Consumer Law

Debt Buyers? Insufficient Evidence

By Sam Glover

I sometimes wonder why debt buyers bother to actually buy anything. Since the paper they purchase is basically worthless:

Debt buyers? ability to obtain additional documentation from the original creditor is extremely limited: they may purchase the right to request such documentation in a limited number of cases, or they may not have access to any supporting documentation at all. If the debt is resold to another debt buyer, obtaining such documentation becomes even more difficult, as most second and subsequent sales of debt portfolios do not include any direct access to the additional documentation from the original creditor, which means that those debt buyers almost certainly lack the documentation needed to support lawsuits filed against people whose names appear in their portfolios.

When you realize that most debt buyers are filing lawsuits without even the ability to get competent evidence to prove their claims, regulations like the proposed Minnesota bill make more sense. Debt buyers are not special, and they should have to prove their cases like everyone else. Since they are getting away with doing so—regularly, in fact—they should have to meet some basic requirements before they are allowed to take advantage of the courts.

The sleazy world of predatory debt buyers | Felix Salmon

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Full post as published by Caveat Emptor on June 10, 2010 (boomark / email).