Stop The Phone Calls
You’re doin’ your best to clean up your credit… you’re workin’ 2 jobs and takin’ PBJ’s to lunch everyday. You know you’re behind – but you’re WORKIN’ ON IT! All you really want is for the bill collectors to stop callin’ can just let you focus on getting this behind you.
Well, there are a couple of things you can do. Under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act you have every right to tell a collector to stop calling you, and to communicate in writing.
Many debt collectors would rather talk to you on the phone, that way there’s no record of what they are saying to you. But you have every right to tell them to stop calling you – and if they persist they are breaking the law, and in violation of the FDCPA.
When you communicate in writing then you have evidence that you requested that they stop calling, and that evidence could lead to a lawsuit in your favor. Send them a letter that states they must CEASE AND DESIST from contacting you further. Remember, this only applies to debt collectors.
Often times an account is turned over to a debt collector because your loan has been charged off or is in default. The original Creditor has every right to contact you regarding any payments.
Once you send the CEASE AND DESIST letter, the bill collector can contact you one more time. This contact is to let you know that they are (in essence) giving up and further efforts to collect the debt are terminated, that they MIGHT take further actions as a debt collector, or that they are definitely going to take certain actions against you.
According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act – any communications by the debt collector after this single instance allows you to seek punitive action against them. The best case scenario – assuming you are working to pay the debts off – is to have the account transferred back to the original creditor so that you can make payment arrangements that work within your budget.
If you want help on getting your credit scores higher – or you want to know how to get higher credit scores – call Steve Thorne, 919-649-5058, Credit Repair Specialist.
