Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), it’s your right to request that a collection agency cease communication with you; a right granted/protected by FDCPA Section 805(c). (It’s called a Cease and Desist Letter or C&D among us credit repair junkies) Basically, it does what it sounds like: forbids a collection agency to contact you once they receive your written request to cease communication. Lately, the question raised was whether a consumer can use the C&D letter to request only contact by letter, or request that the collection agency not contact you at work, etc., meaning the consumer could allow one form of communication, but not another. The answer is “no”.
If you exercise your right to use the C&D letter, you can’t say something like, “don’t contact me at work because I am not allowed to take phone calls and don’t contact me at home because it is inconvenient”. Many people are confused by what to ask for in a C&D letter because there is language in the FDCPA allowing the consumer to request a ceasing of communications; in a separate section of the FDCPA [Section 805(a)(3)], there is language about notifying a collection agency that they cannot contact a consumer at work because they’ve been informed that the consumer’s employer does not allow it. There is also language [FDCPA Section 805(a)(2)] stating that a collection agency cannot contact a consumer when they know it is inconvenient. Of course, the latter is very difficult to prove in court.
The bottom line is that if you send a cease communications letter to a collection agency, all communication, period, must stop. There is no need to spell out the situations in which communication is acceptable or send two separate communications. The request to cease communication will handle all communication situations. There has been a lively discussion about this over on our discussion boards.
By the way, the FDCPA clearly recognizes telephone contact as a legitimate and legal tool for collectors to use to contact consumers about the accounts they are collecting. The FDCPA was not enacted to give consumers a way to avoid their obligations nor to allow consumers to avoid all telephone contact. It was enacted to prevent illegal harassment from collection agencies.
Related posts:
- Do Collection Agency “Cease and Desist” Letters Prevent Response to Credit Disputes? The FDCPA was written with an eye towards protecting consumers...
- I’m Not Sure What to Say In My Letter to a Collection Agency Many people know they need to respond to a letter...
- New Service Provides Collection Agencies List of Clients in Litigation As an unintended consequence, consumers who defend themselves against collection...
- FTC Report Recommends Changes to Fair Debt Collection Practices Act On February 26, 2009 the FTC released a recommendation to...
I called at supervisor, and I told them: I lost my job, I have 3 kids, I haven’t home, so I can’t pay now, don’t call any more.