Posts tagged as:

debt buyers

Are we a nation of deadbeats?

April 1, 2009

Yesterday evening, on MPR’s Marketplace, John Dimsdale reported on private equity firms that may buy up bad debts under the government’s economic recovery plan. In the report, he referred to the business of servicing bad credit card debts as “collecting payments from deadbeat borrowers.” Here is the segment:

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With unemployment at its highest in decades, many [...]

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Defaults in Minnesota in 2008 increase 39% over 2007

March 13, 2009

If the default numbers for Minnesota are any indication, debt collectors are falling all over themselves, suing everyone in sight. In 2007, a “mere” 36,000 defaults were filed. In 2008, that number jumped to just over 51,000.
Some were responsible for more of those lawsuits than others. Minnesota debt collection law firm Messerli & Kramer, for [...]

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Debt buyers can’t prove s#!t

August 8, 2008

Imagine you were in the jury box listening to this testimony, which is just the sort of testimony you would expect to hear in a debt buyer case. Why purchasing debt is a bad bet at trial | Michigan Collection Law Blog

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Debt buyers upset that they might actually have to tell consumers their debt has been sold

December 12, 2007

The Massachussetts House of Representatives is considering a bill that would require debt buyers to notify consumers when the debt buyer purchases the consumer’s debt. The bill would require the notice to contain

the dollar amount of the debt;
the original creditor;
the date on which the debt purchaser bought the debt; and
the interest rate and penalty charges [...]

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DIY law: respond to your debt buyer lawsuit with forms

November 19, 2007

Wen you have been sued, the most important thing is to answer the complaint. An answer is not a phone call or a letter, it is a formal response to the formal complaint. This is especially important in debt buyer lawsuits, and especially in Minnesota, where pocket service and prejudgment garnishment give debt collectors the [...]

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Nationwide Collections admits violating the FDCPA

November 18, 2007

ABC News blog, The Blotter, picked up on my post about the “Dear SHIT FACE” letter sent by Nationwide Collections. Blotter blogger Joseph Rhee apparently called up Nationwide Collections and spoke with its President, Phil McGarvey, who said:

The president of Nationwide Collections, Phil McGarvey, told the Blotter on ABCNews.com that the account in question contained [...]

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Nationwide Collections addresses letter to “SHIT FACE”

November 7, 2007

Nationwide Collections, attempting to collect a debt of $16.39 that originated with Columbia House, addressed a collection letter to “SHIT FACE” and began with the salutation “Dear SHIT”. I’m not kidding. Here is a copy of the letter (PDF link).
The consumer who received the letter signed an affirmation stating he never used the words “shit [...]

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Debt collector tells debt buyers not to sue

October 25, 2007

Debt collection attorney Gary Nitzkin in Michigan says “[m]y best advice to debt buyers . . . DON’T DO IT.” Don’t sue, in other words. Why? Pretty much for the reasons I have addressed here, plus a few more:

Debt buyers don’t have the documentation they need to prove their case;
Other collection agencies already failed to [...]

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Forms: answer & discovery requests in a debt buyer lawsuit

October 23, 2007

Now available for public consumption in Minnesota is a set of forms for use in debt buyer lawsuits. While these forms will not be appropriate for every debt buyer lawsuit, they should help consumers answer the generic complaints used by most debt collection law firms in Minnesota.
Right now, debt collection law firms are “default mills.” [...]

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Definitions: “debt buyer” and “debt buyer lawsuit”

October 23, 2007

A debt buyer is a person or company that owns a consumer debt but is not the original creditor. A debt buyer lawsuit is a lawsuit brought by a debt buyer to collect a consumer debt from a consumer.

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