Harassing Calls to Your Cell Phone?

If you’ve been receiving harassing calls to your cell phone from a credit card company or other business, you may be legally entitled to make those calls stop. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act is a federal law that makes it illegal for a company to use an autodialer to make a call to a cellphone belonging to the debtor or any third party, or making a call to any telephone number not belonging to the debtor unless the debt collector has the prior written consent of the recipient. A consumer debt collector is allowed to call a debtor at home using an autodialer, but not your cell phone. Also, even if you have given consent, you can withdraw consent easily by sending a letter.

Many large companies, including Barclays Bank, Sallie Mae, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Chase Auto Finance, Discover Card, CitiMortgage, Capital One, HSBC and American Express, have been sued for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. These calls can be from debt collectors, sales solicitations and banks trying to sell you their services, as well as text messages offering you services and contests.

If the caller violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, there’s a penalty of $500 for each call, and if the caller knows he is violating the law, as most do, the penalty is $1,500. While you don’t always know if the call is coming from an automatic dialer, one hint is if you answer the phone and there’s a moment of silence while the call is being switched to a collector.

Just because you owe a company money doesn’t mean you should be harassed. Arguello Law Firm have given peace to families who had been dealing with getting five or more calls a day to their personal cell phone. These companies use auto-dialing technology in the hopes of scaring or bullying you into doing what they want. If you have been receiving multiple calls a day to your cell phone, call Arguello Law Firm today and we can help.