Boy the calls have started with a vengance

[treehugger1]

It depends on the state you are in. Some states, such as mine (Oregon,) have fair-debt collection practices laws that refer to any party attempting to collect on a debt, third-party or original creditors. I used to have a link to a site that compared, state-by-state, the FDCPA and State laws parallel to original creditors.

Even though the FDCPA only applies to original creditors, there is nothing to stop you from sending a cease and desist letter to them. I think that sometimes the request is honored and a notation is made in a file not to contact you by phone. You never know what will happen until you try something on your own. There are many sites that explain the literal interpretation of how the FDCPA works, but the evidence form personal experiences suggests each experience is a case-by-case basis. If you are not set to file immediately, send a cease-and-desist phone communication letter (return receipt) and see what happens.

[One Half Full]

Wow! Lucky you. Our calls started almost immediately after missing one payment and they came with a vengeance! Day, night, work, home, cell.... It about drove us nuts and was so embarrassing when it popped up on the tv. We have dishnetwork and had our receiver programmed to display incoming calls and DH wouldn't let me shut that off! So if someone stopped by, I was freaking out if the phone rang!

It just worked out that way. I gave them all my phone number, but that was like 2-3 phone numbers ago. I now have a viop phone, and a pre-paied (it was a lot cheaper than conventional phones) and of course, neither is listed any where.

[epiphany]

My lawyer just didn't want a "wage garnishment" or any other type of lawsuits "in the works" before our official filing. She said it was best to not say a word until AFTER we were filed and protected....and we kept quiet. I didn't want to have to pay anymore money to defend us against any lawsuits.

I think my lawyer was just being very careful and didn't want us to "tip off" our creditors until everything was official. I'm assuming she was afraid that Visa would call, I would say "Sorry, we're filing bankruptcy" and, in the meantime, Visa gets a wage garnishment lawsuit together. Then, we have a lawsuit against us, which costs her extra time and us extra $$.

BTW, we paid our attorney in full during our initial consultation visit.

Good luck!

I guess it all depends on how behind you are and when you plan on filing, but I actually think that telling them deters them from going the lawsuit route as long as you have attorney info to give them so they know you are serious. They are not likely to spend the money initiating a lawsuit if they believe you are going to file soon. They are, after all, a business and will cut their losses when need be.

I hope it's not the case, but it sounds like your attorney just wanted to save herself some work.

ep

[jgordo52]

Anyone hear from a OC that they are going to send it to collections for being a month and a half behind? I thought that was insane today, 2300 combined over 2 cards. Just a scare tactic?

[epiphany]

Ok, I do understand an objection. What I don't understand is not telling your creditors you are filing BK if they call and giving them your attorney's name and phone number. If a creditor starts a lawsuit against you between the time that you tell them and the time you file, once you file won't that stop a lawsuit?

Thanks for clarifying the abuse and objection for me. But, why would an attorney not want a client to tell their creditors they are filing? That's the part I just don't understand. What lawsuit? Now I am concerned as we were told by 2 different attorney's to let our creditors know what we are doing. Then I read stilltheone said there attorney told them not to tell them about filing due to a lawsuit. I can't find that on here when I do a search, and maybe I am not typing in the correct search, but I am worried now.

Since telling our creditors about our BK the calls have stopped, are they getting a lawsuit against? Wouldn't a judgement against us be stopped once we do file? I haven't gotten anything in the mail from a creditor threatening a lawsuit and we told them we were filing middle of March and are still waiting because of the stimulus check. Our attorney is simply waiting for us to spend it down, our paper work is done, and ready to file. Should we file now?

What kind of lawsuit are we looking at? Will they garnish our wages that quickly? How long will they wait for this lawsuit? I am very nervous now. We haven't had any kind of judgement, nothing asking us to appear in court, nothing. Why would our attorney have us refer all calls to him if this other attorney says don't have calls sent to them to prevent a lawsuit. I am so totally confused.

FWIT Tired, I believe you have it right so unconfuse yourself. Anything is possible, I suppose, but I believe the odds have been in your favor the way you did it. And if you are just waiting on your stimulous to file, and haven't heard a word from anyone, you are definitely in the clear. Nothing they can do in that short a time, assuming your stimulous payment is coming soon.

I even received a notice of intent to sue from one creditor a while ago. Called them and told them about the BK and they have done nothing. Like you, waiting on my stimulous. Nothing anyone will be able to do now.

ep

[epiphany]

Anyone hear from a OC that they are going to send it to collections for being a month and a half behind? I thought that was insane today, 2300 combined over 2 cards. Just a scare tactic?

Most likely a scare tactic. The more behind I get, the more scare tactics I have witnessed and the more conflicting information I have received.

The earliest one of mine went to collections was 4 months.

ep

[justplaintired]

I guess it all depends on how behind you are and when you plan on filing, but I actually think that telling them deters them from going the lawsuit route as long as you have attorney info to give them so they know you are serious. They are not likely to spend the money initiating a lawsuit if they believe you are going to file soon. They are, after all, a business and will cut their losses when need be.

I hope it's not the case, but it sounds like your attorney just wanted to save herself some work.

ep

Thanks for your post. I was so worried, and couldn't figure out why this attorney was talking lawsuit, couldn't understand the point in a lawsuit if you're filing BK and have hired an attorney to represent you. I know for a fact the spoke with our attorney who did tell them that they were representing us in a C7 BK. All calls stopped. Most posters have said that their attorney told them the same thing we were told, so to find a post saying an attorney said not to foward calls due to giving creditors more time to work on a lawsuit just didn't make sense to me.

You have put my mind to rest and I seriously can't thank you enough, worrying is about to drive me nuts anyway, and this was making it worse!

[justplaintired]

FWIT Tired, I believe you have it right so unconfuse yourself. Anything is possible, I suppose, but I believe the odds have been in your favor the way you did it. And if you are just waiting on your stimulous to file, and haven't heard a word from anyone, you are definitely in the clear. Nothing they can do in that short a time, assuming your stimulous payment is coming soon.

I even received a notice of intent to sue from one creditor a while ago. Called them and told them about the BK and they have done nothing. Like you, waiting on my stimulous. Nothing anyone will be able to do now.

ep

Thank you again!! Like you once we told the creditors our attorney's name and number, they called them instead of us and have left us alone basically. I don't want a lawsuit and my guess is it wouldn't be worth thier time after speaking to our attorney who informed them," yes we are representing them in a C7 BK".

Good luck with your BK and looks like we will file about the same time. Again thanks you have put my mind to rest, maybe tonight I will sleep better.

[Cali]

I am amazed at how often and how early and late the creditors are calling me. GE Money is by far the worst offender. Calling home, work, and cell many times a day. Got two calls this moring alone, one at 8:15am and one at 8:47am. Should have known better than to leave the ringer in the bedroom on. So now I'm wide awake and typing on this message board.

Should I just answer the phone and give them my attorney's information?

As soon as I retained my attorney I started giving out his information. I only had 4 calls and now I don't get any.

[Dirk Squarejaw]

So far my experience with this is that BOA loves to make phone calls. Usually between 8-10 times per day. Discover doesn't care if you tell them not to call you at work, etc. they just keep calling wherever they want.

Last week I sent out USPS Certified "Cease and Desist" letters to:

• Discover
• Bank of America
• Kohls
• Capital One/GC Services
• GM Card
• Circuit City/Chase

My attorney told me to refer all calls to him as soon as the retainer was paid so the letter stated to refer all calls to my attorney and to stop calling my work numbers and parents and had all the numbers listed. So far, this sort of worked. It cost about $15 to send out the letters, but no longer does the school secretary have to deal with the calls nor do my parents. However, BOA still blows my cell phone up all day long. Then again, that is by far my biggest balance and I'm now 3 months behind.

[Stilltheone]

Tired,

I didn't mean to "scare you" by any means. Everyone is different, every case is different. I was just sharing with you what my attorney told us.

Ep, we actually were only behind on a few cards....and by about 2 weeks. We weren't behind months and months.

BigBoy, why would I have fired her? I completely understand where my attorney was coming from. We retained her on March 4th and didn't file until March 22nd. I didn't want ANYTHING to get messed up, so we kept our mouths shut about our bankruptcy for a few weeks....not that big of a deal. With my luck, one of my creditors would've tried to file something and I didn't want the hassle. This way, I was able to tell them and be protected at the same time. It really wasn't that big of a deal to us.

Again, sorry if I "scared" you, tired..didn't mean to.

Good luck!

[Bandit]

I am so totally confused.

There is something funny about that whole end of the law. They will say if you have a suit or wages garnished that filing BK will stop the law suit. That is not always true. It is even possible for case to be reopened after they are closed.

So, where there is supposed to be a law, there isn't much of one in the end results as far as I am concerned.

I understand your enitre post & there is no absolute guarantee.

Bigboy2U basicly summed the whole thing up.

I would only add that I do not see any difference if they file a lawsuit first or if they object during the BK or if they decide to do both- sue, then object later. The stay is not that big of a help to me because it is just a temporary fix and does not guarantee anything in the end results.

I just kind of prepared myself for anything is possible & that has made it a bit easier to accept.

So yah, it is confusing.

[Bandit]

We retained her on March 4th and didn't file until March 22nd. I didn't want ANYTHING to get messed up, so we kept our mouths shut about our bankruptcy for a few weeks....not that big of a deal. With my luck, one of my creditors would've tried to file something and I didn't want the hassle. This way, I was able to tell them and be protected at the same time. It really wasn't that big of a deal to us.


Good luck!

I feel the same way you do about it. I would not know what to say anyway & could end up making a bigger mess if I talk to them so I do not plan on talking to them at all. Not saying I wont but I do not plan on it.

I see people go both ways with it- where some have no problem talking to them & telling the truth & others choose not to pick up the phone.

[Bandit]

Everyone with collectors calling:

1) The Fair Debt Collections Act allows you to tell the collector in writing to only communicate with you in writing. No calls to work, home, cell, no drive by's (not that anyone does that), etc. Only written communication. So try that.

..

This is probably the best thing we have going, if you are in a position where you have to wait to file. I may try that if I have to.

[Bandit]

I have logs of 140+ calls from Citi Bank, Citi-Home Depot, Citi-AT&T, Citi-Chevron and that was over only a 10 day period ...lol... I so wish there was a law to stop the continued calling from OC's as I have over 20.

So far this month there are over 500+ (no I am not lying, 500 calls) calls to my cell, grand central & home phone. Good thing I have unlimited calls and software on my PDA phone to program a number in then it will answer the number and then hang up and it wont ever ring and I have no idea anyone called except for the log file.

Sometimes on a new number I will answer the phone to see who it is. Then make a note of who is calling.

I think what I hate the most is the calls that no one is on the other end, the calls that tell you "please wait, please wait, please wait...we will call again later, good bye". I have no idea who it was and that should be illegal!

I got one the other day, called new number I answer it says this ABC CC please wait, then this lady who couldn't speak English well asks for me. I said, speaking. She then says, what do you want? Excuse me? You called me ...what do you want? She says why are you calling sir? I said you called me .... you asked for me...why are you calling me? She then hung up....<bangs head on table>

This whole experience has been interesting to say the least.

I can see all that happening. Reminds me of a Carol Burnette Show... They probably do not know what they are doing & have all these automatic dialers bouncing off the wall using their big whoopy technology. What some of them may not realize is technology works both ways & to our advantage just as well.

500+ calls in one month is a lot, to me.