Archive for June, 2007

When you are sued, you get a summons and a complaint. The complaint lays out the causes of action–in the case of debt collection, the reasons why the debt collector things you owe them money. One of the causes (usually referred to as “counts” in the complaint) you will often see is “account stated” together [...]

In Minnesota (and probably many other states), there is a document called an arbitration agreement that often shows up in home purchase documents, either with the purchase agreement or at closing. This is an optional document. You don’t have to sign it. And you probably don’t want to.

I’m not sure any introduction other than the site’s own description is necessary: “Tracking the housing finance breakdown: a saga of corruption, stupidity, and government complicity.”

Law.com recently ran this article about Fair Debt Collection Practices Act litigation against law firms doing collection work. The article starts this way:
Debt-collection lawyers are increasingly being hauled into court as defendants in Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuits by debt-burdened consumers who use litigation to fend off creditors.
I want to take issue with the [...]

Nearly.
Mister Money, which conveniently sells a lot of expensive electronics on its payday lending homepage, has developed a standalone kiosk capable of paying out payday loans on the spot based on an “automated approval methodology.” Welcome to the future.
In the end, a kiosk is probably no more irresponsible a lender than payday lenders themselves. And [...]

The StarTribune recently posted a great Google Maps mashup showing the homes in Hennepin County that have been foreclosed on so far in 2007. Numbers are difficult to visualize, but this brings home the true scope of the problem. Here is what North Minneapolis looks like, where nearly every block has at least one foreclosed [...]

With all the scrutiny the credit card industry has been facing, it’s about time they threw consumers a bone. And right after the opening of Maxed Out, too!

Good Copy Bad Copy is a fantastic documentary about copyright and piracy in the modern world. It is worth it, if nothing else, for the music and video clips from DJ Dangermouse’s Grey Album.
(This is just the teaser, FYI.)

Make your point by downloading the torrent from the Pirate Bay.
Best quote of the movie, following a [...]

[Consumerist crosspost]
Maryland consumer attorney Sonya Smith-Valentine warns not to use a home equity loan to purchase a car. Her reasoning makes sense. When you use a home equity loan, you pay for the for many years longer than you would with a regular car loan, multiplying the interest you end up paying.
The same is true [...]

[Consumerist crosspost]
Advertising “Free ratings and profiles for every lawyer so you can choose the right lawyer,” Avvo promises to guide consumers to the “right lawyer” like Consumer Reports guides consumers to the right shampoo. Avvo was controversial from the get-go, and called a flat-out scam by Seattle class-action lawyer Steve Berman, who is now suing [...]

[Consumerist crosspost]
A new Cornell study shows that, on appeal, Plaintiffs are far more likely to lose than Defendants, including in areas like product liability, malpractice, real estate, and more. Overall, “[D]efendants were far more likely than plaintiffs (41.5% versus 21.5%) to successfully reverse an adverse trial outcome. Indeed, from the perspective of a plaintiff victorious [...]

If you have any kind of debt, you probably know what a “current balance” is. It is the amount you owe the lender as of the date of the statement. However, what is not so obvious is the fact that the current balance is not necessarily the amount you owe. The difference between your balance [...]

There is an awful lot of advice floating around the web these days, especially in communities of debtors trying to help each other out of their situation. One of the most frequent questions in such venues is this: “I’ve just been served with a summons. What do I do?!?” This usually comes with varying degrees [...]

Consumer rights attorney Paul Bland testified before the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law yesterday, and his testimony was so spot-on, it is worth highlighting here. You can find a full transcript at the House Judiciary Committee’s website. Bland’s introduction, which neatly summarizes the big problems with mandatory binding arbitration, follows the jump.

Talk about consumer rights litigation! By now, you’ve certainly heard about the judge out in Washington, D.C., who sued his local dry cleaners for losing his pants, and is asking for $54 million. He’s either crazy or greedy, but he has got his day in court. The Washington Post is liveblogging the trial. My favorite [...]

[Consumerist crosspost]
Assuming you haven’t wrecked the place, of course. Assuming you have taken good care of your apartment:

Bring a camera or camcorder with you for your move-in walkthrough. Try to capture the condition of the entire apartment, empty. Put this somewhere safe.
When you leave, clean up carefully. Plug holes, clean the bathroom, etc. You may [...]

[Consumerist crosspost]
Apparently (and confusingly), Home Depot employees will be fired if they try to prevent shoplifters from leaving the store. Four employees in Midwest City, OK, were fired after one asked two men to see their receipt after they walked into the store and grabbed three chainsaws and a weed cutter while a friend waited [...]

[Consumerist crosspost]
If your goal were to spend more time with your family, what would you buy? A set of lawn darts or a time-saving new appliance? If you voted lawn darts, you are a “promotion-focused” consumer. If the appliance, a “prevention-focused” consumer. According to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research by Mehdi Mourali, [...]

[Consumerist crosspost]
You can’t really stop identity theft from happening. So many entities have your credit card numbers, social security numbers, date of birth, and address, that it is more or less inevitable that we will all have our identities stolen at some point. If you are lucky, you will just get a credit card cloned. [...]

[Consumerist crosspost]
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act starts out this way:
There is abundant evidence of the use of abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices by many debt collectors. Abusive debt collection practices contribute to the number of personal bankruptcies, to marital instability, to the loss of jobs, and to invasions of [...]