The FDCPA was written with an eye towards protecting consumers from collection agency harassment. Under the FDCPA, a collection agency must cease communication with a consumer upon written request from that consumer.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumers are allowed to directly dispute negative listings with information furnishers. An example of an information furnisher would be a collection agency or credit card company; anyone who is reporting information on a consumer’s report. Under the law, an information furnisher must respond to a investigation request about negative information within 30 days, or remove the negative mark. It is an effective credit repair technique.
What if you still want to challenge the listing on your credit report from a collection agency, but you’ve already sent them a cease and desist letter? Does the cease and desist letter you sent prevent the collection agency from responding to your disputes?
Until recently, the answer was unclear. To remove the confusion, the FTC recently issued final rules on accuracy of credit report information and allowing direct disputes.
In an action related to the direct dispute rule, the Commission is issuing an advisory opinion concluding that a debt collector does not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by responding to a direct dispute via a communication whose sole purpose is to comply with the direct dispute rule by stating either the results of the investigation or the collector’s belief that the communication is frivolous or irrelevant. Section 805(c) of the Act provides that, if a consumer has notified a debt collector in writing to stop communicating with the consumer, the collector must stop communicating with the consumer about the debt. The advisory opinion clarifies that, even if a consumer has asked a debt collector to stop communicating about a debt, the debt collector must still respond to the consumer’s direct dispute, as required by the new rules.
Therefore, under the new guidelines, even if a consumer sends a cease and desist letter to a collection agency, they may still send a request for an investigation per the Fair Credit Reporting Act and expect a response from the collection agency. This is an important victory for consumers, as it puts all available tools in their hands to protect themselves from harassing phone calls and inaccurate information placed on their credit reports by collection agencies.
Has anyone sent both and cease and desist letter and a request for an investigation to the same collection agency? Tell us about it by leaving a comment!
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What I have always done is to send “limited” cease and desist letters along with validation requests. I never wanted to give collection agencies or other furnishers an excuse to get out of proper validation, so my letters would demand all phone calls cease, and to only communicate in writing.
A collection agency harrassment can make your debt paid in full.
The harrassmentb rules are spelled out pretty clearly.
Here’s a more CEASE and DESIST letter I crafted. Please copy, repost, and use at will:
your name
your address
your phone # (optional)
today’s date
collection agency business name
address
RE: Account #_________
Dear Sir or Madam:
I request that (collection agency name) CEASE and DESIST immediately in its efforts to collect on the above referenced account. I will not deal with any collection agencies and I will only deal with the original creditor of this and all accounts bearing my name.
Furthermore, (collection agency name) and all its agents and assigns are hereby instructed to immediately CEASE and DESIST all contact with myself and with third parties such as my family members, employers, coworkers and the like, via telephone, including but not limited to computer generated calls, and via person to person contact at my places of residence and employment.
Any further communication with me regarding this account or any accounts bearing my name or phone number are to be conducted ONLY in writing via USPS to the above address.
Please attend to the actions required by your receipt of this letter immediately or face legal sanctions under applicable Federal and State law.
Sincerely,
your name
The only thing is that there is no “cease and desist” clause in the FDCPA, just a request to cease all communication.
§ 1692 c (c). (c) CEASING COMMUNICATION. If a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay a debt or that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease further communication with the consumer, the debt collector shall not communicate further with the consumer with respect to such debt, except –
(1) to advise the consumer that the debt collector’s further efforts are being terminated;
(2) to notify the consumer that the debt collector or creditor may invoke specified remedies which are ordinarily invoked by such debt collector or creditor; or
(3) where applicable, to notify the consumer that the debt collector or creditor intends to invoke a specified remedy.