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Consumer Law

Alabama Consumer Blog

Covers news and events dealing with consumer law in Alabama.
By M. Stan Herring

Post Frequency: 2.8/day

Last Entry: March 29, 2011 at 19:05:21

Wrecked Car Records Available to Public

Posted on April 19, 2009
Consumer Rights Law Blog has posted an article about an online database where consumers can find records from junk yards, insurance companies, and salvage yards about wrecked cars. The idea is to help consumers "avoid buying patched up junk cars and trucks...

Fantastic Award In FDCPA Case Against Credigy

Posted on April 18, 2009
Debt collectors and their lawyers almost always take the approach that its "no big deal" that the collection agency violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Read this fascinating story here about what happened to one famous debt collector (Credigy) who did not take its wrongdoing seriously and instead attacked the plaintiffs and their children...

Alabama Collection Lawsuits Filed The Week Of April 6, 2009

Posted on April 17, 2009
Here is the update on the numbers of debt buyer lawsuits and lawsuits filed by the creditor Capital One during the week of April 6, 2009, in Alabama: Arrow Financial Services 31 Asset Acceptance 75 Atlantic Credit & Finance 69 Cach, LLC 8 Cap One Bank 222 Cavarly Portfolio Services, LLC 4 Delta Capital Resources, LLC 7 Harvest Credit Management, LLC 1 Hilco Receivables LLC 13 Lionheart Funding LLC 1 LVNV Funding 27 MCM Holdings LLC 3 Merchants Adjustment Services, Inc...

Free Report On Why Debt Collectors Illegally Contact Third Parties

Posted on April 16, 2009
One of the worst type of abuses that debt collectors commit is contacting third parties (anyone other than the consumer or the consumer's spouse) to collect the debt. Sometimes the collectors call co-workers. This is known as an "office party". Sometimes neighbors are called by the abusive collectors - this is known as a "block party"...

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Debt from Failed Business

Posted on April 16, 2009
The BKBlog has posted an article that discusses if you are responsible for debt incurred by the failure of your business, and if personal bankruptcy can help. Jonathan Ginsberg, author of the blog, is based in Georgia and thusly "can only speak to how Georgia law works" but he still offers good insight...

Past Issues Of Newsletter Consumer Connections On Website

Posted on April 15, 2009
Our clients and those who have requested information from us receive our monthly newsletter that we have been publishing for nearly a year now. We have just put up the issues from this year on our website under the "Articles" portion. Feel free to take a look at these and if you like them you can always contact us through our website, call us at 205-879-2447, or fill out the form below to receive the newsletter automatically free of charge...

Alabama Collection Lawsuits Filed The Week Of March 30, 2009

Posted on April 15, 2009
We were interested in how many lawsuits are being filed by Capital One and by some of the debt buyers across the state. We will do this every week as we often are asked by consumers who are sued by debt buyers "Am I the only one this debt buyer has sued?"...

Alabama Collection Lawsuits - Why Answering "I Have No Job" Or "I Have No Money" Is Not Recommended

Posted on April 13, 2009
In this time of economic difficulty, many Alabama residents are hurting financially and just don't have any extra money. Overtime may have been cut back or jobs completely eliminated or perhaps medical expenses have taken the rest of the monthly dollars in a household...

"Government cracking down on mortgage scams"

Posted on April 13, 2009
Alan Zibel and Christopher S. Rugaber of Associated Press have written an article that discusses the government's response to an increase in "criminal actors...preying on desperate borrowers caught up in the nation's housing crisis." The article warns that "scammers" are trying to trick customers into paying hefty upfront fees for "loan modifications" that are rarely successful...

Complaints About Debt-Settlement Firms

Posted on April 12, 2009
Eleanor Laise, of the Wall Street Journal, has written an article that discusses the problem of dishonest debt collection agencies. According to the article, the number of complaints about debt-settlement agencies so far this year is double the number of complaints in 2007...

Strategies for Dealing with Foreclosure

Posted on April 09, 2009
The Michigan Collection Law Blog has posted an article that reminds people to have an "exit strategy" when being faced with foreclosure. This article suggests to first prioritize what kind of residence you need after having to leave the foreclosed property...

Bankruptcy and Student Loans

Posted on April 07, 2009
The BKBlog has posted an article that discusses the effects bakruptcy has on student loans. Student loan creditors have become more active in collecting their money in light of the current economic decline. Different "collection resources" are available for student loan companies looking to collect their money, however There is one statute that permits student loan creditors to garnish wages without the need to first go to court...

FTC Video Spoof

Posted on April 03, 2009
Our friend Denise Richardson has posted a blog about the Federal Trade Commission spoofing the freecreditreport.com commercials. The FTC's spoof video reminds consumers that the only truly free (and legal) way to get a credit report online is with AnnualCreditReport...

Why We Don't Recommend Filing Counterclaims In Debt Buyer Suits

Posted on April 02, 2009
We will expand on this on our website but we have noticed a number of Alabama consumers who have filed counterclaims when sued by a debt buyer. We generally do not do this for several reasons. First, it can complicate an otherwise simple case. The debt buyer sued you...

Insight and Tips on Credit Cards

Posted on March 31, 2009
Our friend Denise Richardson has a guest post on her blog providing insight into the credit card industry. The source, and author of the blog post, is Scott Taylor, who was in the industry for 20 years. Taylor feels that credit cards can be very useful when used properly, but the average consumer doesn't have enough education about how the credit card industry works...

Banking Industry Seeking to Alter Customer Privacy Protection

Posted on March 30, 2009
The San Fransisco Gate has posted an article, written by John Diaz, about the banking industry's attempt to alter a law dealing with customer privacy. In California in 2004 a law was passed saying that the customer's permission had to be granted before their personal financial information, such as credit card activity, could have been sold or shared...

New Article On Debt Collector Voicemails And Offer Of Free Report

Posted on March 29, 2009
We are filing more and more lawsuits against collection agencies, debt collectors, and debt buyers for leaving illegal messages on our clients' answering machines and voicemail systems. There is a great need for more information as so many Alabama consumers are having to deal with these illegal voicemails so we wrote a short article for you which we hope will be helpful...

Sign Up For Our Free Newsletter

Posted on March 28, 2009
For about 8 months we have been publishing our newsletter, Consumer Connections, and our clients have found it to be filled with useful content. We have addressed timely articles such as illegal voicemails, illegal third party contacts, dirty tricks of insurance companies, and other articles that we think you will find valuable...

Georgia Law Firm Under Investigation

Posted on March 28, 2009
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has posted an article about problems with a debt collection firm in Georgia. Alison Young, who wrote this fascinating article, says that consumers have complained of the firm using "deceit and abusive tactics" to collect their money...

Some Municipalities Using Private Debt Collectors

Posted on March 26, 2009
Business Week posted an article bringing attention to some cities and states decision to enlist private debt collectors to track down and collect "fines", such as speeding tickets and library fines. Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Peter Carbonara, authors of the article, say the idea behind this is to cut cut costs by collecting these unpaid fees from private collectors rather than hire more government employees saying their employees do the job just as effectively...

How You Should Use A Collection Log To Track Communication From Debt Collectors

Posted on March 23, 2009
We found there was a need to explain why we suggest you use a collection log and how to use the collection log. Therefore, we wrote an article that we trust will be helpful to you as you deal with collection agencies or debt buyers. Please take a moment and read this article and make sure you take advantage of the free collection communication logs so you can accurately track the communications you receive from debt collectors, particularly collectors that break the law...

Why You Should NOT Record Calls With Debt Collectors

Posted on March 21, 2009
We are often asked by consumers about secretly recording phone calls with abusive debt collectors. Our answer often surprises consumers as we normally say "No". If you would like to find out why, please read our new article entitled "Two Reasons Why We Recommend You Not Record Calls In Alabama"...

Sen. Schumer Calls for Investigation into Debt Collecting Practices

Posted on March 20, 2009
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) has urged a federal investigation to look "into debt collection companies that pursue payments from relatives of deceased debtors, saying the practice appears to violate existing law." Schumer argues that debt collectors who harass a deceased person's family members should be required to state they (the family members) have no obligation to pay the debt unless they were a co-signer...

Alabama FDCPA Lawsuit - Part Two - Filing The Lawsuit

Posted on March 18, 2009
Filing the lawsuit is the first step in an Alabama Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) case against an abusive debt collector. Some lawyers like to negotiate with debt collectors before they sue but (with one exception) we do not do this as we are dealing with abusive collection agencies and debt buyers...

Risks Associated with Used Car Dealerships

Posted on March 18, 2009
The California Lemon Law Blog posted an article about the increasing risks associated with used car dealerships. Howard D. Silver says that identity theft, corruption, and fraud were uncovered in a recently concluded investigation of the January 2007 shooting of a New York used car salesman...

Twitter In The Courtroom?

Posted on March 17, 2009
Here is an intriguing story about a reporter using twitter to report on a trial in federal court. What do you think of this? My concern was about jurors reading this but here is the judge's response: A couple of lawyers voiced concern about the possibility that a juror might visit the online site to read the posts from Ron Sylvester, a reporter for the Wichita Eagle, but U...

Foreclosure Crisis Worsens

Posted on March 16, 2009
The Consumer Law and Policy Blog has posted an article dealing with an increase in foreclosure related problems. The article says that... "while foreclosure filings have not increased, every other category, including total loans in foreclosure and total loans more than 90 days past due, increased and continues to set new records...

Experian And FICO Scores

Posted on March 15, 2009
The California Credit Law Blog has a recent post about how Experian will no longer make its FICO score available to the public. You can still access your credit report from Experian (and Trans Union,Equifax and Innovis) for free every twelve months and it is the credit report that provides the data that FICO uses to create your score...

American Express Pays off Clients to Pay Balance/Cancel Account

Posted on March 14, 2009
John W. Sharbrough, of the Alabama Consumer Law Blog, posted an article relating to American Express' attempt to bribe clients to pay off their debt. The company is offering customers as much as $300 to pay off their balance and and close their card...

Wrongful Foreclosure Lawsuits - Failure To Credit Payments

Posted on March 13, 2009
Given the increase in foreclosures in Alabama (and nationwide), we are often asked if we can file suit against the mortgage companies for foreclosing on our clients. The answer is "it depends - what did the mortgage company do wrong?" The simplest type of case (not simple to litigate but the cleanest) is when a mortgage company simply does not credit the payments it has received...

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