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
“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
It is well known that some debt collection attorneys mass produce lawsuits and do so without properly reviewing their own documents. As one former collection attorney, quoted in Jake Halpern’s Bad Paper, put it “[t]here’s no way that you could effectively double-check all that stuff.” Despite slipshod review of the case files, the collection attorney’s… Read more
Scammers call and demand immediate payment via wire transfer or prepaid debt card. According to a recent statement from the Maine Attorney General The red flag, however, is that they want you to make an instant payment with a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer. This is how you know you are getting scammed. Hang… Read more
Robo-signing of affidavits and other legal documents used in Maryland foreclosures has led to the predictable scenario where long after the foreclosure was approved, junk debt buyers are now seeking foreclosure deficiency judgments on what was the difference between the amount of the mortgage and the price fetched at the foreclosure sale. Most participants in… Read more
Usually, zombie debt is associated with unscrupulous debt collectors, trying to collect debts beyond the statute of limitations or which were discharged in Bankruptcy. However, according to Jessica Silver-Greenberg at the New York Times’ Dealbook, four major banks are under investigation: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Synchrony Financial (formerly GE Capital). Read more
Schedule a consultation with our legal team to review your case.
