For several years we have sent out every Thursday (except when I am running late!) a free email newsletter where we talk about suing collection agencies, defending against collection lawsuits, correcting errors on your credit reports, fighting wrongful foreclosures, protecting against identity theft, and other consumer issues.
We call it "Consumer Power" as our intention is to give you knowledge and to give you encouragement to take action. Knowledge plus action is truly power and we want to empower consumers.
We have now set up a website, ConsumerPowerNewsletter.com, where we have all of the back issues. Usually a day or so after we put out our weekly newsletter, we will have the new issue up.
Feel free to check it out and let us know your thoughts, comments, and suggestions.
If you are familiar with our blog, website, videos, and the stuff I do on my Avvo profile, you know that I have been pounding on the theme that we need to know what our rights are AND take action.
We provide information to help with the first part - knowing what your rights are - and we also encourage you to take action.
Normally the action we recommend is to sue the abusive debt collector or the mortgage company that is wrongfully foreclosing, etc. but there are times when other action is appropriate.
I wanted to share with you a conversation I had yesterday morning with a friend and client of mine. She has been dealing with computer dialed calls to her home phone by a collection agency. Voicemails are left - not by a live human but by a pre recorded or machine voice - but the voicemails are not for her. They are for someone else who has the same first letter of her first name (but a man) and same last name.
These pre-recorded messages are illegal under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. [Remember, calls to our home and cell are treated differently - let me know if you have any questions and I can go into more detail].
Taking the knowledge she has learned, she called the collector back and said "That person doesn't live here. Don't call me again."
Knowledge of her rights and taking action.
Of course she was assured the calls would stop - the collector was clearly violating the law.
But even those these were illegal calls and the collector had been warned, the calls continued. . .
So she called back again and said "I know these calls are illegal. I told you to stop. If you call again, you'll pay me for these calls [$500 or $1500 per call]."
This time her knowledge plus action resulted in the collector stopping the calls.
Two points from this:
1. These places will call until they see if you know what your rights are; and
2. When you take action - such as telling them you know they are breaking the law and they will be held accountable, this often stops them.
An observation - I think these places should be sued when they break the law but what this client has done is to stop the harassment and if they call again, what more can she do except sue? Sometimes this is the only way to make these abusive debt collectors start to follow the law.
Second observation - when we quickly sue abusive collectors (or mortgage companies about to wrongfully foreclose) what we get in return is "You sued us too quickly, you should have given us another chance."
But, when we don't sue right away, the same companies say "You should have sued us sooner to make us stop violating the law. You knew we would continue to violate the law until you sued us so we are not responsible."
Can you imagine a bank robber saying to the police:
1. "You have to let me go - you arrested me too soon" or
2. "You should have arrested me sooner - you knew I would just commit even more crimes so its your fault you were too easy on me when I committed my first crime."
These abusive debt collectors or mortgage companies that illegally foreclose will argue you either sued too quick or too late - if it wasn't so serious it would be humorous how absurd they act....
But let's get back to the "take home message" - learn but always use the knowledge you have or it is not worth knowing.
One way to learn more about your rights is to request our free Alabama books:
*4 Secrets To Stopping Wrongful Foreclosures In Alabama;
*5 Common Mistakes Consumers Make When Sued For Ejectment; and
*Ways To Stop Abusive Collectors.
We also have several reports focusing on Alabama law you can request including:
*5 Secrets Debt Buyers Don't Want You To Know About When They Sue You In Alabama;
*How To Make Collectors Pay When They Call Your Neighbors; and
*How To Make Collectors Pay When They Leave Illegal Voicemails.
Then make sure you take action - sometimes it is as simple as telling the person you know they are breaking the law and you will hold them responsible.
Pretty neat when that does the trick, don't you think?
Thanks and have a great weekend - we'll look forward to visiting with you next Thursday.
John Watts
Birmingham, Alabama
If you have further questions or concerns, feel free to contact us through our website or by calling 205-879-2447.
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:
I don't think my head is too out of whack with my body - but I have taken the good advice and moved the camera a bit further away. :)
Speaking of video, here is this week's video.
So I took this negative - having the camera too close - and turned it into (hopefully!) a positive. Let's talk about this today for a moment . . .
We all face adversity in life but I read a quote years ago that has stayed with me and really has been helpful as I go through difficult times. It's from Napoleon Hill and it goes like this:
"Within every adversity, there is a seed of an equal or greater benefit."
The idea is that in every tragedy or difficult time, somewhere (and sometimes its hidden really well!) is something that will turn out for our benefit.
It can be something major - loss of a job or a broken relationship . . . this is bad but it leads to a better job or better relationship. You know the expression - we look back and say "Wow, that was a blessing in disguise."
Or it can be a more minor issue.
I'm not saying it is always true or easy - I understand from years of representing families who have lost loved ones through some company's negligence how tough some situations can be . . . but . . . we have to go through these difficult times anyway and if we have the asumption there is some hidden benefit, then we very often will find it.
OK - what in the world does this have to do with our newsletter on consumer issues?
Well, it applies to most situations our clients find themselves in . . . Facing some difficulty and having the choice to make - do we just wallow in self pity or do we find some way to turn this bad situation into a good one?
You are dealing with an abusive debt collector. One that calls your family members. Calls your neighbors. "Blows up your cell phone" with multiple calls a day. It's affecting your job - your mood - your work.
Bad situation? Absolutely. Is there a hidden benefit? Perhaps.
Maybe you reach the threshold and say "Never again will I be put in this situation where I have collectors calling."
Maybe you can sue the collector and receive compensation. That compensation allows you to pay off some debt.
Or like one client I had who owed no-one in the world but had a collector that would not take him off an auto dialer (robo calls) after he repeatedly told the collection agency they had the wrong person.
He finally sued because it was the only way to make the calls stop. He didn't need the money but I mentioned that obviously that collection agency wanted to give him money and he could take a vaction on them or donate it to charity. The point is - very annoying what he faced but he was able to turn this around and get a benefit out of it.
We have represented over a 100 clients who have been sued by debt buyers. Debt buyers who could not prove they owned the debt or that our clients owed the debt.
Ahhh.... now we have a benefit "greater than" the adversity.
We take that court order and tell the credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union) that we do not owe the debt and to get the debt buyer's account off of our credit report.
Sometimes they would not remove it. Bad? Sure.
But then we sued the debt buyer and the credit reporting agencies. We generally received compensation and we had it removed from our credit reports.
All because of this bad situation of getting sued by a debt buyer and a bad situation of the credit reporting agencies not following the law.
But because of the fraud and arrogance of the mortgage company you sue the mortgage company . . . and now facing a fraud jury trial the mortgage company decides to finally treat you with respect and honor.
Now the mortgage company agrees to modify the loan and compensate you for lying to you.
Bad situation you were in? Sure. But now you are in a better situation and you know better how to protect yourself in the future.
I'm not saying every situation turns out like I described above. Sometimes we lose if we are sued. Sometimes we lose when we sue the bad guys. Sometimes our health problems don't change for the better overnight.
That's life. But we have to look at the bad situation we are in and say "That stinks . . . but . . . what is the benefit I will find?"
Maybe its simply the life experience.
Maybe it prompts changes in how we handle our money or our health or whatever the case may be but my suggestion to all of us (talking to myself certainly!) is to have the assumption - to suppose - that somewhere we will find that benefit. . . and that benefit will be equal to or even greater than the adversity we are going through.
Or we could just say life is terrible.
Nah - let's not do that. :)
This reminds me of something my father told me when I was a kid - he said "Remember the 50:20 principle."
"What's that?"
"Genesis 50:20 -- when Joseph was sold into slavery. Then he became a ruler in Egypt and saved his family - who had sold him into slavery. He said to them 'You meant it for evil but God meant it for good.'"
A pretty good assumption to have don't you think?
Have a great weekend and next week I'll have a shorter newsletter (smile) - this one just kind of grew on me....
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:
This is a copy of our Consumer Power Newsletter today as we know some people like to read blog posts on their Google Reader or other newsreader and since we are including a video we thought it might be helpful to have everything in one place. So, here is our newsletter this morning:
Good morning . . . I hope you are having a nice week and I appreciate you allowing us to visit with you for a few minutes this morning.
I decided to shoot a short video that covers the same material as this email so if you would like to see that you can watch it below. I did shoot this video late one day so I'm a little bit scruffy and don't have on a tie so you'll have to overlook that . . . :)
Let me know if you find the video helpful and if so I'll include one for each week's newsletter.
OK I have two main topics for the day.
The first is to document calls from collectors and I want to share with you a reason why.
The second is to let you know about three books that you can request at no charge.
Importance Of Documenting
This week Heather and I met with a nice lady who is dealing with collection calls. She was very thorough in documenting the calls and as we looked through the calls she pointed something out to us. The calls came approximately every 30 minutes. So the two or three calls a day would be something like this: 10:18; 10:48; 11:18.
This is significant because it shows that we are probably dealing with computer generated calls as few human collectors would be able to call exactly thirty minutes apart day after day.
If you have been reading our newsletter you know that computer generated calls (or pre-recorded messages) to your cell phone is a big red flag. Unless you gave permission to the company calling - either the collector or the original creditor - then whoever is making these calls to you is likely violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). This exposes that company to potential damages of $500 or $1500. Per call.
I share this story with you of this pro-active consumer to remind you to carefully document calls. Document who called, when they called, keep voicemails, keep a picture of your caller ID, etc. This is true whether you are dealing with a mortgage company, a credit card company, a bill collector, a car finance company, etc.
The system you use is not important - what's important is that you do have a system for keeping up with the calls as it may reveal options to you that you otherwise would not see.
Three Books
As you may know, we have held several tele-seminars on debt collection and foreclosure issues. We have started the process of getting those recordings transcribed and put into book form. That process is finished on three books and they will be available by Monday.
If you would like to receive a copy of any of these books, let me know. You can call us at 205-879-2447.
If you live in Alabama, let us know if you would like only the ebook format (PDF) or if you would like a printed version. If you live outside of Alabama, we are happy to send these to you in PDF. Do keep in mind these are focused on Alabama consumers which is where Stan Herring and I practice so you'll need to consult with a local lawyer in your area to see if the general information we provide in these books is applicable to you.
Our books that are available now include:
1. Little Known Ways To Stop Abusive Debt Collectors;
2. Four Secrets To Stopping Wrongful Foreclosure In Alabama; and
3. Five Mistakes Consumers Make When Facing An Ejectment Action In Alabama.
Next Tele-Seminar - Questions To Ask Your Potential Alabama Foreclosure Defense Lawyer
Our next tele-seminar will be in a few weeks (exact date coming next Thursday) and it will be on the Seven Questions You Should Ask Any Potential Alabama Foreclosue Defense Attorney Before You Hire. There are more and more lawyers who say they are foreclosure defense lawyers which is good as there are so many foreclosures and most foreclosures that we have seen have been improper. But how do pick the right one for you? What questions should you ask before you make a decision on your home and who will help you save your home?
If this is of interest to you, plan on joining us for our next tele-seminar where we will discuss these issues to offer you some suggestions on what you might ask about.
Final Thoughts
I'll close this email today and I want to thank you for being interested in consumer issues and taking the time to read this (or to watch the video).
Best wishes and have a wonderful weekend as we (amazingly) start a new month on Saturday....
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:
We have hundreds of people from all over the country that get our Thursday morning email newsletter.
Consumer Power is for Alabama consumers and other consumers who want to learn secrets on dealing with debt collectors, credit reporting agencies, mortgage companies, and other financial institutions. These secrets will help you spot rip offs and illegal actions so that you can protect yourself and your family from dishonest companies.
We share a lot of useful information and we first alert our subscribers to free information that we hope will be of help and interest to you including:
1. Reports on areas of the law;
2. Tele-Seminars;
3. Seminars; and
4. Breaking news stories.
And we try and have a little bit of fun in our newsletter also (after all Thursday is almost the weekend, right?).....
Feel free to subscribe by filling out this form below and we look forward to having you join us every Thursday morning....
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.
We look forward to staying connected with 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:
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.
You are welcome to subscribe to it by either filling out a contact sheet on our website or filling out the form below. Make sure you include your address and email. We look forward to including you in our regular communications.
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:
