Generally, when you think about a “cease and desist”, you may think about a larger company contacting you, because you’re violating some sort of trademark agreement, etc.  While this can be true in many circumstances, you will find that you can send out a letter like this, when you’re getting annoyed with certain debt collection calls.

When should I send out a cease and desist letter?

By law, you’re allowed to send a letter out, or you can contact them, if you don’t want them to contact you via phone anymore.  The best way to do this is by sending them a letter by certified mail.  When you do this, you’re going to tell them that you only want to communicate by mail.  This will work 99.9% of the time, because collection agencies obviously don’t want to break the law.

Now, if you want to write off a letter to a debt collection agency, here’s a simple template that you can follow, when you want this company to stop harassing you over the phone.

Writing a sample letter:

DATE
YOUR NAME
ADDRESS
CITY, STATE ZIP

DEBT COLLECTION COMPANY NAME
ADDRESS
CITY, STATE ZIP CODE

RE:  YOUR ACCOUNT NUMBER / INFORMATION TO PROVE ITS YOU

To whom it may concern:

Under the federal guideline collection laws (FDPCA), I’m requesting that you cease, and desist all further communication via the telephone, both at work, as well as in my home.  The phone numbers that you have been calling are <your number here>.  Also, please refrain from calling any family members, as well as friends.

If you don’t comply with these request, I will have to take further action, and not only report you to the Federal Trade Commission, but my state Attorney General’s office as well.

Sincerely,

Your name

Tips on sending it out

You will first want to make sure that you send it certified mail.  Always make sure that you get signature confirmation, so that you can prove that they received it.  Keep this for your own records.

Also, keep a copy for yourself, so if something does happen down the road, you will be able to prove to the FTC on what you have sent, along with proof that they have received it.

If the company continues to harass you / call you via the phone, stand your ground and take action.  This is the law, and if they break the rules, you will want to let the FTC, etc know, so that it doesn’t happen to anybody us.

Of course, this is a sample listed above.  Be sure to write it in your own words, and send it out as soon as you can.