A few years ago, Encore Capital, the parent of debt buyer Midland Funding, LLC started spreading money around overseas, mostly notably with the acquisition of Cabot, a debt-buyer in the United Kingdom. It’s most recent quarterly call with investors (transcript available here, signup required) paints an interesting picture of its ever-expanding global reach. The call… Read more
Like Encore, debt-buyer Portfolio Recovery Associates recently held its quarterly call with investors (transcript available here, signup required). Like Encore, Portfolio emphasized its growth outside the United States, in Europe and South America. Portfolio appears to be some way behind Encore in this expansion, although it does have some very far flung outposts – as… Read more
Texas-based debt collector Commercial Recovery Systems, Inc, (CRS) and two of its managers have been sued by the Federal Trade Commission for violating debt collection law. CRS and its President and Vice President are accused of lying to consumers in an attempt to collect debts. Collectors working at CRS are alleged to have: The FTC… Read more
In Junk Justice, I wrote about statistical outcomes of lawsuits filed by large debt buyers in Maryland. Based on my study, the years 2009-2011 had a combined total of over 121,000 cases filed by the sample group of large debt buyers in the District Court of Maryland. But now, the picture is different. We see… Read more
Barry Stimpson, like so many other Americans, was sued by Midland Funding, LLC. Midland claimed that it had bought a debt Stimpson owed to Capital One. Midland tried to prove that Stimpson owned it money with three affidavits. The District Court of Canyon County, Idaho, found that these affidavits were insufficient. The court’s decision merits… Read more
In June 2015, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued several consent orders dealing with misconduct by large banks. Two were new, against Bank of American and Wells Fargo for newly discovered misconduct. The remainder dealt with the failure by large banks, including Wells Fargo to abide by the terms of existing Consent… Read more
Ashlee Kieler at Consumerist writes about the dilemma of being forced to pay a debt that is not owed: Imagine receiving a phone call that 25% of your wages are going to be garnished because of a credit card account opened 14 years earlier that was never paid off. Making things worse, you know you… Read more
A new National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) report argues that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) should use its power to ban the collection of statute-barred debts: In light of the inherent unfairness, deceptiveness and abusiveness that occur when collectors pursue time-barred debt and the inability of disclosures to adequately protect consumers, the CFPB should… Read more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s page “ask CFPB” on debt collection, is a useful resource for consumers. It also provides some insights into the kind of debt collection problems consumers face. Among the top ten most-viewed questions on the CFPB’s site are: Read more
“Pennies on the dollar” is perhaps an overstatement. According to Paragraph 4 of a January 6, 2015 settlement agreement reached with the New York State Attorney General, Encore Capital Group, Inc. (which is publicly traded and is the parent of junk debt buyer Midland Funding, LLC) “paid approximately $1.2 billion to acquire portfolios, primarily charged-off… Read more