What to Say after Retaining an Attorney

[SobStory]

I sent my initial retainer to the attorney. I got an email response and if I understood correctly, I am to say to debt collectors that I have retained the law firm to represent me on this debt.
I emailed back for more clarification but in the meantime:
I just spoke with the most aggressive of the bunch. They wanted the attorneys name. Is it customary to give the name or just the office? They wanted more info, specifically if I was going for debt condsolidation or BK. (It's BK.) Is there a problem with telling them that it is for BK?
I am waiting for a response from the atty but it will be brief if any. I find that many posters explain details about the implications of responses and I would appreciate it if you would chime in! Thanks.

[SobStory]

Btw, the debt collector kept asking for more info even after I told him THREE TIMES that the law office represents me in all matters pertaining to this debt.

[DebtEnder]

An excerpt from here http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/cons...edit/cre27.pdf

[GoingDown]

Let your attorney earn his money.

Let him or her speak to your debt collectors. Make sure your attorney has the address for each creditor and collection agency, and they will get a letter in the mail.

Once you file BK, the BK court will contact all of your creditors by mail and inform them of your bankruptcy. You don't have to ever speak to them on the phone or in writing ever again.

The less you say the better, and talking to them on the phone and telling them you filed bk will not necessarily make them stop calling you anyways. Until they get the letter from BK court, they may keep on calling you. And I've heard of certain people on here where they kept on calling even after the bankruptcy was finished.

Just remember their main objective is to get you on the phone so they can get information from you and a payment from you. If they can't talk to you on the phone, they are going to have a really difficult time getting either. And since you are filing for BK soon, the threat of a lawsuit is meaningless.

[CompTweaker]

Well, actually you dont even have to talk to them. But if you want to, you can ask to speak to a supervisor (you may get more cooperation this way), ask them for their contact information (name,address) and send them a cease and desist letter stating they are not to contact you on the phone.

Another thing you can try is just tell them your lawyer's name and number and thats all you have to say since you no longer discuss your financial matters over the phone with anyone, and then hang up. If you dont want to hang up on them, when they try to ask you further questions, just keep repeating that you dont discuss your financial matters over the phone.

[EricaCallaha]

Just keep repeating "I am represented by the law office of Blah Blah and their number is 555-555-5555." Obviously insert your law office name and number. Just keep repeating until they hang up or you get tired of it. DO NOT TELL THEM YOUR PLANS. Our lawyer told us this because we had a slew of creditors in Utah that found out about some consumer bankruptcies and tried all sorts of tactics to scare the debtor into not filing. Including some outright lies. Plus he told us that that is what we are paying him for. To run referee. I liked that.

If you want...don't even answer the phone. We didn't for months. It was quite liberating.

Good luck!

[Flamingo]

Btw, the debt collector kept asking for more info even after I told him THREE TIMES that the law office represents me in all matters pertaining to this debt.

_____________________

The posts before mine in response to you are exellent - I want to add one thing. The debt collector is doing a job he gets paid for and also receives commission for every bill or portion thereof he is calling about and can get paid. They want to intimidate and exasperate one into paying so you will be called a lot hoping they can get that payment by being intimidating and exasperating. There is no reason to talk to them more than once if you have retained an attorney. Give them the name and phone number of your attorney, advise them to call the attorney and not you as you are now represented by legal counsel and your legal counsel advised you to give them his/her name and phone number to call with questions. Then hang up. You don't have to answer the phone if you don't know the caller and you can always take the phone off the hook while you are home and have friends/family call you on your cell phone if you have one.

[BigJohn]

Speaking to a collector is like having a conversation with the devil. So why would you want to talk to the devil? They are not our friends and all they are doing is data mining.

We forgot to put our portable phones in their chargers and ended up having to buy 2 new batteries. We have 3 phones, but the third one we rarely use so we never did get that battery replaced.

I answered the phone a few times after we filed and I can tell you it was a waste of time. The bill collectors claimed we had not filed bankruptcy, there was no stay, etc. All they wanted was money.

[SobStory]

Thank you everyone for all the info. It's very helpful.

[Bell30656]

"I've retained the law offices of Dewy, Cheatem and Howe reference this matter. In accord with the FDCPA and applicable state laws, now that I have informed you of this in this recorded conversation all further communications about this matter must be handled through the law offices of Dewy, Cheatem and Howe. Thank you for complying and have a nice day. -click-"

[Overmylimit]

All I ever said was the Lawyers name and phone #, they always ask what Chapter I am going to file and I tell them they have to talk to him about it. Usually at that point they hang up.

[ready2puke]

From what you've written you didn't say if you gave them

I sent my initial retainer to the attorney. I got an email response and if I understood correctly, I am to say to debt collectors that I have retained the law firm to represent me on this debt.
I emailed back for more clarification but in the meantime:
I just spoke with the most aggressive of the bunch. They wanted the attorneys name. Is it customary to give the name or just the office? They wanted more info, specifically if I was going for debt condsolidation or BK. (It's BK.) Is there a problem with telling them that it is for BK?
I am waiting for a response from the atty but it will be brief if any. I find that many posters explain details about the implications of responses and I would appreciate it if you would chime in! Thanks.

your attorneys phone number..I think thats why they were bugging you for more info.. I wouldn't say anything about BK (I'm sure they can figure that one out, or maybe not lol), but you do need to give them the name and phone number of your attorney...and that's it.. name and phone number period...
Good luck

[TooMuchCredit]

Original creditors are a different story. One of mine would call once or twice a day and eventhough I gave them my attorney's name and number they said they would continue to call until they got a case number. I didn't answer the phone one Friday and that Sunday they called my brothers and sisters looking for me.

Some would say they could not take down my attorney's name and number unless I indicated if I was filing BK (not true). Most as stated above stopped calling daily after I gave them my attorney's info. 2 others than the 1 above would call about week until I told them I was filing BK.

So it might just depend on who your creditors are and if you aren't worried about them calling friends/family.

[Bell30656]

While it is true the FDCPA doesn't apply to OC's once you've informed them that you've retained an attorney they pretty much understand they will get no further information from you. I played parrot and simply gave them the name of my attorney's office. I wouldn't even give them a phone number especially JDB's the FDCPA says that if they have means to reasonably ascertain the number that is sufficient... a telephone book, bar association directory, etc.

While I know the OC is just trying to collect their money, I have no good feelings about bottom feeding JDB's.

[TooMuchCredit]

Well there is circular problem that develops here. You give them the name of your attorney. But unless you also give them verbal permission to talk to your attorney it really does not good. You also have to give them authorization to speak to your attorney about your account.

So, no simply saying call, Dogooder, Rightass & Wewin at 800-XXX-XXXX is only half of what they need.

See once your file, they get your case number and your attorneys name and then they can contact your attorney if they need be, they can do so without your permission, since its been given once your filed.

But before you file, you need to make sure they get that permission. Simply repeating your attorneys phone number in many cases just won't do it.

The more aggressive OC's of mine would lie and say they could not contact the attorney until i gave them a case number and/or stated I was filing bankruptcy and what chapter.