how can i keep a debt collector from calling my place of employment?

Question

we have a debt from a cell phone company. we went over the allotted minutes, thought we had rollover minutes, but they expired. we did not know that they expired. we went from having 800t extra minutes one month to no rollover minutes the next month. the company said they had all expired. i can not find this in the contract anywhere-except for a few lines that say rollover minutes expire after 12 months of accumulation. yet each month they are accruing. what you "earn" in february, expires the next february. does not make sense to me. we had a large bill, which we refused to pay, which is now in the 2nd collection agency. anyone deal with this? and what might our options be? we have so-so credit, we know if we dont pay this , it will be a detriment to our credit, but my husband insists they can take us to court and we can fight it out there. any one with similar stories? any advice will be greatly appreciated

Answer 1

Here is a sample "cease comm" letter, courtesy of the budhibbs.com site.

Your Name
Your Address
City, State, Zip

(Sent via CERTIFIED RETURN MAIL #123 456 789 with RETURN RECEIPT)

Date:

XYZ Collection Agency/Law Firm
1234 Main Street, #100
Any town, USA 10021

Re: File #0000000 - ABC Bank - #4445566778899000 -For: $5555.55

Dear Debt Collector /Debt Collector Attorney:

This will serve as your legal notice under provisions of federal law, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), to cease all communication with me in regard to the debt referenced above.

If you fail to heed this notice, I will file a formal complaint against you with the Federal Trade Commission who is responsible for enforcement, the States Attorney General office and/or the American Collectors Association or local State Bar Association.
I/We have decided that we do not desire to work with a collection agency under any circumstances. I/We will contact the original creditor to resolve this matter directly, as circumstances warrant.

You are also notified that should any adverse information be placed against my/our credit reports as a result of this notice that appropriate actions will be taken. Give

this very important matter the attention it deserves.

Sincerely,

John J. Consumer


I would also indicate in the letter that you are not to be contact telephonically at your home, place of employment, or through third parties, as they have correct contact information and this would not be for "locator information."

Personally, I would pay it, especially if your credit isn't too bad...a new collection account would knock your scores down.

Addendum: Gregg has a good idea about telling them that calls are recorded..however, be sure that it is legal in your state, because in some states it can be a crime.

Answer 2

What is your question ... how to fight the bill or how to make them not call you at work. Fighting the bill is futile, if you are talking about cingular/Att then it clearly explains rollover in your contract. If you want to know how to make the bill collectors not call you at work ... Just tell them. If they do it again it's against the law.


Tip of the day:
If a bill collector calls you, the first thing out of your mouth should be. "I am advising you that I record all phone calls on this number and if you object to being recorded you need to hang up now." Most will. Some will try to tell you that it is illegal to do that ... It isn't. At least they know they are on record and that puts a damper on their abusive behavior. If they did call you at work, I guarantee they will hang up and not do so in the future. In fact, having personal knowledge of how these companies work, they will usually abandon trying to collect from you and pass you off to some other collection agency.

Answer 3

The quickest way for this to end up in court is if you send the letter that is posted.
That letter is a "full" cease & desist letter, which means the collection agency can only contact you "once" after receiving the full C&D. They cannot use that one contact to collect but only to inform you of what they plan on doing with the account, sell it or sue you.

Send them a limited C&D that says:
I am requesting, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or place of business as it is inconvenient to me.
All future communications with me must be done in writing and sent by USPS to the address noted in this letter.

Be sure to keep the word inconvenient in the letter since it is the FTC's wordage for ceasing telephone collection calls.


There is always a chance that they may sue.

If you are still within the collecting SOL you should request validation and after they provide proper validation, try to work a deal out with them. You could try to get them to accept a smaller amount as payment in full and to remove anything they have placed on your reports (if they have)

If you are out of the collecting SOL, you do have a legal right to inform the collection agency that the debt is time barred and no longer legally collectible..

Phone bills generally fall under the UCC for utilities with a 4 year collecting SOL. But as always you should check your states SOL statutes.

Answer 4

and if they keep calling you keep a log of it. They are only allowed to call during certain hours and only about 3 times a week. You even ask them to do all correspondence thru the mail.

Did you ever think that going to court would cost more then the bill? You should contact the cell phone company and the BBB to report them if won't show written documentation of what they are claiming.

Answer 5

There's this handy law saying that if you tell a debt collector to not call you, they cannot call you. So write them a letter and tell them that all correspondence must be in mail.