Proven System Stops Harassing Debt Collection Calls
and Gets You Paid by the Collectors

4 simple steps chopped 907 harassing collection calls from 27 numbers to zero in a 6 month period, got us over $3500 from the collectors, and had us pay no attorney fees.

If you are over burdened with debt, like we were, you may experience some of the panic and frustration that we did.

When we ran out of money to pay our debts, we were not prepared to deal with debt collection firms and debt collection attorneys.

Our first reaction was panic.

Our second reaction was to talk with a lawyer friend. His advice: don't file bankruptcy, treat everyone equally, and pay something to everyone. We followed most of his advice: didn't file bankruptcy, treated everyone equally, but didn't anyone anything.

He also told us about The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA at www.ftc.gov). This act authorizes up to $1000 in damages be paid to you in any action.

The phone calls started in earnest shortly after we stopped paying our bills. We got up to 15-20 calls a day - not every day but frequently. Since we had no solution to our financial circumstances, we decided not to talk to anyone. We found varying opinions on whether to talk or not. Our decision was personal and mostly based on fear.

To ignore the phone calls, we turned the ringer off on all the house phones. Next, we used a feature of the phone company called "forward calls if busy or no answer". Now, calls were forwarded to our cell phone which we always had on silent.

Most of the time identifying the caller was fairly straightforward. We used two free reverse number links: 800notes.com and people.yahoo.com. There are other reverse number resources available but these are the ones we relied on.

We established a system to identify a caller before we answered the phone. After a debt collector was identified, we entered the name into our contact list in a coded manner. Now we could easily recognize it as a call to ignore. We preceded the name with "dc" which stood for debt collector. When we found a collector used multiple phone numbers, we followed the name with a number. For instance, to code collector name with 2 numbers became dcname01, dcname02, etc.

Why didn't we try to block collection calls? Frankly, we didn't think about it. Turns out, we needed the details of the calls in our next step.

We lived with this barrage of calls for about 4 months. Then, we started making a record of every call we got.

Our sample call log is in PDF format. The log does not have who made the call and the phone number used.

This log consists of 4 sets of 3 columns. The first column in a set is the number of a call received from a number. This log shows 183 total calls were received. The second column in a set is the date and time the call was received. Call 1 was received on June 4 at 1033 am. Time is recorded using 24 hour time, i.e. 6pm is 1800. The third column in a set is the number of calls received from this number during the day. For instance, on June 09, two calls were received; on July 7, 4 calls were received; etc. If this column is blank only 1 call was received on the day.

After about 3 months, we were surprised by how many calls had been recorded and decided to do something with our data. We started contacting attorneys about taking on our case. The interest level was not high which surprised us. We turned to the internet and found a national firm that specializes in FDCPA violations. They agreed to take a closer look at what we had. One of the first things they told us was that the FDCPA would not allow them to do anything with original creditors. We would have to file a complaint with FTC to deal with the original creditors. That was an eye opener for us.

Our attorney said they could deal with 3rd party debt collectors and agreed to represent us. Through FDCPA complaints over the next several months, they were able to stop the harassment.

Through this process, we reduced our harassing debt collector phone calls from 907 from 27 phone numbers in a 6 month period to zero and got paid. We still get an occasional aggressive collector. But, now, we quickly nip them in the bud.

So what did we do and how?

We used Excel to record data about calls, a cell phone to capture the data to record, a digital camera to verify the cell phone data, voice mail to capture any messages a collector leaves, and a tape recorder to keep a record of any voice mails captured.

Although we used Excel, a hand-written record will work. Accounting columnar pads would be a good choice for a hand-written record. A caller id device will record who calls if no cell phone. An answering machine will work if you don't have voice mail. Lastly, use any mechanism you have available to capture messages so they don't get erased.

We found four things can get debt collectors off your back:

1. the discipline to make a record,
2. the courage to not be bullied by collectors,
3. the perseverance to follow the process to the end, and
4. hiring a good FDCPA attorney (the debt collector pays them, not you).

Last thoughts:

In addition to harassing collections calls, you will probably face three other issues:

1. Collection lawsuits seeking judgments against you. Don't be afraid of these. You can turn the tables on debt lawyers and WIN! Read how.
2. The need to make more money.
3. The need to repair your credit to get new loans and deal with other times when a good credit score is required. Here are some simple tips you can follow to raise your credit score.