Advanta does not cease and desist?????

They have to obey the laws in the state their business is in and they have to obey the laws of whatever state they practice in.

alias what is the full name of Advanta? California state list 28 companies with that name 16 of them have lost or given up their license.

Advanta Bank Corp., P.O. box 8088, Philadelphia, PA 19101. Thanks everyone!

It is a credit card for a business (sole proprietor). Does that make a difference?

Alias1958, the written request to cease communications or restrict communications is under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act which is a federal statute. Don't let them try to BS you as this is federal law and they must follow it. Also if they perform business in your state (which they do by attempting to collect on a debt) they are also subject to your state laws.

Here is the info on Advanta:

ADVANTA BANK CORP.
Number: C2158760 Date Filed: 3/26/1999 Status: active
Jurisdiction: UTAH
Address
11850 SOUTH ELECTION DRIVE
DRAPER, UT 84020
Agent for Service of Process
THE PRENTICE-HALL CORPORATION SYSTEM, INC.
2730 GATEWAY OAKS DR STE 100
SACRAMENTO, CA 95833

Send them the C&D letter which specifically states the California law that says they have to C&D, since they are the Original Creditor (OC) they are not bound by the fdcpa.

Also send one to the agent of service (CMRR) then they cannot claim they never got it since they are the legal represenatives for them in California.

Thanks everyone! I am kind of new to this whole debt collection scene since I have always had perfect credit until recently. But I didn't think that what she told me was correct.

Alias,

I just noticed the address you listed for Advanta, when you send the DV make sure you use the one that request there license to do business in California. I would mention that the California Secretary of State does not show any company by their name with a UTAH address licensed in CA.

Thanks, Cellular! I was wondering about the address discrepancy.

So, I sent the letter to Advanta asking to only be contacted in writing and not by telephone. Today they called me again, so I asked them if they had received my letter. (I didn't send it certified because I figured that I would do that on the second try if they denied receiving it.) They said again that they are not required to cease and desist because they are not a third party creditor. I pointed out that I live in California and that since they are conducting business in California by attempting to collect a debt from me, they are subject to California law, which allows me to send a cease & desist to the OC.

They said that my card agreement gives them the right to continue calling me and they pointed out the section in my card agreement. It says: "You agree that if you do not pay on the Account as agreed or are otherwise in default, you will accept telephone calls from us or on our behalf at your home and your place of business regarding collection of amounts owed on the Account. You understand that those calls may be automatically dialed and a recorded message may be played. You agree such calls are not 'unsolicited' calls for purposes of applicable law. You also agree that except to the extent prohibited by applicable law, we and/or our representatives may also communicate with you by other means including (without limitation) fax or telecopier, Internet, US mail, e-mail, courier delivery, and personal visit."

SO . . . does that agreement exempt them from having to accept a cease and desist, as allowed by California law?

If their number shows on the caller I.D., see if you can get a phone add-on called "call block". I will not be harassed by telephone, even if I have to leave it off the hook. (I had problems with telemarketers, not Bill collectors.
As far as personal visit, I'd welcome them. So would by pit bull. I have "No Trespassing" signs up.

Thanks, Markofkane! Their number does show on caller id, so I might check into the call block. And I have left the phone off the hook many days when I got sick of the constant ringing!

It still doesn't seem right to me that they don't have to obey the law, because then why wouldn't every creditor just put that clause into their contracts?

I don't know. I guess only certain ones enjoy harassing people. And it is harassment. I'd also check to see if your state has a law against harassing calls. We have that law in Illinois.

It doesn't matter what is in the agreement. Nothing in a contractual agreement may supersede federal or state law.

Thanks, JCEMT! That confirms what I thought must be the case! That makes two different OCs today alone that have given me incorrect information! (Another one told me that I can't include their card in a BK if I've used it in the past 6 months). I'm certainly glad to have found this site and to be able to find out the truth!

Their disclaimer:
"You also agree that except to the extent prohibited by applicable law"

Well, California's law is applicable law.

I worked there as a collector for years and I can tell you that the fdcpa does apply to third party agencies collecting a debt. For example if your bounced check gets sold to a check collector and it isn't the place you wrote the check to calling you. Advanta employs their own collectors to collect their own debts and so FDCPA does not legally apply to them. The reason it seems so mind boggling is because most all other credit card companies voluntarily comply with that law. They won't stop calling you - I know because I suffered through the misery of working there and calling the same poor people every other day. Even when they told me a certain day the got paid and asked me to call that day - I got in trouble if I put the system to call that day. The other joke is that even if you make the minimum payment to the person calling you non-stop, it won't stop the calls. It will drop to the next group down and they will start calling you every day. There isn't anything you can legally do. The bankruptcy thing is sort of iffy - I believe that depends on state laws and I think it is only if you've used the card or the purchase has been made within 90 days, not six months. Even then, I don't think the bank can stop it, the judge can throw it out though - HOWEVER, any bankruptcy attorney worth his salt is going to know the laws and will just have you hold off filing until the time from last purchase is up - so that is a stupid threat. I can tell you that all Advanta cards are personally guaranteed so many customers get blindsided when their company goes bankrupt but they don't file personally - then they find out they are still stuck with the Advanta. I'm sorry for what you are dealing with. No one should EVER get an Advanta card.

Wow, Anon! I wish you had been around when I was still dealing with Advanta! Unfortunately, we ended up filing Chapter 7, which FINALLY got them to stop calling (although they WERE the only one of all my creditors that still threatened me, even after I gave them my attorney's name--that if they didn't hear from her within 14 days, the calls would resume!).

6 days after I missed a payment Advanta started calling every 2 hours. I was shocked! I am not even into the second month being late and they call every 2 hours! They are so bizarre that I know it is going to only get worse and I better be prepared. What would you suggest? I don't want our company attacked and I don't want to pay outrageous amounts. The other one that is totally insane is Wamu/Chase. Both of these people dropped all creditors and it appears that they turned it all over to a collection agency.

The first call they said, "You have a perfect payment record and excellent credit." I said....yes, so why are you already calling me? I hope to catch up on everything by the end of Feb or March, but I may not have to chance to handle things the normal way because of their behavior.

One thing I did was change my ring tone to something really soothing and to identify any creditors calling. That helped a lot, but they are also calling my business phone and I can't really turn that off! I have blocked them, but they keep using a different number.