Alabama Consumer Law Blog

This story by Karen McCracken is odd on several levels.

First a collection agency puts WWJD on all of its letters - What Would Jesus Do.

Second, here is the position of the collection agency:

Harry Mihet, lead attorney stated: “They treat their customers with respect, with integrity and the way they would want to be treated. They listen to the debtors. They try to work out solutions for the problems they are facing. They even pray with the debtors over the phone sometimes in certain situations.”
Mihet further states that “The only reason they put it there (WWJD) is they want the world to know they have adopted for themselves a code of conduct that goes above and beyond any federal law requirements to be civil and polite to debtors.”

Third, what has made this particularly newsworthy is that the collection agency is being sued. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. By another collection agency!

Not surprising to see collectors abusing consumers and I suppose it should not be surprising to see them abuse other collectors....

I would not expect this suit to be successful and if this WWJD collection agency really treats it debtors with respect and follows (or exceeds the law) then congratulations to it.

Thanks to Karen for writing this story in my old city of Louisville, Kentucky, where I lived for a number of years (Pleasure Ridge Park high school - memories!). Keep up the good work!

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Here is a nice video summarizing many consumer rights when dealing with collections. While this is from South Carolina, most apply to Alabama consumers (except the discussion of garnishment and right to cure).

If you are dealing with abusive debt collectors, please feel free to contact us through our website, our blog, or by phone at 205-879-2447.

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Almost without exception Alabama consumers who have been sued by debt buyers want to know if they have the right to appeal if they lose their case or if the debt buyer has the right to appeal if it can't prove its case and loses.

The answer is any party can appeal. We discuss the right to appeal in this video:

If we can help you, please contact us through our website, or call us at 205-879-2447, or fill out the form below for our free report on the Five Secrets Debt Buyers Don't Want You To Know About When They Sue You.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

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The requests for our "Five Secrets Debt Buyers Don't Want You To Know About" has been wonderful and we appreciate the chance to help Alabama consumers who have been sued. But we realized that the whole idea of testifying at your Alabama collection lawsuit can be intimidating and so we have prepared a 25 page free special report that lays out the seven mistakes we often see consumers make while testifying.

If you would like this report, please contact us through our website, through this blog (contact form to the left), by calling us at 205-879-2447 or by filling out the form below:

You can also check out our new website (still under construction but feel free to visit) - Sued By A Debt Buyer (suedbyadebtbuyer.com). Let us know what you think!

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

The final step in dealing with abusive debt collectors who contact third parties in violation of the law is to contact us or other experienced consumer attorneys to determine if it is appropriate to file suit to make these collectors stop. We will discuss more about filing Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) cases in future posts and videos but for now we will discuss contacting a consumer attorney:

If you are dealing with this type of abusive collection agency, request our free report on making these abusive types of collectors pay for breaking the rules. You can call us at 205-879-2447, contact us through our website, or fill out the form below to request the free report.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

We have previously discussed who is a "third party," why collectors call third parties and some examples of illegal third party contacts by abusive collection agencies. Now we want to remind you to get a statement from the third party who was illegally contacted by the debt collector.

This is important as it helps the third party remember the illegal call and it helps for you to document exactly what was said to the third party by this collector.

Here is a video that discusses obtaining a statement from the third party:

If you are dealing with this type of abusive collection agency, request our free report on making these abusive types of collectors pay for breaking the rules. You can call us at 205-879-2447, contact us through our website, or fill out the form below to request the free report.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

The problem of abusive collectors calling neighbors, co-workers, friends, or family members is not declining but instead is growing. This is the best way to force a consumer to call the collector back - embarass and shame them by calling third parties illegally.

We have been asked what are some examples of this type of illegal conduct so we made this short video:

If you are dealing with this type of abusive collection agency, request our free report on making these abusive types of collectors pay for breaking the rules. You can call us at 205-879-2447, contact us through our website, or fill out the form below to request the free report.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

While this article by Belinda Luscombe in Time is on Facebook and divorce, the principal holds true for any type of litigation that you are in - understand that what you put on Facebook (or Myspace, etc) can be used against you.

Lawyers love to find inconsistencies - the idea is "If you lied about this thing over here, then you lied about this over here."

Our advice is to never put anything on your Facebook account (or other social media) that has to do with your lawsuit and make sure your lawyer knows about your social websites.

So make sure that you are consistent and honest and never for a moment believe that anything you put up on Facebook is truly private....

Speaking of Facebook - make sure you grab your custom URL - here's mine if you want to connect (as long as we are all being careful that is.....) - http://www.facebook.com/johngwatts

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

After you file your federal court FDCPA lawsuit, the court will send a copy of the lawsuit to the defendant. Once the defendant receives a copy of the suit through the court, the defendant has 20 days to answer or respond to the lawsuit.

There are a number of ways to serve a federal court lawsuit but the easiest is to find the "registered agent" of the defendant and have the court serve the agent by certified mail. Normally the debt collector will be registered in Alabama so the secretary of state's website can give us this information. If you don't find it there, check out the websites of California, New York, Texas, Florida, etc. - the debt collector is probably registered in the bigger states or in its home state.

Once the defendant is served, then the response or answer will come next. That is what we will talk about in our next post.

If you are dealing with an abusive debt collector, please feel free to call us at 205-879-2447 or contact us through our website form. We look forward to helping you any way that we can.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

We understand that the economy is in a serious slump. The government is buying shares in banks. Companies are going bankrupt. Billions of dollars of value are being wiped out in stock market declines. What does this mean for the average Alabama consumer with respect to debt collectors and credit reports?

It is now harder than ever to pay debt collectors. On the other hand there is and will be even more bad debt sold to debt buyers or assigned to collection agencies. The legitimate and honorable debt collectors will stay within the law and will be creative in finding ways to help consumers pay debts that are owed. But many debt collectors will cross over the line. The idea is when there is a lot of noise, you have to shout louder to be heard. So many demands now exist for our money that for debt collectors to get our attention, they have to (in their minds) violate the law in order to be paid.

These violations will include threatening to garnish wages or put a lien on your house before filing suit and before having a judgment. It will also include threats (either directly or indirectly) that not paying for a credit card is a crime that can lead to prison. It will also include filing suit on cases well beyond the statute of limitations. Calling third parties - neighbors, co-workers, family members, church members, etc.

With respect to credit reports, debt collectors will be more tempted to put false information on credit reports knowing how important it is, with tight credit markets, to have an excellent credit score. Its hard enough to get credit right now but trying to do so with false collection accounts on your credit report is truly difficult.

Its not just debt collectors that understand the power of credit reporting to "wrench payment from debtors" (as one federal court famously said) - credit card companies know this as well. We have seen more and more cases of credit card companies tell, for example, widows who were not on the credit card that they are responsible for paying their dead husband's debts "because you were married". We have seen credit card companies say that there is no identity theft if your spouse or child stole your identity. We have also seen identity theft victims be rejected by credit card companies who say since a single payment was made by the innocent spouse that somehow the innocent spouse had "agreed" to pay the entire $15,000 balance. Absurd positions but everyone is wanting to get paid and so many companies are willing to cross the line in order to persuade Alabama consumers to pay debts that they do not even owe.

The solution is to educate yourself. If you have questions consult with an experienced consumer attorney. Document all your experiences and interactions with debt collectors very carefully Pull your credit reports and monitor what is on there carefully and dispute false accounts and false information.

Please contact us through our website or by phone at 205-879-2447 if we can be of assistance to you in any way. If you would like one of our free reports on debt buyer lawsuits, collection calls, or collectors calling your neighbors or co-workers, let us know and we'll send those out to you right away.

(I wrote this in October and then forgot to "publish" it - just ran across this and decided it is even more true today than when I wrote it last year. Hope it is helpful to you).

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

In this video I discuss what happens on the day of trial in a debt buyer lawsuit in Jefferson County, Alabama (Birmingham), in District or Small Claims court:

This video does not discuss the actual trial but instead the "calling of the docket" and what happens before the trial. We'll have a follow up video that discusses what actually happens during trial.

If you would like our free report on debt buyer secrets that exposes what debt buyers don't want you to know when they sue you, call me at 205-879-2447, contact us through our website, or fill out the form below:

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

In this video we discuss the fatal flaw of almost every debt buyer lawsuit that we have seen - the debt buyer can't or won't prove it owns the debt. We wrote about this two years ago and, if anything, the problem has increased with debt buyers hardly making an attempt to prove ownership. (Or if they do they seem to ignore or not understand basic rules of evidence).

In this video we address this issue:

If you would like more information, and in particular our free report on the Five Secrets Debt Buyer's Don't Want You To Know About, contact us at 205-879-2447, through our website, or by filling out the form below. We wish you the best!

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

The Wall Street Journal has posted an article that discusses moves you can make to reduce the risk of your bank using exempt funds from being confiscated to pay for debt.

In an earlier article we learned that benefits such as Social Security, veteran checks, disability and pensions are not allowed to be garnished by the bank if they receive an order to freeze your account. This article suggests that if those funds are taken to pay a debt, you should notify the bank at once those are supposed to be exempt.

...contact the creditor and provide it with evidence your funds are exempt; some creditors will then tell the bank to release your account. Depending on the state, you generally have ten days to go to the courthouse and fill out a claim stating your funds are exempt.

Sometimes a debt collector can garnish someone's account even if they do not owe a debt. Summons are often sent to old addresses, if sent at all, so the person doesn't show up to court. The debt collector then gets the garnishment order.

If you receive a summons, don't ignore it: Go to court and ask the debt collector to prove you owe the debt. Often they have no proof, and the statute of limitations has expired.

If you have had problems such as these, feel free to contact us.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

In this video you can see and hear one of our clients talk about his experience in being sued by a debt buyer in Jefferson County, Alabama (Birmingham). This video was made right after his trial which he won in the District Court of Jefferson County.

We have discussed the large numbers of cases being filed by debt buyers and the biggest advantage they have over consumers is most consumers don't have good solid information about their rights. To help with this, we have our free report which any consumer being sued by a debt buyer should review as soon as possible as you don't want a default judgment to be entered against you as we discuss in this video below:

To request our free report to help educate yourself on debt buyer lawsuits, call us at 205-879-2447, contact us through our website, or fill out the form below. We wish you the best of success.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

I recently wrote about some of the abuses of Pay Day or Title Loan companies when they collect debts and a natural question is "WHY" do they do this? Or why do they think they can get away with it?

First, most of these lenders are not considered debt collectors so they are not controlled by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Thus, they think they can get away with all sorts of high-handed abuse towards consumers. They have forgotten about Alabama state law - such as invasion of privacy, false imprisonment (when they block your driveway), and other similar causes of action.

Second, all of these agreements have arbitration provisions in them and the thought among most consumers (and frankly lawyers also) is a consumer can't win in arbitration. To be clear - I do not like arbitration or more specifically I don't like mandatory arbitration. But it is possible to win in arbitration.

The solution is we need to be serious and thorough in suing these abusive companies under Alabama state law and if we need to go to arbitration, that is fine. Particularly legitimate arbitration groups such as the American Arbitration Association (AAA).

If you are a victim of abusive pay day lenders or title loan collectors, feel free to give us a call at 205-879-2447, fill out our contact portion of our website, or fill out this blog form to your left. We look forward to helping you any way that we can.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

The Wall Street Journal has posted an article about a group of legislators who are pushing for the Treasury Department to close a banking "loophole." This loophole allows for creditors to automatically garnish funds, such as Social Security or disability payments, from debtors' bank accounts.

Federal law says creditors can't take Social Security, disability, veterans' and children's survivor benefits to pay a debt. But the federal law doesn't say how money deposited directly into bank accounts is to be protected -- a gap that has given banks the ability to seize such funds.

Ellen E. Schults, author of the article, says that banks freeze customers' accounts when they receive notice from creditors to do so, and then charge fees for freezing the account and then overdraft fees. People often don't know that their benefit money isn't supposed to be seized.

The article mentions one particular case, an older,disabled couple from Macon, Georgia whose only income was from Social Security. A debt collector had their account frozen. They didn't know their Social Security money wasn't supposed to be garnished until they saw a TV show about it. They then contacted a Georgia law group who sued the bank to get the couple's money back.

A Bank of America spokeswoman declined to comment on the case, saying the court had placed a confidentiality order on it, adding: "Banks are required by law to honor garnishment orders or risk being held in contempt. We freeze accounts because the law says we must when we receive an order to do so."

The proposed bill would prohibit banks from freezing accounts with direct deposits from funds that are supposed to be exempt from garnishment. If that money is mixed with money that is allowed to be taken, the bank would use a formula to "exclude the protected amounts." This would protect banks from lawsuits from debt collectors and consumers.

If you have had problems with protected direct deposit funds being garnished by debt collectors, feel free to contact us.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Another resource for you is to join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.