Here. Excerpt: Across Utah, high-interest lenders filed 66% of all small claims cases heard between September 2017 and September 2018, according to a new analysis of court records conducted by a team led by Christopher Peterson, a law professor at the University of Utah and the financial services director at the Consumer Federation of America, […]
Category Archives: Debt Collection
Jessica LaVoice and Domonkos F. Vamossy, both of the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Economics, have written Racial Disparities in Debt Collection. Here is the abstract: A distinct set of disadvantages experienced by black Americans increases their likelihood of experiencing negative financial shocks, decreases their ability to mitigate the impact of such shocks, and ultimately […]
. . . should get in touch with @daliejimenez.
by Jeff Sovern Section 1692g(a)(4) requires debt collectors to send consumers a "a statement that if the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, the debt collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against the consumer and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to the consumer by the debt collector . […]
by Jeff Sovern Link here Excerpt: [T]the bureau proposal would invade consumer privacy by allowing collectors to bombard consumers with demands for payment. Under the proposal, debt collectors could try the consumer’s phone number seven times a week and leave voicemails each time. That may not sound too bad, but the CFPB reports that nearly […]
by Jeff Sovern The more I think about the CFPB's recent proposal to allow debt collectors to leave limited-content messages over the phone, the more I think the proposal has real problems. The proposal would allow debt collectors to leave voicemails or oral messages with whomever answered the phone. To qualify as a limited-content message, […]
Reporter Renae Merle has a story up at the Washington Post about the debt collection rules that the CFPB is expected to unveil “in a few weeks.” The story was prompted, in part, by a recent speech given by CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger during which she “laid out a business-friendly vision for the CFPB.” The […]
by Jeff Sovern Here, in Bloomberg. I'm afraid I didn't find it persuasive. He didn't respond to our argument that state courts often fail to discipline attorneys who violate ethical rules in debt collection matters, as well as other points we made.
by Jeff Sovern That's the title of my essay my colleague Gina Calabrese and I wrote here in Bloomberg Law. Excerpt: The ABA argues that consumers don’t need protection from unscrupulous lawyers because lawyers are already subject to state ethics rules largely written by the ABA itself. Experience tells us otherwise. When a law firm sued […]
WaPo has the story here. The government is also considering other debt collection initiatives, as noted in the article.