Yes, You Can Stop Debt Collectors From Calling

Yes, you can stop debt collectors from calling you. Federal law, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, (“FDCPA”) requires debt collectors to stop calling if you send them a written request. Once your written notice for telephone calls to stop has been received by a debt collector, financial penalties of $500 to $1,500 can be awarded per violation.

What You Need To Do To Stop Debt Collection Calls:

    1. Write a letter setting out your name and address.

    2. Set out the specific telephone numbers that you do not want them to call.

    3. State that all future communication with you should be in writing only.

Send the letter by the U. S. Postal Service, Certified Mail. Make sure you use  Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, so you get the green postcard back showing that the debt collector received and signed for your letter. Use the address indicated on the debt collector’s statement or bill that is indicated for “correspondence or inquiry”.  Do not send the notice to their “remittance” address.  A lot of companies have a payment processing center that receives all the payments by mail and if there is anything mailed to that address other than a payment, it more than likely will end up in the garbage.

Keep the green signature card and staple it to a copy of the letter you mailed.

Answer the phone. Calls on cell phones and home phones that are not picked up are hard to prove. Keep a written record of any future phone calls you receive after the debt collector received your notice.

If the calls persist, lets talk about the possibilities of bringing a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act claim against the debt collector. If you’re not in the Mississippi area, the National Association of Consumer Advocates has a list of attorneys by area who would be able to help you with this. http://www.naca.net/find-attorney