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A View on Collection Calls

February 3rd, 2008 at 02:02 pm

I am in enormous debt as you can read from my prior post. The Feds are lowering the rates and I'm starting to see some slow activity in my business. However, it is confusing, one day the 30 year rate drops to 5.75% and then the next it is back to 6.125%, customers don't want to lock in because they think the rates are going down and I fear it's going to excite the market and make the rates go up. One customer accused me of not giving them my best rate after the rate jumped ... this gets very stressful and I just wish they would lock when they see what we have at application ... it's a gamble and if I knew what was going to happen, I'd be rich!

Even though I'm seeing some activity and maybe my income will increase, I'm overextended, behind on all my credit cards and have rates up to 29.99% with about $80 a month in extra fees on each card and there are 8 of them, with five creditors involved. There is no way I can recover from this without settling my accounts, my credit card payments were $2,500 a month when this started and now they are at $4,000, the debt is climbing. I don't even bring home that amount after tax and I still have two houses to deal with and two car loans, my cars are almost paid and we need both cars for work. So I will continue my plan to settle and clean up what I can. I'm figuring by April I may be able to take care of the first creditor.

In the meantime, my phone rings about 12 times a day from three of the creditors, not all of them are calling yet, I still have two more that will be calling soon. So I decide to talk to one about 10 days ago, we go over my situation for about the fourth time since this all started, I hang up the phone and they call four more times that night. Do they think a miracle occurred and I instantly found wealth? The fact is this is legal harassment, they try to wear you down with the calls. What they don't know is I purchased a machine that makes the calls go right to the answering machine and they don't ring in my house, so I can pick up the calls when I choose. I will not talk to anyone for another month, it is too depressing and it ruins the rest of my day. I don't feel it is necessary to talk weekly, things like this don't change quickly. I also have the option of sending them a cease and desist to not call my home, however, sometimes that will accelerate the sitution right to a lawyer, so the machine is on and I stopped looking at the ID to see who has been calling, the creditors are programmed so family and friends can ring through. The caller ID machine is called "Privacy Corp" and it was the best thing I could do for my sanity through this.

In over 20 years I never missed a payment, this is all a learning experience for me. I have my fingers crossed that I will have settled all my credit card debt by August and I have been saving everything I can. I've looked at hardship ideas and debt consolidation and etc., but that would be a bandaid for this serious situation that is bleeding all over the place. I've consulted with a Bankruptcy Attorney who has encouraged me to file, but I just want this over and I'll give what I can and what the creditors feel is acceptable. They will get more money from me this way then through bankruptcy.

3 Responses to “A View on Collection Calls”

  1. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1202054295

    This sounds very nerve wracking. I'd be tempted to get rid of the phone all together. Does a cease and desist letter require a lawyer or registration with the courts? How then may you be contacted?

  2. girlndebt Says:
    1202054893

    Oh gosh do I know how you feel! My calls started today promptly at 9am on a Sunday morning from a creditor I just talked to and explained my situation!

    Stay strong and just unplug the phone. You are right, don't send them the letter yet. That will only make them move faster on the legal end of it. Especially if it is Citi.

  3. jaiparis Says:
    1202062354

    Actually - from what I understand, you can't actually send a cease and desist letter until the account goes to a 3rd party collector. The original creditor can keep calling you until it's charged off on their books and handed to a 3rd party - here is what I found:
    A creditor that collects its own overdue accounts is not subject to the FDCPA.

    So keep your privacy corp on, plug in the phone numbers and like you said talk to them once a month. Once the 180 days are over then they go into collections you can write them a cease and desist letter.

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