Stopping Harassing Phone Calls From Creditors
So a friend of mine is dealing with harassing phone calls from a creditor. She made some sort of arrangement (deferment?), they forgot about it or something, which made her behind, so she made another arrangement whereby they take some money out of her checking account automatically every two weeks. They call several times a day, every day, still. She misses most of the calls (she works regular business hours, Monday through Friday), but she gets them on the weekends. They'll phone, she'll answer, she'll inform them of the payment arrangements, and most of the time, they'll back off immediately upon verifying the accuracy of what she's saying. Usually, they stop the phone calls for the day, but they'll always start again the next day.
So I told her she doesn't need to deal with this, if she doesn't want to, and dug up the language for her to put in a letter to mail to them to make them stop. I figured some of you might benefit from it, too, so I thought I'd post it here. There's no need to pay anyone (at least in Louisiana) to "make the phone calls stop," as so many businesses advertise; just write them a letter with the correct information.
Pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statute RS 9:3562, I hereby notify you to cease and desist all attempts to contact me, except once per month by postal mail, effective immediately.
LaRS 9:3562 reads, in relevant part:
"(3) If the debtor has defaulted on his promise to pay, and if he has given specific notice in writing by registered or certified mail, instructing the creditor to cease further contacts with the debtor in regard to the indebtedness, the creditor shall thereafter limit mail contacts to one notice per month so long as the notice is not designed to threaten action not otherwise permitted by law. If the debtor has instructed the creditor to cease further contact, as heretofore provided, the creditor may make a maximum of four personal contacts
with the debtor for the purpose of settling the obligation provided such contacts are not designed to threaten action not otherwise permitted by law."
Thank you for your cooperation with this law.
(The quoted bit is the statute; feel free to change/omit/whatever any of the non-quoted part, except for the numbers of the statute!) If you're curious, the rest of the statute is here.
Now, this is for Louisiana, but I'd be surprised if at least some of the other states don't have similar statutes. Ours are searchable online, so perhaps yours are, too.
So I told her she doesn't need to deal with this, if she doesn't want to, and dug up the language for her to put in a letter to mail to them to make them stop. I figured some of you might benefit from it, too, so I thought I'd post it here. There's no need to pay anyone (at least in Louisiana) to "make the phone calls stop," as so many businesses advertise; just write them a letter with the correct information.
Pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statute RS 9:3562, I hereby notify you to cease and desist all attempts to contact me, except once per month by postal mail, effective immediately.
LaRS 9:3562 reads, in relevant part:
"(3) If the debtor has defaulted on his promise to pay, and if he has given specific notice in writing by registered or certified mail, instructing the creditor to cease further contacts with the debtor in regard to the indebtedness, the creditor shall thereafter limit mail contacts to one notice per month so long as the notice is not designed to threaten action not otherwise permitted by law. If the debtor has instructed the creditor to cease further contact, as heretofore provided, the creditor may make a maximum of four personal contacts
with the debtor for the purpose of settling the obligation provided such contacts are not designed to threaten action not otherwise permitted by law."
Thank you for your cooperation with this law.
(The quoted bit is the statute; feel free to change/omit/whatever any of the non-quoted part, except for the numbers of the statute!) If you're curious, the rest of the statute is here.
Now, this is for Louisiana, but I'd be surprised if at least some of the other states don't have similar statutes. Ours are searchable online, so perhaps yours are, too.