Aloha and Welcome. My name is Marty Berger, a local attorney and the owner of Hawaii Debt Solutions, a full service company created to help people get a fresh financial start.

Today i am going to talk about how you can stop collection agent calls. First I’ll What type of collection agent calls you can stop. Then how you can stop them and finally what happens  after you have stopped them.

First. type of calls you can stop fall under a law called the fair debt, or the fdcpa for short.  The fdcpa lays out what a collection agent can do, what they cannot do and the penalties they can pay for violating this law.

The 2 big exceptions to the law. The first is business debts.  However, this is often not a problem since small business debts are often paid for with personal credit cards so the creditor is often unaware of the difference. The other that original creditors are not restricted by the fdcpa. For instance if you get a cc from a bank and the bank tries to collect, that is not covered.  However, once they hire a collection agency, the law applies.

The best way to stop collection agent calls is to simply write what is called a cease and desist letter and send it to the collection agent. Once the collector receives your letter, they’re allowed one final contact to let you know what action, if any, they will take next.

The letter can be surprisingly simple and there are many templates on the internet – just google collection agent cease (spelled cease) and desist letter. The next time you get a collection agent call ask them for the name of the company they work for, the mailing address and the account number. And plug that into the letter.

In the letter I do not want you to explain why you can’t pay the debt, how you plan on paying it in the future or even admit you owe the debt. Don’t ever admit you owe the debt until there is a specific reason to do so.

Send it certified with a return receipt requested so you know the company received it.

This letter will only apply to the current collector. If the debt is sold you will need to send another.

From that point on, the calls should stop and next time you hear from them is if and when they sue you.

If the calls don’t stop, they are violating the law, you can sue them. I have a separate video on how to make collection agents pay for violating the law.  

The real problem here is that if you are getting these calls from more than one creditor, it is indication that you are in a deep financial bind.

Sooner or later, as we discussed, these companies are going to sue you and win. And when they do, they will garnish wages and seize bank accounts.

If you think you are about to be sued or have been sued, you need to contact an experienced lawyer immediately or you risk losing a big chunk of what money you do have.

If you would like a free no obligation consultation to discuss your situation, you can call me, email me, or fill out the form on this page. Over the last 25 years I have helped thousands of people get a fresh financial start

Finally, as you know, the covid crisis has become a financial crisis for many local people. As a result, I expect to be seeing a very large increase in my workload. I want to help everyone but soon I simply won’t have the time, so please reach out now if you need help with your debt.

Thanks and have a great day.