Introduction
In 1966 The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692 was passed in order to protect American consumers from unfair collection practices. The Federal Trade Commission enforces this. According to this Act there is a legally enforceable way in which you can stop people from the credit company from calling you. However, this will not cancel the debt that you owe to the credit company. In order to use this Act to stop these calls, you must take the following steps.
Step 1
Write a letter to the credit company telling them to cease all contact with you in regard to the said debt. According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Section 805 once you notify the credit company in writing that you either refuse to pay the debt or that you want all contact to stop, the law says that the credit company must stop contacting you.
Step 2
Whenever you write the letter you should include information about the debt, a reference to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and a statement instructing the credit company to stop contacting you. Make sure that you also state that this letter is in no way an admission that you actually owe them the debt before signing and dating the letter. According to the the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act the credit company can’t contact you again except to tell you that they will no longer be contacting you or to tell you that they are going to pursue a different course of action such as filing a lawsuit against you.
Step 3
It is important for you to write this letter within 30 days from when you have received a notice from the credit company telling you that you owe a debt and instructing you as to how to respond if you are disputing this debt. If you don’t tell the credit company in this letter to stop contacting you and only said that you don’t owe the debt or that you need some type of verification, then the collector is able to send you additional information about the debt and start contacting you in regard to this debt.
Step 4
Once you write a cease and desist letter to the collector, you need to make a copy of it for in your personal files. Start a file with this letter at the top of it. In this folder you should also save any other documents that are related either to the letter itself, the debt that you owe or the collection efforts that have been made in attempt to collect this debt.
Step 5
Now mail the original letter to the collection agency via the U.S. Postal Service’s certified mail. Make sure that you get a return receipt. This will cost you a small amount of money but is necessary for in the file that you have started. Once you have actually sent this letter off the Federal Trade Commission states that the notification is complete according to the rules of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. You will no longer receive any calls and if you do, the collector can be in legal trouble.
Tips
Fair debt collection practices can be found in the The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692.
Sources and Citations
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