Universal cease communication

[thegame26]

I know you can send a letter to a DC/CA ordering cease communication for the account they contacted you about.

Bur can you also add in a statement that also proclaims ceasing communcation for any and all future accounts they may require allegedily belonging to me.

[willingtocope]

You can try. Doesn't mean they have to obey.

(You should also note that C&D letters may not always be a good idea for an OC or CA. If you tell them NOT to communicate with you EVER, you leave them no choice but to drop their collection efforts (unlikely) or sue you. Also, they are allowed one more phone contact with you...to tell you what their intentions are).

[thegame26]

You can try. Doesn't mean they have to obey.

(You should also note that C&D letters may not always be a good idea for an OC or CA. If you tell them NOT to communicate with you EVER, you leave them no choice but to drop their collection efforts (unlikely) or sue you. Also, they are allowed one more phone contact with you...to tell you what their intentions are).

yeah I know. it was more of a hypotetical question more than anything.

[Robert Nashville/Savannah]

Each "debt" is its own, separate, legal issue and must be dealt with in that manner...you can't cover them all with one blanket.

[Optimus_SubPrime]

As a hypothetical, it's an interesting strategy.

A blanket "cease comm" probably wouldn't be binding based on the way the statute is written, but I don't see anything in 1692c© that would prevent you from pre-emptively specifying that, should the debt collector acquire any specific account, they should consider themselves notified that you refuse to pay it, and not bother you with any collection attempts.

You could target the 20 or 30 largest debt collectors and pre-emptively send them a list of accounts you refuse to pay. As long as you named specific accounts, they would be obligated not to contact you about them except to tell you that they are ceasing collection, or may pursue a specific remedy. Unless anyone knows of any case law to the contrary, whether or not the collector purchased the account when you notify them is statutorily irrelevant. If they fail to record your specific notice, and send out a collection letter after purchasing the account, they would've violated the FDCPA.

It would make sense, too -- it's easy to see why someone being hounded by collectors for a debt they don't owe might choose to be proactive and spend $20 on stamps to notify the debt collectors most likely to purchase the account to leave him alone, in order to save himself the irritation of continued collection activity.

[ThisDernCredit]

I am in favor of the concept.