Collection Agencies calling me between 5 am and 8 am

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

With the help of your amazing forum I have finally gathered the courage to start the process of mending my shot credit.

I am finally taking charge.

My question today is one I am not sure what to do with. I know the practice of having colleciton agencies call you at 5 am is illegal. But they keep doing it anyway - the two offenders are National Recovery and Transworld. I have several screenshots documenting calls happening anywhere from as early as 5:03 am to 7:58 am. 

I know I can file a complaint with the FTC and tell them to stop doing it (already did that). But what else can I do? I'm losing sleep daily because of this.

Thank you for your help

[alexgold9393]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all,

With the help of your amazing forum I have finally gathered the courage to start the process of mending my shot credit.

I am finally taking charge.

My question today is one I am not sure what to do with. I know the practice of having colleciton agencies call you at 5 am is illegal. But they keep doing it anyway - the two offenders are National Recovery and Transworld. I have several screenshots documenting calls happening anywhere from as early as 5:03 am to 7:58 am. 

I know I can file a complaint with the FTC and tell them to stop doing it (already did that). But what else can I do? I'm losing sleep daily because of this.

Thank you for your help

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Good Job on making changes and starting to work on your credit. I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago and had a collection calling me daily from 100 different numbers. I answered once and told them I will be sending a cease and desist letter, requesting all future communication to be mailed to me so my attorney could review it. It worked for me, they stopped calling. I did actually send them a letter eventually. 

Not sure if this still works but give it a shot. I know how annoying they can be. 

[Anonymous]

That's a great idea, thank you very much for thats suggestion. Next time one of these calls rolls in and wakes me up I will ask them to send all communication in writing!

[calyx]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That's a great idea, thank you very much for thats suggestion. Next time one of these calls rolls in and wakes me up I will ask them to send all communication in writing!

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If you're using a smartphone - another option is simply turning on your Do Not Disturb.

You can put important people (spouse, parents, boss, whatever) on a bypass list, if you're worried about missing something important.

[RobertEG]

Calling before 8AM or after 9PM is presumed to be during hours that are considered inconvenient to a consumer, and thus a violation of the FDCPA, as is any call that attempts to annoy or harass.

See the cited sections of the FDCPA below.

You can bring civil action for any violation of the FDCPA on your own, or can refer the violation to the CFPB for their review and action.

You can, without any stated reason, send a debt collector a cease communication notice under FDCPA 805(c) which would create an additional prohibition under the FDCPA, but if you still wish to conduct any communication with them, such as a PFD or settlement offer, imposing a total cease communication bar may not be necessary.

The FDCPA already covers their communication abuse without the additonal need to impose a full and total cease communication bar.

FDCPA 805.  Communication in connection with debt collection

(a) Communication with the consumer generally
Without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt --

(1) at any unusual time or place or a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer. In the absence of knowledge of circumstances to the contrary, a debt collector shall assume that the convenient time for communicating with a consumer is after 8 o'clock antemeridian and before 9 o'clock postmeridian, local time at the consumer's location;

.......

(c) Ceasing communication
If a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay a debt or that the consumer wishes the debt collector to cease further communication with the consumer, the debt collector shall not communicate further with the consumer with respect to such debt, except --

FDCPA 806.  Harassment or abuse

A debt collector may not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section:

…..

(5) Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number.

[Shooting-For-800]

Create a simple letter requiring contact by mail only.

Send it certified.

Program numbers into your phone and activate straight to voicemail.

Configure Do Not Disturb feature on your phone with friends and family exempt.

Keep voicemails with time stamps.

Find a lawyer who enjoys suing for née fees other than recovery.

GL!