Phone Communications

[DaisysMom]

Quick question... If you send a C&D letter to a collection agency and then they sell or transfer the debt to another collector, does the new collector have to honor the C&D or do I have to send out another letter? Seems like every few months the CC Companies change their debt collectors and they get difficult to keep track of. I have 6 CC Companies I owe and I bet they have gone through at least 15 different collection agencies trying to get me to pay.

DM

[DaisysMom]

And TY for the cease and desist letter examples. It makes sense not to mention the debt in any written correspondence although they do tape record any phone calls that you have with them. Can any of those transcripts be used against a person and what kinds of things should a person definitely NOT say.

DM

[doni49]

Can any of those transcripts be used against a person and what kinds of things should a person definitely NOT say.

You notice how they tell you that the call is being recorded? One of the main reasons is that as long as every party to the call knows that the call is being recorded, it CAN be used in court. Now can you imagine if they were to go into court against you with a recording of you saying "I know I owe you $1200 but....."?

How could you ever try to fight that?

[GoingDown]

Quick question... If you send a C&D letter to a collection agency and then they sell or transfer the debt to another collector, does the new collector have to honor the C&D or do I have to send out another letter? Seems like every few months the CC Companies change their debt collectors and they get difficult to keep track of. I have 6 CC Companies I owe and I bet they have gone through at least 15 different collection agencies trying to get me to pay.

DM

Yes, you have to send a new Cease and Desist letter to each new collection agency. They will bounce each account around to several different collection agencies, but in general, each letter will give you a month or more of quiet, before they bounce it to a new collection agency.

In my experience, after bouncing it around for 2 or 3 times, most of them seem to give up and fall silent, or they sell the debt to someone else.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the cease and desist letter may have to be sent more than one time to the same collection agency, in case they end up getting another one of your debts at some point in the future. Some of them are good about recognizing the debtor by their phone number and immediately purge their autodialers for each new account for that debtor, but unfortunately, most of them treat each new debt account as a completely new account to be worked and don't seem to honor the old cease and desist letter.

But it is easy to rectify. You just send them a new cease and desist letter for the new debt, and they will usually stop calling.

It is for this reason that I no longer send the initial cease and desist letter by certified mail. It would become prohibitively expensive rather quickly. I now look for an email address for the collection agency or for their fax number, and then send them an email and/or a free fax using FAX ZERO, and then if that doesn't work, I follow up with a letter sent by certified mail. But in my experience the email or the fax work very well in most cases.

REMEMBER: DON'T USE YOUR MAIN EMAIL ADDRESS OR YOUR REAL FAX NUMBER FOR THIS! Make up a new email address, and don't use it for anything like Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, etc. You don't want them to be able to use it to find information about you online.

The only other reason to send it by certified mail is if you are going to sue them or file a complaint against them with your attorney general. And in that case, with the extremely high cost and slow delivery of the U.S. Postal Service, I suggest going to an office supply store like Staples and sending them a fax and get a transcript of what was sent by fax and the receipt to show the fax number dialed and the result showing they had received the fax. I think that would work as proof that you sent it for most courts and government agencies. For that matter, I saw a recent episode of The Peoples' Court where the judge accepted a copy of an email sent to the person being sued as proof. So, even emails are acceptable proof, or at least it seems they were good enough for The Peoples' Court.

[GoingDown]

You notice how they tell you that the call is being recorded? One of the main reasons is that as long as every party to the call knows that the call is being recorded, it CAN be used in court. Now can you imagine if they were to go into court against you with a recording of you saying "I know I owe you $1200 but....."?

How could you ever try to fight that?

This is why I advise saying as little as possible on the phone to debt collectors. If you are going to record their calls for FDCPA violations, let them do all the talking, and never answer any questions they ask regarding personal information.

If you are recording the call, I would clearly say the date and time and ask who you are speaking to, and if you live in a two party state, I would clearly say that you are recording this telephone call. That way you can use it against them later.

[Jf24]

When they would call me, I'd answer and confirm my identity. Then I would simply tell them that I do not discuss financial matters over the telephone, bid them farewell and hang up.

I like this method. I can see that this will avoid the calls to neighbors and relatives but would being so quick to get them off the phone with no info at all trigger a faster suit? Would making up a sob story help in any way?

[GoingDown]

Would making up a sob story help in any way?

No.

The people you are talking to on the phone are the lowest level of the debt collecting organization. They usually have no decision making authority at this low level. Many of them just got out of prison and couldn't find a job doing anything else. Many of them get paid on commission. They don't care about your sob story. They just want to get you to make a payment and then they get a cut of it.

The one thing they are skilled at is getting information out of you and the longer you talk to them on the phone, the more information they will get from you.

[luckstyl]

Isn't it illegal for creditors to knowingly contact other people - family, employer, etc looking for you? Even without a cease and desist letter having been sent?

[treehugger1]

As long as they do not divulge the nature of the call, they can attempt to locate you by contacting family, employers, etc. Some states have more stringent rules.

I always answered the phone and/or returned calls from any CA's or JDB's. I never discussed my financial situation over the phone. This included any original creditors once I knew I was going to permanently default. I confirmed my name and address and requested that the CA/JDB send me written information within 5 days pursuant to the FDCPA.

After 5 years, I am down to approximately 1-2 calls every 3-4 months. Many of my debts will slip beyond the SOL in late 2012. I expect calls to increase as the debts approach the SOL dates.

[GoingDown]

In my experience, the calls did not increase as the SOL approached.

My status didn't change in all those years, so no new collection triggers, and no new calls from them.

They just gave up, fell silent, and ran out of time.

Not that getting a judgment against me would've done them any good. I would have made sure they never got anything from me, either way, or if necessary, I would just file bankruptcy.

Suing me would've been a waste of their time, and I think they knew it.

As for the ones still calling you... did you send them a cease and desist letter? And if so, I hope you are recording these calls. They would be clear violations of the FDCPA, and maybe the TCPA. It could be a way to pick up some cash from them, or at the very least, you might have a counter claim against them if they did file a lawsuit against you.

[JessMN]

I guess I had more aggressive collectors than most. When I started out ditching their calls, they did things like call my neighbors in an attempt to locate me. I had one called my work leaving me messages at random extensions all over the building. Another called people with the same last name as myself in our town.

I had one call my mom! My mom for gods sake... we don't even live in the same area! The only thing I can figure is they looked up my unusual last name and went from there.

[GoingDown]

A cease and desist letter will get them to stop calling your mom.