Consumers Should Not Discuss Their Debts On The Internet

by Donald Petersen on May 28, 2013

An Arkansas consumer (the “Plaintiff”) recently defeated the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss his FDCPA lawsuit and to enter a “Civility Order” prohibiting the Plaintiff from making further comments on two internet “gripe sites” that the Plaintiff actively uses. Although the United States District Court denied the Defendant’s motion to dismiss the case and for the [...]

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Debt Buyer Alleges Seller Inflated Balances of Chase Accounts

by Donald Petersen on May 9, 2013

A New Jersey debt buyer, Vanz LLC, recently filed a lawsuit against Mattia & Associates alleging that Mattia misrepresented the quality of charged off consumer accounts which Vanz purchased from Mattia. Vanz’s lawsuit arises from two separate portfolios that Vanz purchased from Mattia : (1) the “Chase Portfolio” consisting of 3,932 charged off Chase credit [...]

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Santander Ordered to Pay $ 571,000 for TCPA Violations

March 12, 2013

Santander Consumer USA, Inc. called consumer Heather Nelson’s cellular telephone one thousand twenty-six (1,026) times and left pre-recorded messages an additional one hundred sixteen (116) times during a one year period while attempting to collect a consumer debt arising from loans were secured by two motor vehicles, a van and a truck. The Court entered [...]

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National Enterprise Systems Complaints

November 13, 2012

National Enterprise Systems, Inc. (“NES”) allegedly violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) by threatening to sue without being able to or intending to sue, threatening to garnish non-borrower’s wages, repeatedly calling consumer’s relatives, threatening to have consumers arrested unless they paid their alleged debts, and using profanity according to consumers who filed FDCPA [...]

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New York Judge Criticizes Credit Card Scavenger Lawsuits

August 27, 2012

New York judges have openly expressed their frustration with credit card collection lawsuits and the fact that consumers contest only six percent of the time. Six percent! The deficiencies criticized by the New York judges are also problematic in other states although consumers’ ability to combat the deficiencies depends upon the law of the state [...]

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Collection Calls to New Cell Phone Owners Prohibitted

May 12, 2012

Soppet v. Enhanced Recovery Company, LLC, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) protects cell phone owners who inherit “recycled” cell phone numbers from most companies that use automatic dialers to call their cell phone attempting to contact someone who formerly used their cell [...]

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Legal Helpers Debt Resolution Sued by Debt Settlers

April 10, 2012

Legal Helpers Debt Resolution, LLC, and Macey, Aleman, Hyslip & Searns, recently agreed to pay the Attorney General for the State of Illinois $ 314,000 as a fine for operating an unlicensed debt settlement business. Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s lawsuit alleged that Legal Helpers unlawfully charged consumers upfront fees for debt settlement services with promises [...]

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Are “Repo Men” “Debt Collectors”?

March 28, 2012

Consumers and their novice lawyers who file lawsuits against repo men alleging that the repossesson company violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act are likely to end up even more frustrated than Otto did after he quit his job only to discover that his parents donated his college fund to a televangelist. For readers who [...]

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AFNI Collector Threatens to Exile Serviceman Deployed in Afghanistan

March 2, 2012

A Washington consumer alleges that an AFNI debt collector called her during July, 2011 attempting to collect a Sallie Mae account which her ex-husband co-signed. AFNI’s representative allegedly told the consumer that she’d discussed the alleged debt with the consumer’s ex-husband. The complaint indicates that the consumer called the debt collector out on what appears [...]

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Fair Debt Collection Practices Clarification Act of 2012 Introduced

March 1, 2012

Representative Barney Frank introduced a bill entitled the “Fair Debt Collection Practices Clarification Act of 2012” in the House Committee on Financial Services (the “Committee”). Rep. Frank is the ranking minority member on the committee. If enacted, Section 3d(1) the Bill would require the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) to promulgate regulations concerning the permissible [...]

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