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How to stop bill collectors from calling you

By Debt Prison on February 5, 2009

This website does not administer legal or financial advice. The contents of this website are my opinions on collection agencies and how to deal with them. Nothing on this website should be interpreted as legal advice or council. No opinions on this website should be used to replace the advice of your financial advisor or your legal council.

How do you stop a bill collector from calling you constantly… especially if the person they want to talk to doesn’t even live there? Such is the case with FSK over at FSK’s Guide to Reality. It seems the collection agency wants to get in touch with FSK’s sister, and she doesn’t live with FSK. Despite telling them repeatedly that she doesn’t live there, they continue the constant bombardment of phone calls. The interesting thing about this situation is that the collection agency is not calling a number where they can reach the debtor. There are ways to stop the phone calls – but you have to get serious with them. You should be able to stop the phone calls without getting a lawyer involved.

To file a complaint with FTC regarding a collection agency click here or call toll free at 1-877-FTC-HELP.

A bill collector has to stop calling your place of employment if you request them to – this request should be done verbally and in writing. Why are they calling despite the verbal request to stop? This is harassment and harassment is what pays their bills! They’re hoping FSK (or anybody) will pay this debt to end the phone calls.

I have an amusing anecdote about a debt collector. My sister gave my parent’s phone number on a credit application, or they somehow got it. According to my sister, she legitimately canceled a service but they kept billing her anyway. Now, a collection agency owns the debt. They’re using a dirty tactic you haven’t mentioned on your website.

The debt collector calls *ALL THE TIME*. I told them “She doesn’t live here anymore. Please stop calling this number.” Whenever I say “Please stop calling”, they immediately disconnect the phone call, pretending they didn’t hear. The debt appears to keep getting passed to different collection agencies, or the agency keeps trying different tactics.

If I tell Agency A “Please stop calling”, and the debt is sold to Agency B, then does my “Please stop calling” request still count?

I’m pretty sure this falls under “abusive debt collection practices”. However, it isn’t practical to sue. The person they’re calling *DOES NOT LIVE HERE*, and they hang up the phone whenever I say “She doesn’t live here” or “Please stop calling”. By dropping the call and pretending to not hear, they’re probably technically not violating the law. They have plausible deniability “I never heard FSK say ‘Please stop calling!’”

Well let’s see what we can come up with for this nasty, nasty problem. First of all, every time the debt moves to another collection agency you have to start all over again with any requests… just as though they are the first collector to get their hands on your debt. This means writing ‘cease and desist’ letters and recording/documenting their calls (if you want to sue them).

There are a couple of options here that will work for FSK and these pesky collectors. The first is to identify who the collector is. One way to do that is to ask them. Now there’s only certain information that they’ll give to someone, over the phone, whom is not the debtor. However, according to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act the collector is required, if you ask them, to identify their employer.

(1) identify himself, state that he is confirming or correcting location information concerning the consumer, and, only if expressly requested, identify his employer;

Cease and Desist Letter

You can also request their address, but there is nothing in the FDCPA that requires them to provide you with the address. You could ask them what state they are calling from and then look the address up. You want their address so you can write them a ‘limited cease and desist’ letter. The letter should be sent registered U.S. mail with return receipt. This way you have proof that they received the letter.

I would like to request, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment. If your offices attempt telephone communication with me, including but not limited to computer generated calls and calls or correspondence sent to or with any third parties, it will be documented and considered harassment. All future communications with me must be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter by USPS.

Now bear in mind that this letter would only by legal if it is signed by the debtor. This letter should slow the phone calls down or eliminate them. Another way to get their address would be for FSK to ask his sister to get a free copy of her credit report at http://annualcreditreport.com. The collection agency’s name and address may be visible on the credit report.

Documenting the Calls

If they continue to call you can document the calls using a program like “phone tray” which works by plugging your phone line into the back of a pc. Phone Tray then works like a caller i.d., documenting all calls and call times in a format that can be printed off. Now you can document all of their calls on paper. Also, you can purchase a phone recorder like this one. It’s around $45.00 and has a variety of uses besides recording bill collectors. Some states require you to inform the other party that the call is being recorded. Twelve states require, under most circumstances, the consent of all parties to a conversation. Those jurisdictions are California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington.

You can answer the calls and tell them to stop calling and record the conversations. At this point you should have documented the calls on paper and possibly have phone recordings which clearly demonstrate these facts.

At this point, after ten or so calls, I would make copies of the caller i.d. archive and audio of the phone conversations. Now you need to send these copies to the collection agency using registered mail. You would also attach a letter which explains that the collection agency has continued calling despite requests to stop. You consider this harassment and hope to avoid a legal suit against their office if they will simply stop calling your home.

This should stop the calls and if not you can always opt to have a law office write letters on your behalf.

If the debt gets passed to another collection agency then this process starts all over.

Discuss this article and meet new people at Debt Prison Forums.

Related Articles

* What is a Junk Debt Buyer?

* Restrictions on Wage Garnishment for Debt Collection.

* The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

* Reasons not to file Bankruptcy or Settle Your Debts

* Can you go to jail for not paying your debts?

* How to settle your debts on your own

* How to deal with collection agencies

* Sample Debt Validation Letter

How To Stop Bill Collectors From Harassing You

By Debt Prison on December 1, 2008

**Disclaimer – Debtprison.net does not administer legal or financial advice. The contents of this website are my opinions on collection agencies and how to deal with them. Nothing on this website should be interpreted as legal advice or council. No opinions on this website should be used to replace the advice of your financial advisor or your legal council.

A reader at Sample Debt Validation Letter asks how to get a collection agent to stop harassing her. Of course the quick and easy solution is to pay them! But if you find yourself unable to pay, there are a few things you can do to make life easier for yourself. Always keep in mind, that no matter what they say or how they say it, the goal of a debt collector is to get YOU to cough up some cash. And often they’re willing to do and say anything to accomplish this task.

I had a lady from a collection office call me and harass me about a credit card I have. She even called my cell phone and left me a very rude message saying that she hoped her attorney sued me for every dime I had. She then sent another message on my cell saying she was giving me 24 hours to call her back.

Who can I report her to? And how do I get her to quit harassing me? The debt is an old credit card and has a balance of 2800.

Rhonda

Stop talking with these people on the phone.

First of all, once you enter the world of defaulted credit card debt - what good is it doing to talk to these people on the phone? If you had the money you’d pay them (right?). But since you don’t have the money… discussing your personal crisis with these bill collectors… will leave you angry, embarrassed, or scared. And possibly all three. Therefore, when I defaulted on my credit card debt I wrote them registered letters (kept the receipts) and explained to them my situation. Here’s how the phone calls work.

“Hello”

May I speak with Barry?

This is him.

Mr. Barry this is Jahid Patel calling from Citibank.. you are 60 days past due on your account. Can you make a payment today over the phone and get this balance up to date?

Nope

Well Mr. Barry… can you make any payment today… how about $100

Nope

Well Mr. Barry how about $50 could you afford to pay that today?

Etc, etc, etc”

Now bear in mind this is an extremely civil example of how the conversation would go. Once I had a collector call me at my job (damn I gave them my number when I got the credit card). She asked me if I could make a payment right now. I said no that I was at work and preferred to discuss this matter through the mail. Within about 10 seconds she proceeded to tell me that this was going to their ‘legal department’… which I promptly told her “Great.. get on with it” and that was that. It never went to their legal department.

The point I’m trying to make is that if you don’t have any money to pay them with.. write these bill collectors a letter (registered) and don’t talk with them on the phone. The only purpose it serves is for them to get you on the phone and proceed to tell lies and intimidate you. Being in Debt Prison is difficult enough without these types of conversations further ruining your day.

Should you change your phone number?

Changing your phone number may not be a bad idea if you have multiple creditors with whom you’re defaulting on. This way you’ll force them to deal with you via snail mail. However, if your particular phone number is important to you then there are other options.

If you have a home phone and a computer there’s a little trick that you may find beneficial. I had a desktop computer that I left on all day. I also had a phone line plugged into the back of it. I downloaded phone tray for free. Phone tray is a free caller i.d. and call blocker combined into one. Once a bill collector calls you, you can program their number into phone tray and then select how you want their call to be blocked. I always gave them the “We’re sorry, the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected or is no longer in service.” Phone tray has a variety of audio cuts that you can use. The only problem I encountered is that the phone would still ring once if it was a bill collector. So if the phone rang more than once, I knew it was actually someone I wanted to talk to.

Cease and Desist

You can also write a collection agency (not the original creditor) a ‘Limited Cease and Desist’ letter. This informs them to only contact you by snail mail. Keep a copy, send the letter registered, and attach the usps receipt to your copy of the letter. Keep all correspondence within a folder under lock and key.

I would also like to request, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment. If your offices attempt telephone communication with me, including but not limited to computer generated calls and calls or correspondence sent to or with any third parties, it will be documented, considered harassment, and I will have no choice but to seek a legal course of action against your office. All future communications with me must be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter by USPS.

You can also throw in the kitchen sink and write a Debt Validation Letter. I recommend the kitchen sink if you feel that the collection agency isn’t treating you fairly.

Other options for Rhonda

1. Call her back and tell her you’re broke because you had to wine and dine her husband.

2. Tell them to get a judgment if they can because you are ready to shut them down in front of the local Judge who happens to be your brother.

3. Tell them at every dime they wouldn’t be getting much cause as a woman in the USA you only earn 60% of wages of fellow male co-workers.

Now on a serious note… talking on the phone with bill collectors is usually a bad idea 90% of the time.

Don’t call her back unless you can pay all of the debt back in one final swoosh.

If it goes to court you can go and represent yourself (not as scary as it sounds) in which case the judge may declare you owe the money and you can pay a little each month until the judgment is satisfied.

But there’s not much you can do about her rude manner. She’s got your number and it’s her job to call and push and push until they get a payment. Put yourself in their shoes… how would you collect money from people who didn’t or couldn’t pay? The other option is to record the conversations if it’s legal in your state. Inform the collection agency that you have a recording of their violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. And that you are prepared to file suit against their company if these violations continue.