Harassing debt collectors seeking payment for “phantom debt” are becoming more common, says the FTC. Thousands of Spanish-speaking consumers were targeted by debt collectors Centro Natural Corp. and Sumore LLC, who tricked them into paying over $2 million in phantom debts. A “phantom debt” is any claim for payment which is too old to collect,…
Earlier today, ABC News reported that phony debt collectors are calling thousands of innocent people across the country, illegally threatening them with jail time and other legal action. If you follow the Credit Law Blog, you’re probably already aware that this is a direct violation of the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act). The FDCPA…
Dealing with an endless barrage of debt collection calls is one thing, but when a debt collector demands that you pay a debt, threatening legal action even though you don’t recall owing any debt to begin with? That’s something else entirely. Unfortunately, this was the reality for nearly 600,000 Americans when Kirit Patel’s company, Broadway…
The Federal Trade Commission Thursday announced a settlement in a long-running case against two debt collection agency owners and their network of companies that threatened lawsuit and arrest over debts consumers often did not owe. The two principal owners of Rincon Debt Management, Jason R. Begley and Wayne W. Lunsford, will surrender more than $3.3…
Are you being contacted by phone and mail about a debt that you owe but haven’t paid or can’t pay? Maybe you are being called about somebody else’s debt? Does it seem like your phone won’t stop ringing or that you are threatened that calls will continue until you have cash to pay? Do you…
JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay out nearly a billion dollars to close investigations related to the 2012 “London Whale” trading fiasco, and now is told it must pay out $309 million in refunds and $80 million in penalties over illegal credit card charges for ID and fraud-protection services customers never ordered. In order to…
Craig Kimmel of the Kimmel and Silverman law firm joins Hal Donahue for the weekly segment of What Vets Need to Know on The Union Edge, discussing the dangers of Pension Loans. For more information, news and help for debt collector harassment and how to stop collection calls, visit our social media outlets: Stop…
Seven years after Congress banned payday-loan companies from charging exorbitant interest rates to service members, many of the nation’s military bases are surrounded by storefront lenders who charge high annual percentage rates, sometimes exceeding 400 percent. The Military Lending Act sought to protect service members and their families from predatory loans. But in practice, the…
The Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation and the Division of Banks announced a series of cease orders targeting unlicensed lenders and a licensed debt collector that were not adhering to the state’s loan consumer protections. These loans are illegal under the Massachusetts small-loan statute because they include excessively high interest rates and…
Judgments against unsuspecting consumers for defaulted loans are being churned out by debt collectors like Midland Funding, using robo-signed affidavits of debt as substitutes for properly investigated, properly documented debt. Robo-signing is the mass-production of “sworn” affidavits used to prove outstanding debt in lawsuits against consumers. Most common among large debt collectors and debt buyers,…
