In the state of Michigan, can creditors legally harass you? I mean daily, and sometimes up to 4 times a day.?

Question

EXAMPLE:
Doctors office, Phone Company, Gas company, credit card company

Answer 1

Until you clearly state to them you no longer wish to be contacted. Once you tell them that, under the Fair Debt Reporting Act, they cannot contact you again.

However, you still owe the debt.

Answer 2

Get Caller ID - not an answering machine. Then you can see who's calling, and simply not answer. They'll keep calling, but you don't have to put up with their harassment. But be careful some collection firms have rigged their phone systems so that YOUR home phone number comes up on YOUR Caller ID when they call you. Don't answer those calls either! Most people really want to pay their bills, but when times get tough they certainly don't need to be harassed by collection agencies. If you're genuinely unable to pay your bills, work with a credit counselor to arrange some kind of payment plan. If you're just a deliberate deadbeat, tell them all to go f*** themselves. Or, file bankruptcy. It's not as 'taboo' as you might think; doctors and lawyers do it all the time as soon as they're out of college to get out of repaying their education loans so they can start 'fresh' with a new practice and no debts to pay.
That's how they get rich from the very beginning of their career.
Politicians, of course, simply don't pay their bills and somehow never seem to get harassed. Maybe that's why every politician in America is such a weasel. -RKO-

Answer 3

You can be called at home until you retain a lawyer. Legally they are not allowed to call you at work if you tell them not to.

If you retain a lawyer then they have to contact the lawyer with all of their questions (though they will be asses about it and do it anyway, just log the calls and they will end up getting fined. This happened to me.)

Changing your phone number, etc. will only land you in court or having your paycheck garnished.

Answer 4

It's not harassment.
They want (and deserve) their money.
They call me, too. I pay my bills as I can, and I intend to pay every one of them. Just not always by the deadline on which they are expected. If I know I can't pay, I don't answer the phone. If I can pay, I do answer. Otherwise, I just get the money in the mail as soon as possible.
Otherwise, I would feel like I was stealing.

Answer 5

They can only call and talk to you once a day or leave one message on your answering machine....

That is why a lot of times you get home and see the same phone number over and over again and no message....they will try again before 9pm your time... None of the calls count as one as long as they didn't leave a message or talk with you....

Mail them a letter specifying that they should communicate with you via mail only

Answer 6

well i don't owe anyone money and they call me too wanting to upgrade my cable or change my gas company and stuff, i just ignore them or hang up on them after i find out who is on the phone. Guess it's legal and cant do anything about it.

Answer 7

Check out this site. You will probably need to fish around a little bit though once you're there but it's a government site about debt management and the like.

http://www.michigan.gov/cis/0,1607,7-154-10555_13648-26236--,00.html

Best to you.

Answer 8

Not sure, but I know you can offer to settle with them for 50 cents on the dollar and a lot of times they will take it

Answer 9

You can be called on untill you get a lawyer to file bankruptcy.

Answer 10

Go to work instead of loosing your time on the internet.
Maybe then you'd be able to pay your bills.