How to Stop Telephone Collection Harassment

You can reduce or stop collections calls with legal action.

While U.S. telemarketers were forbidden, effective September 1, 2009, to make computer-generated calls to homeowners without prior written consent, debt collectors were exempted from this law. The obvious way to end debt-related calls, of course, is to pay your bills. Actually, taking the call and politely explaining your situtation to the representative can make the calls less frequent. There are even ways that might stop the calls entirely.

Instructions

1. Verify that the caller is a debt-collection agency or creditor. You can look up the number on your caller ID at any of the following sites: whocalled.us, whocallsme.com and 800notes.com. If it is, in fact, a debt-collection agency and you won't or can't pay the debt, proceed to Step 2.

2. Call back the debt-collection agency or creditor at the number given in its message. If it leaves no message, pick up when it next calls. Request a "written collections notice sent via U.S. Mail." It has five business days from the date of the phone call to comply. If it calls during this period (your phone records will document the call), you may sue in federal court for up to $1,000 plus legal fees for violating the Federal Debt Collection Practice Act (FDCPA). If it sends you the written collections notice, the debt collector can begin calls after a 30-day waiting period expires. If the calls begin again, go to Step 3.

3. Locate a contact address on the written collections notice you received. Don't use a P.O. box; you need a street address. Sometimes it's deliberately buried in the fine print of the notice.

4. Write to the contact address for proof of its identity (since it's asking you to send money). Ask for proof of the agency's right to collect debt in your own state, not the state in which the agency is located. Ask for the debt amount. Ask for an explanation of any discrepancies you find in debt amounts the agency and creditor report. Ask for the original lender's name and address, and how the agency acquired the debt.

5. Request that the agency not contact you by phone---only by mail. From the date of the return receipt forward, you can sue it for up to $1,000 (again) for violating the FDCPA, the debt-collection act.

6. Send the letter "certified mail with return receipt" at the post office and keep the receipt.

7. Hire a lawyer to sue for the FDCPA violations if calls continue after the date the agency signs the return receipt. List each violation for the lawyer, to maximize the statutory damages award. Don't let legal fees discourage you from getting a lawyer, since they are covered in damages if you win.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're not paying your bill because of transgressions on the part of the biller, contact the Better Business Bureau to put the pressure of public scrutiny on it.

References

• Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Resources

• Sample Letter to Debt Collector