They found me.

[lotsahats]

It gave me so much peace and quiet when I was going through all of this, and so I like to pass the word on to everyone who reads this forum.

It really did? Because I read (on a different forum) that it was a waste of time, that it won't stop them, that they don't give a ish.

[Gonzo]

Get a google phone number. Great for rejecting and screening calls and lots of other tools.

Logan

Yes, Google Voice is the best thing ever. I like how you can block calls from specific numbers.

[Gonzo]

And then if they call after getting the Cease and Desist, you sue them under the FDCPA and make THEM pay YOU !!

[OhioFiler]

Unless the creditor or the collection agency has a judgement against you, you have the power to control the communications. Take the call, don't take the calls, send letters, play with them on the phone (my favorite), whatever. Absolutely NEVER send them money.

[GoingDown]

It really did? Because I read (on a different forum) that it was a waste of time, that it won't stop them, that they don't give a ish.

This is sad to me.

It makes me wonder if debt collectors are posing as debtors on these forums and trying to get debtors to believe that cease and desist communications letters do not work.

These take away a debt collector's most powerful tool-- the ability to call debtors on the phone. Most of their income comes from calling debtors on the phone.

And so, as a veteran of the war against debt collectors on this forum, I can tell you from personal experience that they do work. They work very well.

Out of the many debt collectors who have called me since 2005, only one ignored my cease and desist letter-- West Asset Management. I was able to get them to stop calling me by filing a complaint with the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions (a part of the Arizona Attorney General's office) and they sent them a letter, and then the phone calls stopped.

But for every other debt collector, once they got my letter, or fax, or email, they stopped calling me.

[GoingDown]

Unless the creditor or the collection agency has a judgement against you, you have the power to control the communications. Take the call, don't take the calls, send letters, play with them on the phone (my favorite), whatever. Absolutely NEVER send them money.

Even once they have a judgment, you can send them a cease and desist communications letter, and they have to stop calling you.

This includes their attorney.

The judgment gives them authority to subpoena your financial records and look at them, or to call you in for a debtor's exam and ask you questions about your income and assets. These are very scary things, and debt collectors know this, but they very rarely happen.

I have had a small judgment against me for quite awhile now, and they have never attempted to do anything but call me on the phone or send me letters about it. I sent them a cease and desist letter and haven't heard back from them since then.

[GoingDown]

And then if they call after getting the Cease and Desist, you sue them under the FDCPA and make THEM pay YOU !!

Yes! This is why if debt collectors ever called me again, I would record their telephone calls, and I would have a counterclaim against them if they ever did sue me.

But they don't call me anymore.

[DYLAN150]

Cease and desist letters are working for me so far. Now I fax them, if they have a fax number.

[GoingDown]

Good! I've also found that email works as well. Some of the collection agencies will post their email address in the "contact us" section of their websites.

You can send faxes for free by using a web based service such as Fax Zero http://faxzero.com/

[lotsahats]

That's good to know. Thanks, GoingDown!

[Floridagail]

Capital One did subpeona my financial records after getting a judgement against me. I had nothing to get, but I did not want them to get copy of my pensions. SO I had to file chptr 7 to avoid the subpeona. THis was in 2008.

[lotsahats]

Well, they're not bugging me too much, yet. So far, it's only been one call per day.

[GoingDown]

Capital One did subpeona my financial records after getting a judgement against me. I had nothing to get, but I did not want them to get copy of my pensions. SO I had to file chptr 7 to avoid the subpeona. THis was in 2008.

I'm not sure if pensions are exempt or not in your state, but when in doubt, if you think you have something to lose from a judgment creditor, then you are not judgment proof, and it is then a good idea to file bankruptcy to protect whatever you need to protect from judgments.

I see bankruptcy more as "the nuclear option" and I'm saving it back for when and if I really need it at some point in the future.

[GoingDown]

Well, they're not bugging me too much, yet. So far, it's only been one call per day.

If it's not bugging you, then there's no need to bother with a C & D letter.

At the worst point, before I starting sending out C & D letters, I was getting at least 16 calls a day from various creditors. Relatives, neighbors, former employers, and even landlords were also getting calls for me and about me. I was surprised one day when I got a call from Providian (which later became Washington Mutual and now is Chase) and in exhasperation I told the lady on the phone that I wished they would stop calling me. She responded that I could get them to stop calling me by just sending them a letter about it, and so I did, and the calls from them stopped. I quickly fired off letters to all of the rest of them, and within a week or so, my phone fell silent. That lasted for about a month, and then one by one, the calls picked back up again, this time from third party debt collection agencies. I fired off a new round of letters, and the calls stopped once again for awhile. After repeating this several times, eventually they stopped bouncing my accounts around to new collection agencies and the phone fell silent again, this time for years. It's still silent.