How to Stop Debt Collectors from Calling You and Make Them Go Away for Good

The first thing to do when dealing with a debt collector is to understand what exactly is going on, what steps you need to take to get them to put up or shut up, and why what I am going to outline is right and proper and not simply a way to avoid debt.

When dealing with someone who calls you via the phone you have no idea who you are talking to.

For all you know it could be someone trying to get you to send them some of your life energy in the form of money.

A good example is when someone calls claiming to be your bank. If they request any information from you at all, would it really make sense to provide it?

Would it not make more sense to get their name, the branch that they work at, and their extension so that you can look up the number for the branch in question, call it, and request to speak with the one who just called at the extension they provided?

After all, if you just trust that they are who they say they are then it is entirely possible that you will be giving out your financial information to a complete stranger that is trying to drain your accounts.

When dealing with someone over the telephone, you have no lawful record of the conversation.

It is in your best interests to have everything in writing so that if push comes to shove you can show that you were trying to remedy the matter but the debt collector was being obtuse and abusive.

You do not know if the debt collector actually has any right to collect any debt from you.

While they will claim they do over the phone, you should make them prove their claim in writing. After all, if they will not testify in writing that they have the right to collect any debt from you and then prove as much, paying them may not extinguish the debt.

You do not know positively that you actually owe a debt.

You may think that you owe a debt, but if the one claiming that you do cannot or will not prove that a debt actually exists, then perhaps the debt has already been written off by the original holder or extinguished in some other fashion.

Step One: Ending unwanted phone calls by debt collectors

If you are reading this, then perhaps you are in that dark place where we sometimes find ourselves believing that we have done something wrong, but are unable to make things right.

The first thing to do in dealing with such a problem is to quash unnecessary distractions. And by unnecessary distractions I mean the merciless phone calls that cause us to pick up the phone and hang up after but a moment should someone not immediately answer.

Rather than continue to avoid the phone calls, you need to get them to stop, and you can do so quite easily by simply answering the call and writing a letter or two.

Before you do so, you need to put together a phone script to use when the next call comes in. Keep in mind that your goal is to find out who is calling you, get a postal address, admit nothing, and agree to respond to them once they contact you in writing.

A good phone script will help you stay focused.

Check the resources at the end of this article for some good phone scripts which can be used to make debt collectors stop calling you.

If you have gotten a letter from the debt collector, you will need to respond to it in order to stop the calls and your phone script should confirm who is calling and give them notice that you are sending a response to their letter and that they should have it shortly.

If you are getting calls out of the blue, your phone script should remind them that they are obligated by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) to send you information regarding the alleged debt within five days of first contact. Of course, it should first get their name, who they are working for, and a mailing address and tell them that you wish to have no further contact with them by phone.

Once you have your phone script put together, make sure that anyone else who might answer the phone knows to give it to you when a debt collector calls and keep your phone script(s), a notepad, and a writing instrument somewhere handy.

What to do when you receive a call from the debt collector:

Each time someone calls, be sure to note the date, time, and who is calling.

Also, let them know whichever of the following is true then thank them for their time and hang up:
a) You are waiting for their initial writing as required by the FDCPA
b) You are writing a response to their letter and will have it in the mail within three days
c) You sent them a written response on [ date ]
d)You have received confirmation that they have received your written response and must remind them that, as per your letter, they are harassing you by calling you.

By sticking to your script, you can avoid unnecessarily speaking with them. They tend to record these phone calls and try to get you to say something which they can use against you, so talk to them no more than you need to and stick to the script.

By taking down their names, dates, and times, you establish a record that can be used later to prove harassment if you are so inclined.

Step Two: Determine if you are obligated to speak with the debt collector

After the initial call, you will need to sit down and write up a letter. Your letter will basically be to determine who is calling you and what right they have to do so.

All letters should have your name, address, and the date at the top, a place to write in the certified mail number just below that, the debt collectors name and address, and a line noted Re: with a reference to the date and/or subject of their letter.

You should save copies of all letters sent along with their certificate stub and, once receipt is returned to you, the receipt that shows the letter was delivered. Keep them together with the letter in question and store them in a safe place such as a file folder.

If you have not received an initial letter from the debt collector, keep in mind that they have five days to write you after their first phone contact or they are in violation of the FDCPA codified at USC 15 Section 809 which states, "Within five days after the initial communication with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt, a debt collector shall, unless the following information is contained in the initial communication or the consumer has paid the debt, send the consumer a written notice containing ..."

If they have not sent you a letter before calling, you can either wait for their first letter or send them an initial letter. Personally, I do not like to waste my time so I do not write them an initial letter, but rather wait for them to send theirs.

If you do feel the need to write them on the initial call when they have provided you no written notice as to what is going on, you can write up a letter as follows. Just keep in mind that you don't even know if the address is valid or if you were being prank called at this point.

The "Initial Call Without Initial Written Contact" letter should simply state that you received a phone call from someone claiming to be them who gave you the mailing address in question. The letter should contain:
1. The date and time of the call; and
2. The name of the one who called; and
3. The fact that the call was conveyed as an attempt to collect an alleged debt; and
4. The fact that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires that all debt collectors send written communication within five days of initial phone contact; and
5. The fact that you want to maintain a record of all contact on this matter and so they should write you rather than calling you; and
6. A plain "Do not call me" statement.

If they did send you a letter before they started calling, your first letter should be to confirm that you have an obligation to speak with them concerning the alleged debt. It should include:
1. The fact that you received their letter
2. The fact that you do not know them
3. The fact that you will not speak with them concerning any of their claims until such time as they provide a verified copy of the contract between them and the alleged creditor or verified proof that they have purchased the alleged debt and are now the holder in due course of it.
4. The fact that once you receive such you will be happy to speak with them concerning their claims.
5. A reiteration that you are maintaining a record and do not agree to speak on the matter via phone.
6. A note that they have thirty days within which to respond or they tacitly agree that you have no obligation to them.

If their initial letter does not state the following then they are already violating the FDCPA:
1. The amount of the debt; and
2.The name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed; and
3. A statement that the debt will be assumed to be valid if you do not dispute the debt; and
4. A statement that if you notify them that you dispute the validity of the debt they will get and mail you either verification of the claimed debt or a copy of the judgment against you; and
5. A statement that they will provide you with the name and address of the original creditor if it is different than the original creditor if you ask for it

Once you have finished your initial response letter send it via the united states post office, certified mail return receipt. Doing so should cost you about five dollars.

Be sure to get the certified mail number and write it on the top of this document before sealing and sending it off.

If possible, make a copy of your letter and bring a friend, a pen and some paper so that your friend can write up a quick affidavit denoting that they personally witnessed you place a copy of the attached letter in an envelope, sealed it, and sent it via certified mail # (number). This is, of course, not required, but it helps to authenticate that you did actually send the claimed letter via the certified mail number noted.

You may or may not continue to receive phone calls on this matter.

If you do, try to stay calm and collected and stick to your phone script, noting down the date/time/caller in each instance and adding only that either you have sent the letter or are in receipt of the written notice showing that you did in fact write them and request that no further contact to you by phone should be made.

Once you have written the letter and they have signed for it, further calls from them will amount to their violating the FDCPA codified at USC 15 Section 805(c) which states "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, ..."

Typically, they cannot respond to your first letter because most debt collectors work off of purchasing account information from purported creditors that have written off the debt already and as such (a) are not a party to any contract which you are a party to, (b) are not agents of any creditor you may have a valid contract to, and (c) do not hold any valid debt which you are obligated to pay. By the time a debt gets to a debt collector it has generally been extinguished. The exception of course, is if the debt collector is actually an agent of the purported creditor.

If the debt collector does respond in writing within thirty days, you want to make sure that the letter sent to you was responsive. Also, remember that at this point there is only an alleged debt.

By responsive, I mean that the debt collector provided a valid contract signed by himself or an agent of the company he works for and the alleged creditor or an agent of the alleged creditor. The contract should clearly show that either the debt collector works as an agent of the alleged creditor or has purchased the debt from the alleged creditor.

If the debt collector proves that he is an agent of the alleged creditor then you now know the following:
1. He has a right to speak with you on the matter.
2. Any agreement reached between you and the debt collector is binding upon the creditor.
3. The debt collector is bound by the limits of the contract with the creditor.

If the debt collector proves that he has purchased the debt from the creditor then you now know the following:
1. The creditor has written the debt off, extinguishing it as far as they are concerned.
2. The debt collector cannot make you do more than he could have if he were an agent of the creditor. This means no crazy fees, fines, or charges.

If the debt collector DID NOT provide any contract showing his relation to the alleged creditor you can either (a) write back to put him on notice that his letter was non-responsive because he failed to provide you with a validated copy of his contract with the alleged creditor and has X days left to provide a responsive answer or (b) if he used standard first class mail toss it in the trash and forget that you ever got it.

Most would say to do (a), and I would agree if the debt collector has been courteous and stopped calling when asked to do so. However, since I have never heard of a debt collector that acted with any hint of decency, I typically toss such letters in the trash as the debt collector will be completely unable to show that you received the letter should the matter go to court and I consider such non-responsive letters to be a way to attempt to hoodwink me into paying them.

Should you opt to write them back, simply include the following in your letter:
1. You received the letter.
2. The letter is non-responsive as it does not contain either a verified contract between the debt collector and the alleged creditor or a verified sale agreement between the alleged creditor and the debt collector showing that the debt collector is the holder in due course of the debt.

Step Three: Make the debt collector validate the debt

Your second letter is going to be to demand that they provide you with validation of the purported debt against you as required by the FDCPA. Do yourself a favor and look up the words "validate" and "debt" in a law dictionary as this will help you see what you want to ask for.

Your validation of debt letter should only be sent once they have provided proof that they are either an agent of the creditor or the holder in due course of the account which they claim has debt. It should include:
1. A statement that their communication with you is subject to the FDCPA.
2. It is not now and never has been your intention to avoid any debt that you lawfully owe.
3. The debt collectors claim is disputed.
4. The debt collector must, per FDCPA 15 USC 1692, stop all collection activity concerning the alleged debt until they have sent you the requested verification.
5. Verification consists of documents sworn true, complete, and correct under penalty of perjury
6. Validation of the debt shall consist of a verified copy of a judgment against you or verified copies of the original, valid contract signed by you and the original alleged creditor and a verified, full accounting of the alleged debt and a verified copy of any instruments used to provide the credit creating the alleged debt.
7. Notice that copies, statements, bills, summaries, agreements, and such do not constitute validation of the alleged debt and that such things sent, without including true validation of the debt, are non-responsive.
8. Notice that their failure to provide validation of the debt within thirty days shall constitute agreement that they have no bona fide claim against you concerning the account in question.
9. Notice that you want everything in writing so that you can maintain accurate records.
10. Notice that calling you shall constitute harassment.

As with the first letter, be sure to send this one via certified mail, return receipt and write the certified mail number at the top of the letter before sealing it. Also, be sure to add the certified mail stub and a copy of this letter to your record.

Step Four: Negotiating payment arrangements for any debt you do owe.

Oddly enough, you will probably never get to the point of having to arrange to pay any debt collector. However, if the alleged creditor actually does bother to show who they are and validate the debt, then it is time for you to make good on your promise and see if you can work out something that will be satisfactory to both you and the creditor.

Simply go over your finances and see what you can afford to pay. Make sure to give yourself a little breathing room, but be honest and pay what you can.

Afterward: Key ideas to remember

1. Do not disagree or argue. Instead, agree conditionally. This puts the ball back in the debt collectors court and forces them to prove something to continue. They are the one making a claim, let them prove it. Courts can only handle cases where there is disagreement...so if you are careful not to disagree then you will more than likely avoid court.

2. Be polite. No matter how hateful or rude the other guy is, keep the tone of your writing polite but firm. This goes a long way should you end up in court on the matter and keeping a level head will make the debt collector think twice about trying the court route.

3. Pay what you owe as best you can. Once they have validated the debt, do what you can. That is all a creditor can really expect...and all you can really do.

References:
"Fair Debt Collection Practices Act", Fair Trade Commission