Cease and Desist Letters: Do they really work?

[needanswers]

I called and asked my lawyer and they said it probably will do no good to write one. Is this true?

Does anyone have a basic one that I can use?
Anything that I need to know about it? Send it registered mail?
Any and all advice is appreciated.

Here's my deal: We're only 1 week late on payments and the creditors are calling my spouse's work when he is not there, hour after hour and they're only saying they are "Card Services looking for X person". The co-workers are getting angry.

The phone at home is dead silent. The 2 that have called home I have already given the lawyer info.

All I know to do is send a letter to them all at this point since they are not identifying themselves when they call the place of employment.

And by the way, whoever said that eventually I would be thrilled to give the creditors the lawyer's name was 10000% correct. Right now I am angry that sneaky creditors aren't even calling our home phone.

[jwmc1]

They are all over the internet...just do a search

[catleg]

Dear Creditor
It is inconvenient for me to receive telephone calls at any time regarding my account xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx with you at the following telephone number(s):
xxx-xxx-xxxx
xxx-xxx-xxxx
Please limit contact to written inquiries to my home address:
123 tin pan alley
povertyville, USA 12345

Signed
Dan the Deadbeat.

This is mostly effective against collection agencies, because of FDCPA, but some original creditors will honor.

[jwmc1]

What is your end game? If you are going to file, why would you wait? The C&D letters are fine, but it can actually send your case on an expressway to an attorney or it can delay it longer, either way you need to decide what your end game is.

[GoingDown]

I have sent out a lot of cease and desit letters and they worked 99.99% of the time at getting them to stop calling me on the phone.

This is how simple they can be...

Your name
The phone number they are calling

"I demand that you cease and desist from any communication with me."

You can send it by email, fax, or a 44 cent stamp at first, and see if that works after a week or so. If they are still calling after that, then send it by certified mail.

[jacko]

The crap one lawyer sent another donning letter in the last two weeks indicating that if I don't pay in full or contact their office in the next ten days, they will make a decision on which of the various post judgment collection options they will use to collect the debt. Must be bad in the debt collection business. Money doesn't grow on trees.

I wonder if I should send them a note indicating my collection proof status, or let them continue to waste their dough in collection activities.

They could not find my checking and that my cash is safe.

[jacko]

I might fax this to the crap one lawyer to piss them off.

I have sent out a lot of cease and desit letters and they worked 99.99% of the time at getting them to stop calling me on the phone.

This is how simple they can be...

Your name
The phone number they are calling

"I demand that you cease and desist from any communication with me."

You can send it by email, fax, or a 44 cent stamp at first, and see if that works after a week or so. If they are still calling after that, then send it by certified mail.

[GoingDown]

Yes, I would send that cease and desist to their lawyer and if you are judgment proof, and I would tell them that as well. In this case, I would send it by certified mail. The lawyer will know then that you can prove he or she received it, and if they continue to call you or send you letters, it could cost him or her $1000 in statutory damages for violating the FDCPA. So, from that point forward, communicating with you will have to be done through the court, and that is a lot more expensive for the attorney that a phone call or a letter. So, they probably won't bother unless they really think they can get paid back.

If I was a lawyer and I got a letter like that, I would check into the matter to see if the person was really judgment proof, and if so, I would put their case file on the back burner and move on to lower hanging fruit. I wouldn't want to waste any more of my time and resources on someone that was not going to pay me.

As for them not being able to find your checking account, don't count on that. I wouldn't keep much money in there at all. In fact, if it was me, I would close that account so that you don't end up paying bank fees for processing a garnishment against your account.

Learn to use cash, money orders, and pre-paid visa cards like the Wal-Mart Money Card, if you have a Wal-Mart nearby.

[treehugger1]

I've yet to have a cease and desist letter fail to work; OC's, CA's, JDB's, Collection attorneys, etc. Other than local creditors who sued me and were paid off through garnishment, I have only had two national CC's sue me. By the way, I used what some folks call a limited cease and desist, and this seemed to work in my case. They stopped calling, but a few continued to correspond with me in writing.

I always used return receipt (I just wanted to make sure the letter was received.) I never used one of the long form letters found on some websites. As Goingdown stated, I kept things short and simple and made it clear what my request(s) was/were.

[needanswers]

Thank you Catleg

Dear Creditor
It is inconvenient for me to receive telephone calls at any time regarding my account xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx with you at the following telephone number(s):
xxx-xxx-xxxx
xxx-xxx-xxxx
Please limit contact to written inquiries to my home address:
123 tin pan alley
povertyville, USA 12345

Signed
Dan the Deadbeat.

This is mostly effective against collection agencies, because of FDCPA, but some original creditors will honor.

[needanswers]

Endgame? We're filing in a month. All I want is for them not to call work. They can call me at home all they want to..... I guess what I want is a limited C&D. I haven't done anything yet....don't want to do anything to tick anyone off.

What is your end game? If you are going to file, why would you wait? The C&D letters are fine, but it can actually send your case on an expressway to an attorney or it can delay it longer, either way you need to decide what your end game is.

[jacko]

I have a Wal-Mart money card in my moms name with a courtesy card. However, I have paper checks I receive frequently that I can not deposit into the money card, thus the need for a checking. I only deposit one at a time to pay bills, drain via ATM(reimbursed for fees) and or send to PayPal.

Crap One's lawyer sent me a garnishment notice that they found my part time employer. My weekly pay is well below the federal exemption amount. So no need to send the exemption claim.

Also, does anyone know what it would cost them to seize my vehicle and auction? I checked KBB, my trade in value is $4100 up from $3800 two months ago, the state exemption is $4200. However, used vehicle values are on the rise. The state will adjust exemption values in July.

Yes, I would send that cease and desist to their lawyer and if you are judgment proof, and I would tell them that as well. In this case, I would send it by certified mail. The lawyer will know then that you can prove he or she received it, and if they continue to call you or send you letters, it could cost him or her $1000 in statutory damages for violating the FDCPA. So, from that point forward, communicating with you will have to be done through the court, and that is a lot more expensive for the attorney that a phone call or a letter. So, they probably won't bother unless they really think they can get paid back.

If I was a lawyer and I got a letter like that, I would check into the matter to see if the person was really judgment proof, and if so, I would put their case file on the back burner and move on to lower hanging fruit. I wouldn't want to waste any more of my time and resources on someone that was not going to pay me.

As for them not being able to find your checking account, don't count on that. I wouldn't keep much money in there at all. In fact, if it was me, I would close that account so that you don't end up paying bank fees for processing a garnishment against your account.

Learn to use cash, money orders, and pre-paid visa cards like the Wal-Mart Money Card, if you have a Wal-Mart nearby.