Reply to a debt collector: proof of the debt or limitation (Spain)
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For someone in Spain receiving letters, calls or messages from a debt collector or a debt buyer about a debt they do not recognise or that is very old. The letter does not acknowledge the debt: it asks for the contract, the calculation of the amount and proof of the assignment or mandate, and lets you plead limitation where more than five years have passed without a claim or an acknowledgement (articles 1964.2 and 1973 of the Spanish Civil Code). It also asks where your data came from (article 15 GDPR). It is sent by burofax with certified content. In Spanish.
- Made for use in Spain
- Last updated October 20, 2026
Published byDocMuse
When to use this document
- A debt collector in Spain is chasing you for a debt you know nothing about.
- A debt buyer writes to you about a Spanish phone bill from many years ago.
- They call you all the time about a debt and you want to see the contract before paying anything.
- You want to answer a debt collector in Spain in writing without admitting the debt.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Sender
- Sender's address
- Sender's DNI or NIE (Spanish identity number)
- Creditor or debt collection company (name)
- Postal address of the creditor or agency, as given in its letters
- City
- Date
- The creditor's or agency's reference
- Date of the letter or message claiming the debt
- Amount they claim (figures)
- Original creditor, as the agency names it (bank, company…)
- Do you plead limitation
Common questions
- When does a debt claimed by a debt collector become time-barred in Spain?
- A claim for a personal debt with no special period is time-barred five years after it could be demanded (article 1964.2 of the Spanish Civil Code, since 7 October 2015; older debts follow a transitional rule), and some debts have shorter periods. Each out-of-court demand by the creditor and each acknowledgement by the debtor interrupts the period, which starts again (article 1973). Limitation does not apply by itself: it must be pleaded, as this letter does.
- Which documents can you ask a debt collector in Spain for before paying?
- The contract or signed document the debt arises from, the calculation of what is claimed (principal, interest, fees and charges) and, if the company bought the debt or acts on someone's behalf, proof of that assignment or mandate: a debtor who pays the original creditor without knowing the debt was assigned is discharged (article 1527 of the Spanish Civil Code). The GDPR also lets you find out which of your data they hold and where it came from, with an answer within one month.
- What can you do in Spain if the debt collector reports you to a bad-debtor file or goes to court?
- A bad-debtor file may only hold debts that are certain, due and payable, after the debtor was told of that possibility, for five years at most (article 20 of Spain's data protection act, LOPDGDD); if that is not met, ask the file holder to erase the entry and, without an answer within one month, complain to the AEPD. If you receive a court notice, for instance in a payment order procedure (proceso monitorio), answer within the time it gives: that is a court step DocMuse does not sell.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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