Posts Tagged ‘debt collection’

More on how arbitration screws consumers from Elizabeth Warren. Have You Already Lost? | TPMCafé

The CityPages just did a feature on my colleague and friend, Pete Barry. Choice quote:
“Why did you call my client a lowlife piece of shit?” Barry asked.
He was in California, deposing a debt collector who wore a Sean John T-shirt and a look of disdain.
“In my opinion, why was he a lowlife piece of shit?” [...]

ABC News did a great piece on debt collection, arbitration, and especially the National Arbitration Forum, where consumers in California lose 99% of the time. A former NAF arbitrator says on camera that she was forced to quit for ruling in favor of a consumer one time. Stick around for the great commentary at the [...]

National Arbitration Forum basically offers a rubber stamp to debt collectors already, and they argue that courts should turn their awards into court judgments without looking too closely.
Are courts unreasonably tossing out arbitration awards? Nope. NAF is just advocating for its clients, the debt collectors, who have no proof of the debts on which they [...]

81% of Americans polled in a recent study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce disapproved of mandatory binding arbitration. This is the corporation-friendly, tie-your-hands arbitration that is written into most of the consumer contracts we sign every day for credit cards, cell phones, etc.
So maybe it is time for Congress to get going and [...]

Speaking of screwing consumers, California consumer lawyer Jonathan Stein has an instructive story on what happens when corporations and debt collectors try to bully consumers into paying debts—even debts they do not owe.
His client sold a car that was later involved in an auto accident. Because the buyer did not register the title or obtain [...]

I am teaching two continuing legal education seminars on consumer law in June. My presentations tend to be engaging (I don’t have the patience for boring presentations even when I am giving them), informative, and well-attended. Register early!

June 10th at 9 a.m. Offensive Defense: An Introduction to Protecting Consumers from Unscrupulous Debt Collectors, 1 hour [...]

Here are the blog posts I starred in Google Reader last week. (If you use Google Reader, you can subscribe to my shared items.)

The Alphonso Jackson Legacy. Mark Ireland comments on the Washington Post’s look at the legacy of HUD chief (and Bush appointee) Alphonso Jackson. While Jackson oversaw the government body in charge of [...]

My officemate, Pete Barry, was on the local Fox 9 News last night in a story about abusive debt collectors, especially one of his clients. The segment includes some of Pete’s “greatest hits” from his cases, including some pretty impressive language and threats.

I learned a curious fact in the course of an arbitration proceeding with the National Arbitration Forum. Once either party obtains a stay of the arbitration, the opposing party has 15 days to file an objection. After that 15 days is up, apparently only the party that requested the stay can lift it.
In other words, [...]

You know who I’ll bet is really happy about the stimulus checks coming next month? Debt collectors. Tax refund is (usually) happy season for debt collectors, and this year they get two bites at the apple.

It is a good idea to check your property for liens every once in a while, which any title company should be able to do. Otherwise, it may be too late when you finally find out that some unscrupulous debt collector placed a lien on your property for an unsecured credit card debt. If you [...]

According to the Strib, debt collection lawsuits and default judgment filings are skyrocketing, and went up to more than 36,000 for 2007.
36,000!!! For crying out loud. That’s 3,000 per month! And those are just the lawsuits that actually get filed.
[via Consumer Rights Watch]
[photo: Star Tribune]

More news than I can keep up with lately. Here are a few choice tidbits:

‘Zombie debt’: When collectors haunt you (Newsday)
Fed’s Rate Cuts Bring No Relief For Consumers’ Credit Card Bills (Washington Post)
Killer Credit (In These Times)
Suit Alleges Widespread Fraudulent Legal-Aid Scheme (WSJ Law Blog)
Major lenders put freeze on foreclosures (CNN/Money)

Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a debtor has 30 days after the first written communication from a debt collector to request validation of the debt. This form letter is a convenient form for requesting validation of the debt (PDF link). The form is a simple, fill-in-the-blank form. Keep a copy for yourself [...]

Debt collection is something that everyone has to deal with. Case in point: a debt collector just left a message on my mom’s answering machine, where I have not lived for eleven years. My credit report is squeaky clean–I just checked–but apparently there is another Sam Glover out there who has worse luck.
Every time you [...]

The AP reports that the lucky recipient of the “Dear SHIT FACE” letter is planning to sue Nationwide Collections next week. Nationwide’s excuse–”shit happens”–is not likely to hold up in court.
(As an aside, are the national media outlets allergic to citing their sources? This blog broke the story, but neither the AP/MSNBC nor ABC deigned [...]

Not compared with debt collectors in India, anyway.
Vinod Kumar was sitting in a friend’s car listening to the radio one evening last January when a stranger appeared, yanked him from the vehicle and beat him with an iron bar.
To collect a debt, that is. Here in the good ol’ USA, debt collectors still rely on [...]

The ACC representative in these calls says things like “I’ll go to any length I have to in order to embarrass you” and “the verification of your debt is that you paid it for two years.” Count the FDCPA violations, if you can!
Related:

Caveat Emptor playlist on YouTube

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 [...]