Q. I am dealing with two creditors. My husband and I are willing to pay but only what we can afford at this time. They have refused to accept what we have offered. They said that we are considered refusing to pay if we do not agree to pay what they want us to pay and continue to call after we requested they stop. What are our rights?
A. I am assuming you are not dealing with the original creditor, but a collection agency which has been hired to collect your debt or has purchased the account.
The first question, what do we do if the creditor refuses what we can pay? The answer is you can’t legally force the creditor to take any payment you’ve offered, whether it be a collection agency or an original creditor. If this is a collections firm, you could request debt validation. To learn about debt validation, read our debt validation article with complete, free details.
The best thing to do is to wait it out and save up money to pay off the debts in one fell swoop. You will get a much better deal if you make a lump sum settlement offer. Instead of making payments to a collection agency, make them to a personal savings account. Making payments to a collection agency is usually a terrible idea anyway. Hidden fees tend to be tacked on over time so the debt never gets paid off.
Another thing you could do when a collection agency refuses to make a deal is to ask them to halt all contact, which leads us to your second question.
If you are dealing with a collection agency, to request them to cease contact with you, you must write and mail them a letter. In this written letter, you have to be careful in your wording. You can’t ask to limit contact to a specific method – for instance, to stop calling you but tell them writing you is OK. You can’t tell them to stop contacting you at work only. When you ask a collection agency to stop contacting you, you must ask them to stop all contact completely.
Requesting ceasing of contact is your right under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. Don’t forget to send this letter registered mail, return receipt requested. You can look at an example in our cease and desist sample letter.
If you are dealing with an original creditor, there is no law telling them they have to stop calling or writing you. This is another reason to wait things out – eventually the debt will go to collections and then you can write and have them cease contact with you.
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Collection agencies cannot add “hidden fees”. They must abide by the original contract and or state laws.
Also, if you want you can be very specific as to when, how and where they may contact you per
the FDCPA § 805 15 USC 1692c which states..
In the absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a debt collector shall assume that the convenient time for communicating with a consumer is after 8 o’clock antimeridian and before 9 o’clock postmeridian, local time at the consumer’s location.
This means you can give a collector specific times and places as to when they can call or tell them you only want to be contacted in writing. I personally would never tell a collection agency to stop calling. There are so many FDCPA violations that collectors commit that it is actually to the consumers’ advantage to let them keep calling and writing. You don’t even have to answer any of the calls or letters. The messages they leave and the wording of the letters are many times actionable/ sueable violations and you can make up to $1000.00 per violation. There are many attorneys that handle these suits for you…no charge to the debtor.
Also…I am assuming you are dealing with a collection agency…if you want to, send them the money you are offering. I have been in the collection industry since 1972, I have never known a collection agency to return money. Keep in mind once you make a payment it re-starts the Statute of Limitations on your debt. That means the time limit on how long they have to sue you. Don’t mistake the Statute with the time they are allowed to report to credit bureaus. They are 2 seperate issues. The Statute runs from the date of last payment, credit reporting is governed by the last time your account was current/ up to date. Here is a clue when dealing with collection agencies. They have monthly goals to meet. They will always be more agreeable to settlements and payment arrangements at the very end of the month. Be prepared to do a check over the phone, call them on the second to last day of the month. You will almost always get better results.