Stopping Collection Contacts Over a Disputed Online Charge

Attorney Answer

Your cease-and-desist demand has real force only if it is in writing and only if this company counts as a "debt collector" — and a company collecting a debt it claims you owe it directly often does not.

The federal rule is 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(c). If a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the consumer refuses to pay the debt or wishes the collector to cease further communication, the collector shall not communicate further about that debt. There are three exceptions: to advise that collection efforts are being terminated, to notify you that the collector or creditor may invoke a specified remedy, or to notify you that it intends to invoke one. If the notice is mailed, notification is complete upon receipt. Two consequences matter to you. Oral demands to stop — even twenty of them — do not start this obligation running. And a single further letter saying "we are suing" or "we are sending this to collections" is not automatically a violation, because that falls inside the exceptions.

Whether this company is covered at all is the harder question. In Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc., 582 U.S. 79 (2017), the Supreme Court held that a company collecting a debt for its own account is not a debt collector under the FDCPA's "owed or due another" definition, and that how it acquired the debt does not matter. That cuts against you if this website is collecting its own claimed contract. But the Court expressly did not decide whether such a business can qualify under the separate "principal purpose" clause — a business whose principal purpose is the collection of debts. And if they carry out the threat and hand the account to a collection agency, § 1692c(c) binds that agency fully.

Connecticut law fills part of the gap but not the way people expect. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 36a-646 provides that no creditor shall use any abusive, harassing, fraudulent, deceptive or misleading representation, device or practice to collect or attempt to collect any debt. That reaches a company collecting its own debt, where the FDCPA may not. But it contains no cease-communication right, and § 36a-646 itself is enforced by the Banking Commissioner under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 36a-647. Your own private action is in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 36a-648, and it runs against precisely this kind of company: a "creditor" as defined in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 36a-645, a definition that expressly excludes consumer collection agencies. It allows actual damages, up to $1,000 in additional damages, costs and, in the court's discretion, attorney's fees — and under § 36a-648(d) you have one year to bring it. Licensed consumer collection agencies are reached instead by the separate chapter at Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 36a-800 to 36a-814, including § 36a-812's requirement that they comply with the FDCPA, which the Banking Commissioner enforces.

Your own claim for money runs through Connecticut's Unfair Trade Practices Act. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 42-110b prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in trade or commerce, and Conn. Gen. Stat. § 42-110g gives a private plaintiff who suffers an ascertainable loss actual damages, plus punitive damages and attorney's fees in the court's discretion. That statute reaches the underlying scheme too — a $1 charge for information that is later treated as a signed $1,255 contract is exactly the kind of practice § 42-110b addresses.

What you can do

1. Send one written cease-and-desist letter by certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep the green card. Say plainly that you dispute the debt, that no contract was formed, and that you refuse to pay. Keep a copy. 2. In the same letter, demand a copy of the signed contract they claim you have, the date and method of signature, and an itemization of the $1,255. 3. Start a log: date, time, number or email address, and what was said, for every contact after they receive the letter. That log is the evidence. 4. Call your bank about the $1 debit charge, ask whether any further charges were attempted, and ask about a new card number. 5. File complaints with the Connecticut Department of Banking (which enforces § 36a-647), the Connecticut Attorney General, and the Federal Trade Commission. 6. If they actually sue, do not ignore it. Appear on time and make them prove the contract — a default judgment is how a bogus claim becomes a real one.

⏱ Time limits apply. A claim under the FDCPA runs from the violating communication; a claim under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 36a-648 must be brought within one year under § 36a-648(d); and a claim under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 42-110g has its own filing period. All of them depend on the specific dates of what happened to you, so get the dates in front of a lawyer rather than assuming you have time.