by Deepak Gupta When Roz Terrill wrote a $41 check at the local Goodwill store to buy clothes for her two special-needs children, she had no idea it would lead to threats of criminal prosecution against her. Because of a banking mix-up, Roz’s check did not clear. Months later, she received a letter that looked […]
Category Archives: Debt Collection
by Jeff Sovern Here. The New Media Advocacy Project (N-Map) and Fordham Law School’s Feerick Center for Social Justice in conjunction with MFY Legal Services, Inc., and Pro Bono Net, along with other organizations, have created a series of short, animated videos to help consumers being sued in debt collection cases. I watched a couple […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. Eleven proposed bills this time. It creates an interesting contrast with the just issued CFPB's Supervisory Highlights report, which reports, for example, that the CFPB found that one collection firm violated debt collection laws approximately 17,000 times and a creditor has been selling debts on which consumers were no longer liable. […]
Stephen J. Ware of Kansas has written A 20th Century Debate About Imprisonment for Debt. Here's the abstract: In the early twentieth century, Parliament debated whether to abolish imprisonment for debt. Parliament’s Select Committee on Debtors (Imprisonment) of 1909 heard testimony from witnesses and issued a report recommending the continuation of imprisonment for debt. This […]
Peter A. Holland of Maryland has written Junk Justice: A Statistical Analysis of 4,400 Lawsuits Filed by Debt Buyers, 26 Loyola Consumer Law Reporter 179 (2014). Here's the abstract: Debt buyers have flooded courts nationwide with collection lawsuits against consumers. This article reports the findings from the broadest in-depth study of debt buyer litigation outcomes […]
Here, in the Boston Fed's quarterly newsletter. Excerpt: The problems inherent to the business model are most starkly exposed in the context of lawsuits filed by debt buyers. On the one hand, the debt buyer acknowledges in the forward-flow agreement that the data it received from the bank is limited and potentially inaccurate, with frequent […]
Here. Excerpts from PIRG's news release: Debt collectors trying to collect debt from the wrong person were the top source of complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), according to a report released today by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund. The report also found that debt collection, the newest category in the database, is […]
Here. The top 10 complaint categories include: Category Number of Complaints Percentages Identity Theft 290,056 14% Debt Collection 204,644 10% Banks and Lenders 152,707 7% Imposter Scams 121,720 6% Telephone and Mobile Services 116,261 6% Prizes, Sweepstakes, and Lotteries 89,944 4% Auto Related Complaints 82,701 4% Shop-at-Home and Catalog Sales 66,024 3% Television and Electronic […]
Coverage by the New York Law Journal here and by Inside ARM.com here.
The American Banker recently published a story, Courthouse 'Rocket Dockets' Give Debt Collectors Edge Over Debtors, about how consumers feel pressured to settle debt cases after receiving summonses to courthouse settlement conferences with debt collectors. An excerpt: At first glance these sessions resemble legally mandated mediation: they take place in courtrooms and are administered by […]