SHOULD YOU SEND "LEAVE ME ALONE" LETTERS TO COLLECTORS?

You may or may not know that the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) allows you to send a cease and desist letter to your creditors, telling them to stop contacting you about your debt. Assuming your creditors follow the law--a large assumption--your letter will stop creditors from writing you, or calling you. If your creditors violate or ignore your letter, they are liable under the FDCPA.

You will be left alone. No annoying phones. No annoying messages. Peace and serenity, at last. Sounds good. Right?

Well, there are pros and cons to sending such a letter to your creditors or collectors:

PROS
-You'll be left alone.
-If they violate your letter, they're violating the law, and you can sue them.

CONS
-If they can't call you or write to you, and they see you've cut off the lines of communication, they may just go straight to suing you.
-Most creditors violate the law through what they say or write to you, or when they contact you. So if you cut that off, you're limiting their opportunity to violate the law, and thus, your ability to sue them and try to get your debt erased or minimized.
-No communications means no settlement offers. So if you can pay a portion of the debt, you'll never know what their offers to settle may be.

So, think about whether you want to use the FDCPA's powerful "leave me alone" tool of a cease and desist letter. This is especially true if you are not a bankruptcy candidate, and thus, need to have some avenue to defend yourself on these debts, because you won't be able to discharge them.

Questions? Call us at 954 987-0515 or check us out at http://www.jasonweaverpa.com/.