How CAN I STOP Collectors from harassing me?

Stop collectors from calling you, sound too good to be true?  Well believe it or not, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do.  There is a federal law that governs bills collectors called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and if you know those laws, you can be more in control of the communication that you want or don’t want from bill collectors.  Now keep in mind that this law is for third party bill collectors, which means, not the original collector.  For instance, you owe money to Discover and Discover calls you, they don’t have to abide by the Federal Law, but some companies do!  So these tips are going to be for the bill collectors that are calling from Collection agencies, law firms, and anybody else that is not the ORIGINAL creditor, get it?  GOOD.  So here we go:

1.        If you get a 30 day demand letter from a collection agency, (You will know this by the letter that states you have 30 days to dispute the account) you can request proof of the debt.  But it must be within that 30 days, and if you do so, they can not collect the debt until they supply proof.   There are instances where collection agencies will charge additional fees that they can or cant charge, you need to be aware of how they came up with the money they say you owe, so that you are more in control.  Also, if they cant supply proof, then by law, they cant collect the debt and if they send you more demand letters or call you, they are actually breaking the law and you could file a law suit against them for harassment.  What a concept right?

2.       If the creditor is pounding on your phone at home, send them what is called a Cease and Desist order.  Which basically means for them to stop contacting you.  By law they have to, go figure right?  Make sure that you keep a copy of the letter just in case, to prove that it was sent, again, this is another way you can file a law suit against the company for harassment if they don’t comply.

3.       If the creditor is calling you at work, simply tell them not to call you and that you cant take personal calls at work, and just to follow up with them, send another cease and desist order.   This will get them off of your back.

4.       If you want to communicate with the creditors to work something out with them, do it on your terms, not on theirs, make sure that you know what you’re going to offer and if you don’t get what you want, ask for a supervisor and their supervisor and their supervisor, until you have reached a person that will help you.

By following these simple rules, not including the many other rules that you can find at the FTC.gov website under the FDCPA, you will be more in control of the creditor traffic and be able to do what you intend to do to handle your debt and not be pushed into something that you don’t want to do!

 

The Debt Lady says, “Know the laws, be in control and win the game!”