You have an outstanding bill. Or you have a bunch of outstanding bills. But you don't have enough money to pay, and the creditor has turned it over to collection. You ask to set up a payment plan, but the collector refuses.
What happens next? Generally, after a several months of collection calls and letters, you get a letter from an attorney that says something like "We are ABC Lawyers. We have been hired by Discover Card to collect an account you owe them. They tell us you owe $5,315.00. If we do not hear from you within 30 days we will assume that this is valid." This letter is sometimes called the mini-Miranda letter (like the Miranda warning in police shows (You do not have to say anything...). If you have a genuine dispute with the debt, now is the time to write and dispute the debt. A phone call probably won't do the trick.