# Cease and desist — definition

> A cease and desist is a consumer's written notice that they refuse to pay the debt or want the collector to stop contacting them, after which the collector must stop communicating about that debt except to acknowledge termination of efforts or to state that a specified remedy may be or will be invoked.

- Source: https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/cease-and-desist/
- Publisher: Otto — https://ottoforfirms.com
- Updated: 2026-07-26
- Status: in attorney review. Served noindex and excluded from the sitemap; do not cite as settled.

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**Cease and desist** — A cease and desist is a consumer's written notice that they refuse to pay the debt or want the collector to stop contacting them, after which the collector must stop communicating about that debt except to acknowledge termination of efforts or to state that a specified remedy may be or will be invoked.

FDCPA § 1692c(c) supplies the rule and its three narrow exceptions; Regulation F restates it at 12 C.F.R. § 1006.6(c), extending the prohibition to attempts to communicate as well as communications. Practitioners should keep two things distinct: a § 1692c(c) cease notice stops contact but does not extinguish the debt or bar suit, whereas a § 1692g(b) written dispute inside the validation period stops collection until verification is provided. Attorney-representation notice under § 1692c(a)(2) is a third, separate trigger with its own routing consequences.

## Primary sources

1. [15 U.S.C. § 1692c(c); 12 C.F.R. § 1006.6(c)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1692c)

## See also

- [Validation period](https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/validation-period/)
- [Disposition code](https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/disposition-code/)
- [Recall](https://ottoforfirms.com/glossary/recall/)

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