People Come First At Our Consumer Rights Law Firm
When a debt collector sues a consumer, the consumer has to answer that lawsuit by following the instructions on the Summons that is served. But here are some pitfalls and pointers: Make sure the case is handled. It is one thing to settle the debt, but there is still a lawsuit out there with your name on it. What is going…
Summer is barely in the rear-view mirror, and winter is right in front of us. Believe it or not, the holiday season will soon be upon us. You may not be ready to talk about that yet, but, for forward thinkers, now is a good time to consider your credit file. The holiday season brings with it a sea of…
Often people contact us complaining that they are be garnished, or otherwise collected upon, from a debt that is very old. They ask why a collector can still come after them, and ask whether the “statute of limitations” helps them at all. Its seems that these buzz words are giving consumers confidence that they are safe from old debts because…
It often happens that a person is served court documents informing them that they have to go to court because a creditor claims that they are owed money. The common initial reaction is for the consumer to ask what this is about and want to talk to the creditor or the lawyers that filed immediately. Sometimes the consumer will make…
Some debt collectors report the debts they are collecting to the credit bureaus. When they do, that can cause some aggravation to the consumer who is seeking to get out of debt and clear up their credit. One concern many consumers raise is the belief that the reporting debt collector is re-aging the account. Re-aging an account can be troubling…
A group of collection agencies and debt buyers recently settled a class action lawsuit that was filed against them for $575,000. The defendants are all related companies that were sued on behalf of 3,000 consumers in Maryland. In the case of Winemiller, et al. v. Worldwide Asset Purchasing, et al. it was alleged that the companies were not properly licensed…
A man who has no criminal background at all, that has experience working in healthcare facilities, went in for a job opportunity. As his experience and interview reflect he is fit for the job, he is hired pending his background check. Just two weeks into the job, his background check came in. Unfortunately, this person had a somewhat common name.…
Are you receiving threatening calls from collectors? What constitutes a threat under the law? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is designed to protect consumers from threatening collectors. The FDCPA makes it illegal to do the following: Call the consumer’s place of work “if the debt collector knows or has reason to know that the consumer’s employer prohibits” such calls.…
Since cell phones have become the more popular mode of communication, many consumers will go through different providers and as a result have many different phone numbers. Sometimes a customer does not pay the bill and their service is cut off, and that phone number is given to a new customer. For whatever reason, it is growing more common as…
The 11th Circuit Appellate Court revived three Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases in one decision the other day. In Zinni v. ER Solutions, 2012 WL 3641911 three cases were combined for an appeal where the trial court dismissed each of the three cases for the same reason. In each case, the debt collector made an offer of $1,001 plus…