HOW TO STOP THE BILL COLLECTORS FROM ANNOYING YOU

      There is a Federal Law known as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  This law gives a very large amount of protection to people in debt.  Many people think that they have to put up with phone calls, letters, and other harassing techniques from creditors.  This is simply not true, especially if they have hired an attorney to represent them.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a very powerful federal law. The law says that a debt collector cannot do any of the following:
1)Cannot use harassing techniques. 
2)Cannot call at inconvenient times. 
3)Cannot call you at work if your employer does not permit such calls. 
4)Cannot make threats or mislead you.

     Once you have hired a lawyer to represent you, all you have to do is tell the debt collector that you are represented by an attorney with respect to this particular matter.  If you are going to file a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy or a chapter 13 bankruptcy, you can simply tell the debt collector that you have hired a lawyer to file bankruptcy.  That statement alone under the Federal Law is enough to make the debt collector stop calling you or writing you letters.  If the debt collector continues to contact you after they know that you are represented by an attorney, that debt collector may be violating the Federal Law and you might have a lawsuit against the debt collector.

     Under the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act, a person can collect $1,000 per violation of the law.  Sometimes it is good to tape record conversations with debt collectors if they are harassing you. Just telling the debt collector  that you are taping the conversation, will normally stop the debt collector from saying anything inappropriate, and you will probably find that many  times he/she will just hang up.

     If you are retaining our office to represent you for a bankruptcy, I would suggest that you make a statement such as the following.
I call this the “Magic Words”.

“I have hired a lawyer to represent me and I am filing a Chapter 13
 Bankruptcy.  My lawyer is Seymour Wasserstrum, 205 Landis Avenue, Vineland, New Jersey. 

His phone number is 856-696-8300. If you have any questions, please do not call me any more.  Please call Mr. Wasserstrum.  He has told me that there is a Federal Law that prohibits you from calling me any further once I have given you this information. I know that I am protected by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  Thank you.”

     If you have any questions, please feel free to call our office.  If someone is harassing you, do not be upset.  Merely ask that person for his/her full name and telephone number.  We can take action against that person if your rights are being violated.  We might be able to help you get $1000 each time your rights are violated. Therefore, do not be afraid of debt collectors.  Once you know what your rights are, you can be protected by Federal Law.