Writing To Collection Agencies To Stop Calling

[krispy12]

I have been putting my phone on silent & just ignoring all the calls from my creditors. If I talk to them & get their name & address, can I just send them a certified letter saying to stop calling me & just sending stuff via mail?

Do they really stop calling? Most importantly, will they stop calling my family members to try to get in touch with me? Also, if I do this, how long is the mail option good for?

[krispy12]

My head is spinning from all the reading I just did lol. I will be writing some C&D letters to my creditors soon but I didn't get answers to some or maybe I overlooked it.

Does a C&D letter stop creditors from calling other people to try to reach me?

Is the letter good only until they sell me off to another creditor?

[Bell30656]

Keep in mind there are some collection agencies that will go ahead and file the lawsuit when you send cease & desist letter. That really is their only recourse after you've sent the letter. Personally, I just answered the calls until I filed earlier this month.

[ready2puke]

Im just ignoring them..dont want to piss them off. Sometimes it gets weird but other times I just ignore...

[Aaaaah!]

Krispy:

There's what should happen and what does happen.

1) A C&D letter should stop that particular collections agency from calling. I would say it does most times -- sometimes with unscrupulous agencies (read: NCO, GCC) it does not.

2) It should stop all calls to anyone associated with the account, but you'll also find that sometimes the account just gets moved to another CA and the ridiculousness starts all over again (i.e., calling relatives, etc.).

I'd say write them if you want some temporary relief, but you also have to stay vigilant -- I even go so far as to look up new CAs calling me -- even if they don't leave a message -- so I can head them off. All in all it's exhausting and very frustrating that the laws meant to protect you don't even do a very good job of that.

Good luck.

[treehugger1]

I have yet to have a CA, JDB, or collection law office fail to honor a C&D. I keep my letters simple and to the point: "I am disputing this debt. Please provide me with verification in accordance with the FDCPA and (insert any appplicable state statutes.) In addition, please provide me with the full name and address of the original creditor."

In another section of the letter which I boldface with a header called "CEASE PHONE COMMUNICATION," I simply request that all telephone communication cease. This includes calls to my place of employment and communication with any third parties. I then clearly state that I can be contacted by USPS mail via the address listed below.

I draft the letter memo style with RE boldfaced as Request for Debt Verification and Future Communication.

One page!

The ONLY debt verification I have ever received was from local accounts sent to a local CA. I have never received DV from a collection attorney or other big national CA. Some of the DV's I requested 6 - 8 months ago!

[Bell30656]

My experience hasn't been as lucky as yours. I sent a cease communications letter to NEMDEGELT (a JDB out of the Augusta area of Georgia) and they promptly filed suit in superior court. I sent a DV/Cease Communications to Collection Services of Athens and the original creditor promptly filed suit in magistrate court. One other filed suit against me, which was Associated Receivables in Metter, GA which turns out to be owned by the same guy that owns NEMDEGELT.

Don't get me wrong, I sent out at least two dozen Cease Communications letters. Capital One, HSBC and First Premier will ignore your Cease Communications letter and continue to call you. As the OC they can legally do this and they know it.

[treehugger1]

Bell, It all depends upon your state laws! In my state (Oregon) verification and cease communication letters refer to third party debt collectors AND origninal creditors. In Georgia this is not the case. There are several states that have laws affecting OC's in the same way that the FDCPA refers to third party colletors.

LOL, BigBoy! I sent a few of the "canned" letters that I found on the internet a couple of years ago. Since then, I've educated myself to the wording of state and federal laws and keep everything short and simple. I can understand the quick move toward suit in Augusta, GA. I'm sure the area is full of debt collection attorneys who are well-practiced in debt collection. I happen to live in an area of the country, where I believe the local attorneys are the drop-outs of the legal system. While I now have a couple of "assumed" debts with a debt collection attorney upstate (whose firm has been under investigation at the state level,) I still have to be served here in "bum-f*ct" Egypt.

[anime-chicka]

Whatever you do, DO NOT sign the letter. Signatures have a way of magically moving themselves from one piece of paper to another. Highly illegal, but CAs will do anything, and I mean anything, to get your money. Even if it's illegally done.

I've also read over at Creditboards. com that using either purple or teal ink will force the agencies to read the letters and that they can't scan them into their systems. I'm not sure how accurate it is, so ymmv on this.

[krispy12]

I talked with Academy Collections & asked for a physical address & he refused to give it to me unless I told him what I needed it for. I wasn't sure what to say so I said I wasn't sure & that I just wanted to know for my reference.

He refused & said to call him back & tell him exactly what I'm sending. He was such a jerk.

[BigJohn]

He might not know himself. Some of these people change jobs so often, they answer the phone sometimes using the name of their former company.


Academy Collections

Main Address
Academy Collection Service, Inc.
10965 Decatur Road
Philadelphia, PA 19154

[Bell30656]

I always demand their "address for service" that usually winds up getting a supervisor or manager on the phone. They do give the address though.

[treehugger1]

Maybe I'm just lucky. As mentioned earlier, I have seldom had a CA violate my C&D request. On the 1-2 occasions that they did violate it, it was several weeks later and they were quite apologetic.

I have dealt with NCO, Asset Acceptance, Allied Interstate, and many other big (some considered nasty) and never had a problem. Some, such as NCO, can have three different addresses on the dunning letter. I ignore the payment address and send 2 C&D's to the addresses on the upper part of their letters. Both addresses have worked and I have always received the return receipt green card signed by an agent of NCO. (It costs me about $11 to send to both addresses, but it is worth the peace and quiet.)

I am currently down to 10 defaulted accounts, having paid off nearly 12 others through garnishment, etc, and I almost never get calls anymore. Some of my defaults are now almost two years old. Some have been sent to many different CA's of whom I follow up with DV and C&D requests.

When you get a call from a CA (often you can check your caller ID and look at www.whocalled.us) you don't need to answer, but you can return the call and ask for the reason the number called you. In the course of conversation, you can calmly make it clear that you need something in writing sent to you within the next 5 days as required under the FDCPA.

So far, my experience has been that if you are proactive initially, you generally get what you want. If you choose to play hardball, then you should also recognize the other party may take the same stance.

As a sidenote, once my accounts were sent to CA's, it was easier to deal with C&D phone communications than it was with the OC.

While I don't know what the future will bring, I have yet to be sued by any CA I sent a C&D to, other than the local collection company who beat-feet down to the courthouse. I can probably attribute this to the fact that I live in the middle of nowhere, Oregon. But, the middle of nowhere does have a circuit court. To serve me, one needs to go through the local court, and perhaps the logistics just don't play out for national creditors and CA's.

I would assume that if I lived in Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, or San Francisco, I would be easy pickings with all the collection attorneys in such metropolitan areas.

[Bell30656]

You said that your many of your debts were paid through garnishments... Didn't these CA/JDB/OC have to sue you get the judgment which led to the garnishment?

[debtmonster]

I talked with Academy Collections & asked for a physical address & he refused to give it to me unless I told him what I needed it for. I wasn't sure what to say so I said I wasn't sure & that I just wanted to know for my reference.

He refused & said to call him back & tell him exactly what I'm sending. He was such a jerk.

They did the same thing to my friend. They are wise to the cease and desist letters now.