How much mileage can I get out of a P.O. Box?

[gonebroke4no]

I was waiting in line at the post office the other day, to buy some stamps, and I see that they offer post office box rentals from $30 for 6 months. So I was wondering if I get a post office box, then send a sort of C&D letter to all of my creditors (that I am past due with) and all of the collection companies hunting me down, notifying them that from now on, they can only contact me at my post office address and at my new computer telephone number), do you think this will stop them from sending me collection letters to my home address and my mailing address and stop them from calling my home telephone number? I have UPS mail box that I use as a mailing address), and I just got a new computer telephone number that I want my creditors and collection companies to call. So hopefully they will stop calling my house phone, and stop sending me collection letters to my home and mailing addresses.

So do you think this will stop the collection letters from coming to my house and to my mailing address, and stop the collection calls from coming to my home telephone number? Because what I have read so far in some of these postings, that collectors will ignore letters that tell them to start using another address and or phone number to contact you . . . as they will only add that to their arsenal and use the new address and new telephone number as another avenue to contact you . . . along with them continuing to send collection letters to any other address they have on hand, and they will continue to call you at any other telephone number they have on hand for you . . . whereas it seems providing this conditional C&D letter gives them additional ways to hunt you down for money. What do you think?

Yet one other thing I am concerned about, if I get a P.O. Box, I have heard that if any debt is turned into a judgment, that creditors and or collection companies can go to the post office and get a box holders personal contact information (via legal authority of them showing the post office of the judgment ), so that they can hunt down a debtor that way . . . yet I am not sure if they can do this if there is no actual judgment. So it would be good to get some feedback on this, before I try to use a P.O. box for help.

Yet I wish there were some way I would not have to provide my personal contact information to the post office in order to get the P.O. Box, so that it would be harder for those creditors and collection companies to track me down, in the event they can view my current contact information via the post office personnel. I sure wish there were a way to throw these people off track for a long while AND without them trying to find me via my family and relatives. However with two separate collection companies, each one has found one of my brothers (I have two brothers). So the collection companies have been trying to track me down that way, since I do not answer my phone or reply to their collection letters. UGH!!!


Thank Everyone.

[frogger]

In a nutshell, the answer is no.

Just because you obtain a po box does not mean that your other information "goes away". The collectors either have permission to contact you or they don't. If you do not want contact, send them a c&d and tell them to stop.

[GoingDown]

Agreed.

Save your money.

P.O. Boxes are a waste of money. They will do no good to shield you from the creditors.

I had a P.O. Box for awhile, and I would routinely get collection letters from the same creditors at both my P.O. Box address and my street address. They found my street address through my old land line telephone.

The best thing you can do is get rid of your land line phone, if you have one. That's one thing they track you down with.

And if you are sick of them calling you and your relatives, then send them a Cease and Desist Communications letter in the mail, and most, if not all, of the phone calls will cease.

[chicagoannie]

I suggested the PO box as a short term "stress reliever", i.e. no more daily dread of going to your home mailbox. It is not a way to evade creditors! I don't think there is a way to do that..

[gonebroke4no]

Thanks for the advice Everyone, I appreciate it very much. Based on the feedback, I will not get a P. O. Box then, since it does not appear that it will really help to distance me from my creditors and collection companies for several months for some quick stress relief, in regards to the collection letters coming to my home and my getting the collection calls on my home landline phone.

I really would like to use a C&D letter, but I have read many times, that only angers the creditors and collection companies, and they tend to sue quicker since the debtor does not keep the door open to try to negotiate a payment or settlement deal. Yet if I get rid of my landline phone, then that will open a new can of worms, because I heard that by not having a least a telephone number where the creditors and collection companies can contact a debtor, then that makes them mad, and then they start digging up the debtor’s family and friends to try to track them down (much more quickly and they start digging up even more family and friends . . . thus hopefully bringing shame to and flush-out the debtor, as they seek to get whatever money they can out of the debtor to try to avoid a lawsuit). So I am hoping that I can figure out a way in the next several weeks to try to get a good handle on my financial crises to try to avoid going to court (if I can) as I try to drag-out my financial troubles a little longer before I start getting hit with the lawsuits.

In regards to sending them C&D letters to stop calling my family, I do not know which one’s are calling them, other than I have one for Sears (issued by Citi), yet the other companies that are starting to call my family are the second string creditors and they are not identifying which debts that they are trying to collect (since they are only stating that they are calling from some unknown named company, that is not associated with a credit card name, and they are stating that they are looking for “my name AND who lives at a certain address”). Yet I think everyone of my family members (who who do not live with me that are actually being called at their homes) automatically knows that these are debt collection companies. However since I have several credit cards that I have defaulted on, I have no idea which creditors and collection companies that are calling my family members. Yet I also do not want to provide these creditors or collection companies with any further information that they can use to further contact my family by my providing a C&D letter by saying “DO NOT CALL the following telephone numbers: “), because of fear that will give them more ammunition to use against me.

Yet it would be interesting to know how others have sent C&D letters to creditors and collection companies that were contacting their family and friends. So other than my Sears credit card, I have no way of knowing which collection companies are contacting my family and for which credit cards. So any advice on how to find out this information, would be just AWESOME!

[GoingDown]

Thanks for the advice Everyone, I appreciate it very much. Based on the feedback, I will not get a P. O. Box then, since it does not appear that it will really help to distance me from my creditors and collection companies for several months for some quick stress relief, in regards to the collection letters coming to my home and my getting the collection calls on my home landline phone.

Yes, it is just a waste of money.


I really would like to use a C&D letter, but I have read many times, that only angers the creditors and collection companies, and they tend to sue quicker since the debtor does not keep the door open to try to negotiate a payment or settlement deal.

In my experience, it did not cause them to sue me. The only creditor that sued me was one I never even got a chance to send a cease and desist letter to-- they sued me within 3 months after I stopped making payments, BEFORE I ever sent them a cease and desist letter, over a tiny $300 credit card debt. So, from my experience, the C & D letters I sent out to creditors only did one thing-- they gave me peace and quiet. The creditors and collection agencies stopped calling me after they received my letters. While technically speaking, original creditors are not legally bound by the FDCPA to stop calling you when they receive a C & D letter, most of them will voluntarily abide by it and will in fact stop calling you.




Yet if I get rid of my landline phone, then that will open a new can of worms, because I heard that by not having a least a telephone number where the creditors and collection companies can contact a debtor, then that makes them mad, and then they start digging up the debtor’s family and friends to try to track them down (much more quickly and they start digging up even more family and friends . . . thus hopefully bringing shame to and flush-out the debtor, as they seek to get whatever money they can out of the debtor to try to avoid a lawsuit).

But if you are proactive and send them a cease and desist letter, they will usually stop calling your friends, neighbors, and relatives as well.



So I am hoping that I can figure out a way in the next several weeks to try to get a good handle on my financial crises to try to avoid going to court (if I can) as I try to drag-out my financial troubles a little longer before I start getting hit with the lawsuits.

Not all creditors sue. Only one of mine ever sued me. Most of mine were sold off to junk debt buyers. And now, even they seem to have given up on me. From what I can tell, creditors look for certain things when they try to make a decision to sue. Employment, assets, and credit report activity showing that the debtor will be able to pay off a judgment.


In regards to sending them C&D letters to stop calling my family, I do not know which one’s are calling them,

That's easy to find out. Tell your relatives to answer these phone calls one time to get the phone number of the debt collectors, then google the phone number to find their address. Then send them a cease and desist letter, and chances are, they will stop calling them.


other than I have one for Sears (issued by Citi), yet the other companies that are starting to call my family are the second string creditors and they are not identifying which debts that they are trying to collect (since they are only stating that they are calling from some unknown named company, that is not associated with a credit card name, and they are stating that they are looking for “my name AND who lives at a certain address”). Yet I think everyone of my family members (who who do not live with me that are actually being called at their homes) automatically knows that these are debt collection companies. However since I have several credit cards that I have defaulted on, I have no idea which creditors and collection companies that are calling my family members. Yet I also do not want to provide these creditors or collection companies with any further information that they can use to further contact my family by my providing a C&D letter by saying “DO NOT CALL the following telephone numbers: “), because of fear that will give them more ammunition to use against me.

No, do not give them any more information than they already have. The cease and desist letter, if they abide by it, will stop them from calling you as well as your friends, neighbors, and relatives.

Simply put the name and address they already have for you on a letter, and then simply write this to them: "I demand that you cease and desist from any communication with me." Then send it by first class mail (44 cents) to the debt collector, and most likely within a week or so, the phone calls will stop from them. But don't be surprised if the phone calls start back up in a month or so from a new collection agency. The creditors are likely to use various collection agencies to attempt to collect the debt. Just keep sending out new cease and desist letters to the new agencies, until the creditor eventually gives up. That's what I did, and it worked for me.


Yet it would be interesting to know how others have sent C&D letters to creditors and collection companies that were contacting their family and friends. So other than my Sears credit card, I have no way of knowing which collection companies are contacting my family and for which credit cards. So any advice on how to find out this information, would be just AWESOME!

My relatives, neighbors, landlords, and previous employers (who happened to be friends as well with me) were all contacted by debt collectors looking for me. Now, none of them get any calls from debt collectors.

While my method may not work for everyone, it did work for me.

[gonebroke4no]

GoingDown, thank you for taking the time to provide me great detailed feedback and suggestions. I greatly appreciate your help, I will try to utilize all of it.

I appreciate you shedding more light on the C&D letter, as it was very enlightening. Yet I was sure horrified to find out that you got sued over $300. However upon reading some of the past postings in this forum and another BK forum, I know that people can be severely harassed and sued over such a little amount. Two of my creditors that I went into default with starting back in May of this year, have each sent me a letter earlier this month that they will put my account in a “charge off” status on December 31, 2010 . . . Yet both creditors also informed me (in their letter) that it does not mean that my account will not be turned over to a collection company, so that the collection process can continue. Because one account I owe about $4,500, then the second account I owe about $8,000 . . . so that is why I am horrified of what you went through over $300. WOW!!! Yet I wonder with the economy “supposedly” coming out of the GREAT RECESSION, I wonder if all of the major banks and major credit card companies have just too many customers that have gone into default over the past 2 years, that either they do not have enough manpower to go through their normal process of collecting their money or maybe they have decided that it really is not worth strong-arming their defaulted customers at this time since so many of their defaulted customers, legitimately just can not afford to pay them at this time. Especially if those banks and credit card companies see the defaulted customer's credit report which may tell, that the customer is in very bad financial shape and can not really afford to pay anyone right now . . . so that maybe that is why they are not rushing to sue (like they sometimes do) . . . due to how bad our economy STILL is? Yet I do know that based on your posting, it seems that the banks and credit card companies view a defaulting customer's credit report to see if it would be worth going after the customer (based on if they think they can get get their money back from the customer). Yet since I am facing two charge offs, it seems that maybe those two companies have looked at my credit report over the past 6 months (only to see my credit getting worse each month) and they do not see that I am in any current or future capacity to pay them . . . and that is only about $12,500 I owe both of them combined.

Yet all-in-all GoingDown, thank you so much for your great help : - )

[Bell30656]

Years ago, I got a Post Office box, filled out a mail forwarding card and then physically removed my home mailbox. For the first year mail was forwarded with a nice little yellow sticker by the post office. Now anything sent to my home address gets sent back to the sender with a stamp that says, "No mail receptacle". I didn't do it to hide from creditors but rather because I just didn't want to have mail at home. I don't worry about stopping my mail when I go on trips and I don't worry about someone stealing my information. I pick up my mail a few times a week.

[gonebroke4no]

Thank you Bell30656. I appreciate the additional input.