is a company in violation of the fair credit act if they continue to call your home/business when told not to?

Answer 1

No. You need to send them a cease and desist letter for them to stop calling. They can only call between 8AM and 9PM, and can't call when they know it's an inconvenience (like if you work nights and they know it). I *beleive* that they can't call your job if you request that they don't, but I'm not 100% sure on that one. If you send them a cease-and-desist letter, be sure to send it certified mail and keep the receipt

Answer 2

Fax them a written notice not to call you at work. State that your employer does not allow collection calls at work. In most states, they can call you at home during "reasonable and convenient" hours, so get caller ID.

Most collection agencies get paid a large chunk of anything they collect. They got your account in the first place because you didn't pay the bill. So sometimes they will work out a plan with you to repay some or all of it on your terms, and this will stop the collection calls -- if you keep your end of the agreement.

HOWEVER, do not enter into any agreement or make any payments or even acknowledge the debt until you check the statutes in your state. In most states, after a certain period of time has gone by with no payments, a debt is legally uncollectible. This does not mean it won't go on your credit record and it does not mean that collection efforts must halt --- it simply means that the creditor cannot obtain a legal judgment IF the debtor raises the legal issue of time. So if the statute of limitations has expired, don't pay anything and do not acknowledge the debt in any form. Plus, informing the collection agency that the debt is not legally collectible in court will sometimes make them give up.

Answer 3

Violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is basically the only thing many collection agencies do. Send them a written notice to cease contacting you except to notify you of a lawsuit. It may or may not work, but nothing else will.

Answer 4

If they call you at work after you've written or verbally told them not to, yes.

As far as home goes, it depends. They have the right to continue to contact you to get their money back. You can tell them to stop all you want, they won't and don't have to.

However, if you're declaring bankruptcy, or just retained a lawyer for help in the matter, then they can no longer contact you at all. All correspondence has to go through the attorney.