(LA Times) — Death is no excuse for not paying your bills. But federal authorities say debt collectors have become increasingly aggressive — and often misleading — in their efforts to wring unpaid obligations from dead people’s next of kin. To rein in the practice, the Federal Trade Commission is preparing new rules that would […]
(Wall Street Journal) — Glynis Martin, a 56-year-old New York social worker, started struggling to keep up with her credit-card bills about five years ago as the mortgage on her Bronx apartment ate up most of her paycheck. Pretty soon debt-collection calls became routine for her, and in January, Midland Funding LLC sued Ms. Martin […]
(New York Times) — In these hard times, New York’s future governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, has made a point of standing alongside consumers who are down on their luck. As attorney general, he conducted a statewide crackdown on debt collectors who ran afoul of consumer protection laws, and his office encouraged consumers with their own tales […]
(New York Times) — In a recent New York Times article, “Debt Collectors Face a Hazard: Writer’s Cramp,” David Segal detailed how debt buyers had been using an assembly-line approach to financial paperwork well before the recent foreclosure mess and how the debt buyers often end up pursuing the wrong person. If you happen to […]
(New York Times) — Banks have been under siege in recent weeks for widespread corner-cutting in the rush to process delinquent mortgages. The accusations have stirred outrage and set off investigations by attorneys general across the country, prompting several leading banks to temporarily cease foreclosures. But lawyers who defend consumers in debt-collection cases say the banks […]
Defaulters would be wise to tame online sharing as more than your friends may be watching.
(NYT) — As millions of Americans have fallen behind on paying their bills, debt collection law firms have been clogging courtrooms with lawsuits seeking repayment. Few have been as prolific as Cohen & Slamowitz, a Woodbury, N.Y., firm that has specialized in debt collection for nearly two decades. The firm has been filing roughly 80,000 […]
(Crain’s) — Buyers of uncollected debt routinely violate state law by filing meritless lawsuits against low-income New Yorkers, often without presenting any proof of their claims and without notifying individuals that they are being sued, a new report by four nonprofit organizations alleges. The debt buyers typically obtain automatic default judgments in their favor because […]