3 Ways to Stop Collection Calls
Collection calls are a fact of life, and for many consumers, they can be a real nightmare. With the economy being in such a bad slump, times are hard for everyone. Defaults are higher than they’ve ever been, and for many people, they can’t afford to pay the debts they owe due to job loss or the illness or death of a family member. When a family is in a bad financial situation, they often don’t know where to turn for help. If bills are piling up due to sickness or a death, the last thing anyone needs is to have to deal with harassing phone calls from a collection agency. When you’re being called by a debt collector, you may not want to talk to them, but you should always find out immediately what the debt is for. Get the name and address of the company, and the name and extension of the person who called you.
When you start getting calls from a collection agency, you must find out what the exact amount of the debt is and what it’s for. The Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was signed into law to protect consumers from unfair collections methods. Many people aren’t aware of their rights, and when they begin getting collection calls from a debt collector, they just want to make arrangements to get the issue resolved. It’s especially difficult if you’ve lost a family member, and start getting phone calls the day of their funeral. This has been known to happen, and no one should have to deal with that kind of emotional strain. Under this law, every consumer has rights and you have to know how to fight back when dealing with harassing calls.
Debt collectors are not allowed to call anyone before 8 A.M. or after 9 P.M. They may not call you at work if your employer has a policy against personal calls, and you’ve notified the company. They also can’t call you at times that you consider inconvenient. They may also not threaten you in any way, use abusive or obscene language, or tell you you’ll be arrested if you don’t pay the debt. Some collection agencies are ethical and will try to work out payment plans with people who owe money, but there are many who are unethical and use threats against people to get them to pay up.
If you’re receiving collection calls, the third party collector may not add additional charges to the original debt, or call any third party to get personal information about you. They may only talk to your spouse or a parent if you’re a minor. There are ways that you can stop harassing phone calls by third party collections agents. Tell the caller to identify who they are. Get their company’s contact information, including their mailing address. Send them a letter telling them you want the calls to stop.
If you’ve filed for bankruptcy, you’ll have an attorney handling your case. Under these circumstances, the debt collector must stop contacting you and deal directly with the lawyer who’s handling your case. The lawyer can send them a letter requesting that the phone calls stop, or they could be faced with legal action. You should keep accurate records of exactly when the conversations with the collections agency took place and what was said. In some states it’s legal to tape conversations with the knowledge of the other party, which would be proof of harassment if you can do it. If the harassment continues, you may have grounds for a lawsuit against the company.
Finally, if you’re experiencing harassing collection calls and the party refuses to stop contacting you, you can send them a Cease and Desist letter. In the letter you must specifically state that the debt collector is to cease and further contact with you. This not only applies to phone calls. When you send the letter, specifically state that they are not to have any further contact with you by mail, electronic methods such as fax or email, or by phone. Make sure that you send any written correspondence to the collection agency by certified mail. If the harassment continues after taking any or all of these measures, contact an attorney to handle the case.
Now that you are beginning to get an idea of how stop those pesky collection calls, let’s go a little deeper. Let’s talk about the first and easiest way to do it.