How to Stop Collection Letters and Calls

Collection agencies can be extremely persistent. They've been known to call neighbours, friends and family members in an attempt to track people down and collect bills. Many people have suffered erroneous collection attempts that are both extremely inconvenient and potentially damaging to credit reports. Regardless of whether you truly owe a bill, collection agencies do not have the right to harass you. If you're receiving unwanted communications from collections agencies, follow these simple steps to stop collection letters and phone calls.

Write everything down!
This one is short and easy, but make a note of every time you have contact with the collections agency. Note the time, date, person you spoke with, phone number, and any other pertinent information. If you have these contacts well documented, it's much easier to prove that a collections agency has violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act - which gives you leverage to stop collection agency harassment.

Don't ignore the collections agency.
Even if you feel the account isn't yours or you don't have the money to pay the collections agency, don't ignore collections phone calls and letters. Collections agencies can take legal action to collect a debt if they don't get a response, although most are not equipped to take this step. More importantly, though, it is within your rights to control the means that the collection agency uses to contact you or even to stop it entirely.

How to stop collection agency calls.
Here's the invaluable tip to stop collections agency calls: tell them to stop calling. If you instruct a collection agency to contact you only by mail, most legitimate collections agencies will do it. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, collections agencies may be found in violation of your rights if they take excessive measures to collect a debt. If you speak with a collections agent over the phone, get the agent's name, the name and address of the collections agency, the creditor for whom they're attempting to collect and balance and account information for the outstanding collections item.

Once you've got all the necessary information, inform the collections agent that you will only deal with them via written correspondence, and send a follow-up letter to stop collection calls to the agency to confirm the requirement that all communications be in writing. It's that easy to stop credit collections calls. If the collections agency continues to contact you by phone, inform them that you have previously advised them that you will only communicate with them via written communication, and that if they continue to call, it constitutes harassment. Harassment is prohibited under the FDCPA, so only a truly foolhardy (or desperate) collections agency will continue to call you.

How to stop debt collection.
Once you receive notice of a collection action, you have 30 days to dispute that collection action. This 30 days runs from the first point of contact - be it a telephone call or a written letter from the creditor. If you dispute the validity of a debt, the collections agency must provide verification of the outstanding account. During this dispute period, the collections agency cannot put anything on your credit report. The collections agency must halt their attempt to collect the debt until the investigation of your dispute is completed. If the collections agency attempts to contact you before they provide verification of your debt, they may be in violation of the FDCPA.

If the debt is legitimate, set up a payment plan.
Ignoring collections calls for legitimate debt can only buy you time, temporarily. In many cases, ignoring these calls can actually make things worse for your collection case. If you legitimately owe a debt, try to work with the collections agency or creditor to set up a payment plan. By ignoring collections calls or sending a letter to a collection agency to stop contacting you, you can open yourself up for legal action. It doesn't always happen, and there are phrases you can use with a collection agency to turn away their business, but some collection agencies really due pursue legal action, get a judgment against you and even garnish your wages or levy your bank account. If you legitimately owe the debt, it's easier to set up a payment plan that you can afford in order to repay the debt. This part is very important: don't be bullied into paying more than you can afford. If you commit to high monthly payments that you can't make, you may get into credit trouble with other creditors or default on your repayment plan and you'll just be back at square one.

For more information on how to avoid debt collection, check out the Credit Secrets Bible. It contains tons of tips and secret insider information on how to get leverage with collection agencies and how to stop collection letters and calls. Don't live with harassment any longer - take a stand against abusive collection agencies today!