md) to ask about your specific account. > "Am I going to get sued?" It's possible if the debt is real, large enough, and you don't resolve it. Most accounts never lead to a lawsuit — most resolve through payment, plan, dispute, or recall. > "Is this even my debt?" You'd be surprised how often the answer is no. Disputes are designed for exactly this. If you don't recognize the debt, [open a dispute](/for-debtors/debtor-portal/opening-a-dispute.md) and we'll sort it out. ## TODO * Screenshot: a sample notice with annotations. *** Last reviewed: 2026-05-12 by Compliance Lead. **TODO: external counsel review.** --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://help.moderncollections.io/for-debtors/debtor-portal/understanding-your-notice.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.