Category Archives: Debt Collection

Fourth Circuit: FDCPA Gives Consumers the Right to Oral Disputes

Does federal law require debt collectors to give consumers the right to make oral disputes (as the Second and Ninth Circuits have held), or may debt collectors insist that any disputes be made in writing (as the Third Circuit has held)? Today, the Fourth Circuit issued a short published opinion agreeing with the Second and […]

Mary Spector Article: Where the FCRA Meets the FDCPA: The Impact of Unfair Collection Practices on the Credit Report

We had previously posted a link to a site from which you could purchase SMU professor Mary Spector's article, Where the FCRA Meets the FDCPA: The Impact of Unfair Collection Practices on the Credit Report, 20 Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law Policy (2013).  Now it's available for free on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This […]

Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and Policy Issue on Consumer Protection

Here, with links to purchase the articles. The issue includes remarks from a program at the 2013 AALS Annual Meeting jointly sponsored by The Sections on Poverty Law and Clinical Legal Education, entitled  The Debt Crisis and the National Response: Big Changes or Tinkering at the Edges?  The list includes. The articles include: "Owner Finance! No Banks Needed!" […]

Neil Sobol Article on Zombie-Debt Collectors

Neil L. Sobol of Texas A&M has written Protecting Consumers from Zombie-Debt Collectors, forthcoming in the New Mexico Law Review.  Here is the abstract: The debt-collection business is booming, led by a dramatic increase in the sale and collection of defaulted debts. Currently, debt buyers annually purchase more than $100 billion in the face value […]

Todd Zywicki’s Remarks at the NARCA Debt Collection Symposium

by Jeff Sovern I've just been listening to the National Associate of Retail Collection Attorneys' (NARCA) symposium on debt collection held at GW on October 15 (the recordings are available here).  I was particularly struck by Todd Zywicki's remarks in the third panel; the panel was titled "Legal Collections – The Essential Link to a Successful Credit-Based Economy."  […]

Peter Holland Op-Ed: Make Debt Buyers Disclose Forward Flow Agreements

by Jeff Sovern Recently I heard an industry lawyer say that to know what regulators will do next, you should listen to consumer advocates. The only individual consumer advocate he mentioned was Peter Holland.  So what is Peter Hollland calling for?  He wants debt buyers, when suing a consumer, to disclose the agreement they entered into to […]

Jeff Gelles Column: A Victory in the Fight Against Robocalls

Here.  An interesting report on a third circuit case on whether consumers can revoke their consent to receive automated calls.  The case arose in the debt collection context and given the steep penalties under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act–$500 per call and $1500 for willful violations–could lead to a lot of litigation.

NCLC report: Urgent need for reform of state property exemption laws to free up courts and protect basic family assets

New NCLC survey finds that none of the U.S. state’s property exemption laws meet basic standards so that debtors can continue to work productively to support themselves and their families. States’ archaic exemption laws fuel the fast-growing debt buyer industry which churns out old and often poorly documented judgments that abuses the court system. Recommendations for reform are included.

Paper Explains and Critiques the Account Stated Cause of Action

International & Comparative Law Fellow Emanwel J. Turnbull at Maryland has written Account Stated Resurrected: The Fiction of Implied Assent in Consumer Debt Collection.  Here's the abstract: When are modern American consumers like 17th century merchants? The answer is “now”. Often, in collection lawsuits, creditors allege that consumers in debt are liable for an “account […]