The Power of the Cease Communication Letter.
Collections calls and Cease and Desist Letters are two things that every consumer should know about. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was signed into law to protect consumers from illegal activities by third party debt collectors. The Act specifically states what third party companies hired to collect personal debts, can and can’t do, and states what your rights are as a consumer.
Every year thousands of complaints are lodged against debt collection companies who are either assigned accounts from original creditors, or who buy the accounts. The reasoning behind this practice is that creditors don’t want to take the time to track down all of their delinquent accounts, so they hire collections companies to collect debts that are owed, or in some cases, allegedly owed. The problem is that when third party agents are hired to take over delinquent accounts, quite often they aren’t the most ethical, and use harassment tactics to coerce consumers into paying debts. Which in some cases, they may not even owe.
According to the FDCPA, a debt collector cannot call or contact you in any way about a debt you don’t owe, so the first step is to validate the debt. Even before you send a Debt Validation Request to a third party collections agent, there are certain rules under the Federal Act that they must adhere to. The law specifically states that a debt collector is not allowed to contact anyone who owes or allegedly owes a debt prior to 8 AM or after 9 PM. If they do, they’re in direct violation of the law. This rule pertains to your local time.
The law also states that a collections company can’t call you at anytime that you consider to be inconvenient. You don’t have to give them the reason. In several cases that went to court, consumers stated that collections agents were calling them at inconvenient times, including when they had guests in their home, and that they were the caregiver for a family member who was sick, and it stood up in court. In addition, they aren’t allowed to contact you at work if your employer has a policy against employees receiving personal calls at work.
If you don’t want to receive calls at certain times, you must notify the company in writing. If they persist in calling you after receiving written notice, they’re in violation of the law. To take this a step further, if you don’t want to talk to these people, hang up on them, and they persist in calling, they’re in violation of the FDCPA. There’s a fine line regarding collections calls and Cease and Desist Letters. In regard to phone calls, you can request that the only communication between you and the debt collector be in writing, so that you have records of everything, but they don’t necessarily have to honor that. So if you take it to court, it could go either way.
The most effective way of dealing with persistent or harassing collections calls, is to send the third party agent what’s known as a Cease and Desist Letter. When you send a letter, they are only allowed under law to contact you once more. They’ll either let you know that further action could be taken, that there will definitely be action taken, or all further attempts to satisfy the debt will be terminated. When you send your letter, be sure to send it by certified mail with a return receipt requested. This way you know for sure that the letter was received. If the collection agency contacts you beyond the one time allowed under the FDCPA, you’ll have evidence that they’re in violation of the law, and you could take action against them.
You can find templates for Cease and Desist Letters on the next page. They basically include your contact information and the account number. You may also include the amount of the debt they state you owe. You notify them that they are not to contact you, your family or friends. Incidentally, if they do contact anyone in your family or your friends in an attempt to get personal information, they’re in violation of the law. The same applies if they provide any information to a third party other than your spouse, or a parent, if you’re a minor.
Inform them that if they don’t comply with your request you’ll file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission the the Attorney General’s office. Tell them that civil and criminal claims against them will be filed. If your case stands up in court, you can be awarded up to $1,000 for every violation they’ve committed.
If you’ve managed to get your debts paid off and are working on improving your credit score with the reporting agencies, that’s in your favor, but sometimes after resolving bad credit issues, the reporting agencies still haven’t removed negative information from your credit report. You may be in a situation in which you know your credit score has improved and your debts have been paid. Then you apply for a loan or credit. It may not even be for a large amount. However, if there’s anything negative on your credit report, it will affect what you’re actually able to do.
In this case, you could send a letter to the credit reporting agencies with proof that you no longer owe the debt or debts, and they must remove the negative comments from your credit report. If this does become necessary, keep the letter brief and to the point. Derogatory remarks toward the company will only hurt you in the long run. Collections calls and Cease and Desist Letters are two things that everyone should know the laws about. If you’re to deal effectively in stopping constant calls or harassment by third party collections companies, you must know what the Federal Debt Collection Practice Act states about what the rights are of a debt collector are, and what your rights as a consumer are. If you continue to have issues with one of these companies after contacting them ordering them to cease and desist, your best option is to contact an attorney who handles debt related cases.
For FREE Downloadable Cease Communication Letter Templates, CLICK HERE.