Telling creditors attorney has beed retained

[Jf24]

I was told by attorney to let all creditors know that I retained an attorney and give the name and number of the firm. Even if I'm not filing till next month they said I can start doing this now. 7 out of 9 were told and the calls seem to stop almost completely. Oct was my last month of paying the cards.

2 questions

Does anyone have experience of how long this will last. No calls or suit after retaining but not filing yet. I may want to go longer than next month due to overtime around Oct and Nov.

One that keeps calling every day is Dell. It's just a recording telling me about my lateness and payment instructions. Do I call them to let them know or wait for a human to call? Once a day is not bad but still would like to get them off my back.

[help1234]

We had to wait 90 days after retaining attorney. We were one of the lucky ones... when creditors called I gave them the attorney's information and they did not call back until right around the 70 day mark. Gave them info again and told them we would be filing within the month, just waiting for attorney to finalize everything. I never returned automated calls and eventually a real person would call. All of my creditors were very nice, polite and most of them wished us luck in the future. No one filed suit, but a couple of them did sell to collectors. It was one of the easiest times in our life.

[Bell30656]

I was a jerk with my collectors. After I retained my attorney, when I'd get a call I went to this script, "I've retained the firm of Dewey, Cheatum and Howe (I put the real firm's name in here.) to handle this matter for me. They are members of the Georgia Bar Association doing business in Conyers, GA. Please feel free to look them up and call them. In this RECORDED conversation I have provided you with the information that I have retained legal representation on this matter. In accord with OCGA 16-4-1 you must now refer all questions on this matter to my retained counsel." Sometimes, they asked if I had filed bankruptcy or if I was suing them. I stuck to my mantra... "Do you not understand that ALL questions are to be directed to my retained counsel? Please clearly state your name again for me."

They generally didn't call back. What is OCGA 16-4-1? Danged if I know. Probably jaywalking. I just made it up. They didn't know GA Code and neither did I.

[JackBondLove]

in accord with ocga 16-4-1 you must now refer all questions on this matter to my retained counsel." sometimes, they asked if i had filed bankruptcy or if i was suing them. I stuck to my mantra... "do you not understand that all questions are to be directed to my retained counsel? Please clearly state your name again for me."

they generally didn't call back. What is ocga 16-4-1? Danged if i know. Probably jaywalking. I just made it up. They didn't know ga code and neither did i.

I love it!

[GoingDown]

/\ Ha! Funny stuff!



I remember when one of the more notorious "collection attorney" firms was calling me, the debt collector would ask about "my intentions" with respect to paying the debt, and I would reply that I could not afford to pay it back, to which they would always say something like: "You'd better get an attorney to represent you in this matter right away."

I would then say, "I have no intentions of hiring an attorney. I couldn't afford one of them, and there is nothing you can do to me anyways, I have nothing to take and nothing to lose."

That seemed to always fluster them.

[Bell30656]

I had a collection agency calling me that uses an attorney. When they would call they would say that they are from the legal offices of <whatever it was>. I stopped the caller mid script and asked her if she was an attorney. She would repeat the she was calling from the legal office of so and so... I again asked if she was an attorney and if she was to provide me with her Georgia Bar Association number. We went round and round for a second. I told her that if she was indeed identifying herself as an attorney on this recorded telephone call, I wanted her name and bar association number on the recording. She freaked out and said that I couldn't record her... The fact that she was calling me from a long distance number told me that she would not know GA laws. It is indeed against GA law to identify yourself as an attorney if you are not one but that was irrelevant. I wasn't recording either because she reached me in Atlanta traffic on my cell phone. But the whole conversation went to whether or not I could record her. The debt questions? Out the window. She never called back and neither did that office.

[Jf24]

Thanks for the info. Would like to wait as long as I can to get the months of heavy overtime out of the picture. A ch7 may be out of reach for me anyway but have to try for the lowest payments for a 13 and the overtime has boosted the figures up.

There is no overtime available anyway so I think I'm doing tihis just in time. The ot is what kept me afloat all this time paying the cards.

[Bell30656]

Oh! If you haven't filed yet, I have a different take on it. When a collection agent called and I had not filed yet I confirmed my identity then followed with, "Now that you've reached me and confirmed my identity in this recorded conversation, I do not discuss financial matters on the telephone. Please have a nice day." <click>

Was I recording? Nope, but they didn't need to know that. I just simply told them I would not discuss financial matters over the telephone no matter what they said. They absolutely hate it when they can't control the conversation. Never slip from your mantra.

I had a JDB that would tell me he was going to sue me... I asked him if he was aware of how close I lived to the North Carolina border... When he asked why, I reminded him that NC didn't allow wage garnishment. He shut up quick.

[mizg]

Amazing stuff....too funny!! I am kind of scared to answer the phone but I guess I should start and use some of your lines....I do have an attorney but i am afraid of them asking me questions.

[BNKRPTinNC]

Once we had retained an atty. talking to the bill collectors was easy. Just give them the name and number and you're done. Even better was when we had a case number, just tell them you filed and give case number. We were getting 25+ calls a day and they absolutely dried up within a few days, word gets out I guess.

Most fun I had with one was when they came out to take pictures of the house for foreclosure. Pretty thing but boy the adage of "beauty is only skin deep" really applied with her. She informed me what her intentions were and asked if I was going to pay $500 immediately or she was going to foreclose. She asked me if I was going file bankruptcy. She asked me all kinds of stuff. Each and every answer was, "you'll have to speak to my attorney". She got so mad that her parting reply was that she was going to enjoy foreclosure on this house. Never even came close to fruition. We are over 3 years in and so far so good.

[Bell30656]

Another one told me that I had to discuss this financial issue over the phone. I told her that I had a new accountant. The accountants name was Helen Waite. If owed her money, she'd have to go to Helen Waite for it.

[mountanddo]

ah shucks, I haven't had a collection call since 4 months before I filed and I never got the chance to have fun with them I feel cheated somehow