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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

Have You Been Sent A "Fax Verification" At Your Work - A Classic Dirty Trick Of Debt Collectors

Posted on May 02, 2008
Alabama consumers often face this dirty trick which violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) - a collector will send in a "fax verification" or "employment verification" to the consumer's work. Supposedly this is to find out if the consumer works there but the real reason is to embarass and shame the consumer as all illegal third party contact is designed to do...

Third Party Contact (Neighbors & Co-Workers) - Why Debt Collectors Break The Law

Posted on May 01, 2008
Debt collectors illegally call third parties - that is, neighbors, family, co-workers, ministers, etc - for one reason and one reason only - because it is effective in getting Alabama consumers to pay money. Collectors often say "It must be ok to do this because look how effective it is in getting people to pay!" OK - so would killing the consumer's dog, I suppose...

Why Is This Debt Collector So Hateful Towards Me?

Posted on April 30, 2008
Some collectors are just jerks. Plain and simple. But most are under-trained and overworked with too much pressure to bring in money and promises to pay. It is like we see with our trucking litigation cases - often times the truck drivers are good people but they are put under so much pressure to make the "runs" that they exceed the number of hours or they don't get enough sleep or they overload their trucks...

Why Do Collectors Become So Abusive For Several Months?

Posted on April 29, 2008
There is a natural "life cycle" to collection - for about 90 to 120 days a collection agency will make an all out push to get a payment or a promise to pay. This short time period with all the pressure that goes with it for collectors leads to many collection agencies crossing the line and violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)...

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Verdict Against Equifax Including Attorney's Fees

Posted on April 28, 2008
The Consumerist has a nice post on a wonderful verdict in Florida that has resulted in over $500,000 in attorney's fees along with the multimillion dollar verdict. Often companies such as Equifax, Experian, or Trans Union act like these cases have no value so this is a nice reminder that juries do take seriously the destruction of someone's credit report by a consumer reporting agency...

What Do Collection Agencies Want From Alabama Consumers?

Posted on April 28, 2008
Debt collectors, including debt buyers, want Alabama consumers to pay money or to promise to pay. Collection agencies evaluate their employees based upon how much money is actually brought in and how much money is promised to be brought in. This means that often collectors will claim that you promised to pay and that you have now broken your promise...

New Post On Indiana Consumer Lawyer Blog About Being Sued For A Debt

Posted on April 27, 2008
Our friend Robert Duff has a good post on being sued by debt collectors. He discusses the problems that debt collectors and debt buyers face (such as not being able to prove their case) and also ways that it can be practical to hire a consumer lawyer to defend you if you have been sued...

Student Loan Garnishment - Without A Judgment

Posted on April 26, 2008
One threat that is often made against Alabama consumers is that their wages will be garnished. This violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) when there has been no judgment as it is a false statement which is a classic way in which collectors violate the FDCPA...

When Can A Collection Agency Contact My Neighbors, Co-workers, Or Family?

Posted on April 12, 2008
Alabama consumers are facing an onslaught of debt collectors and debt buyers contacting ex-spouses, children, parents, neighbors, co-workers, and other ?third parties? in an effort to bring pressure and shame on them to pay the collection agency, even if the Alabama consumer does not owe any money...

Alabama Consumer Sues Verizon And TransUnion For False Credit Reporting

Posted on April 12, 2008
We recently filed suit for an Alabama consumer who has been attempting to clear his credit report of a false Verizon Wireless account for many years now. As many consumers have discovered to their horror, sometimes accounts appear on their credit reports which do not belong to them, and when that is explained to the credit reporting agencies (such as Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) and to the creditor/furnisher of information (such as Verizon, Bank of America, Capital One, etc...

When Can An Alabama Consumer Sue A Debt Collector - Part One

Posted on April 03, 2008
Alabama consumers are often victims of abusive debt collectors or junk debt buyers and can sue (under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and/or Alabama law) these collectors or debt scavengers when the following four requirements are satisfied: 1...

When Can An Alabama Consumer Sue A Debt Collector - Part Two

Posted on April 03, 2008
We now look at what are some of the more common types of violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) that will allow an Alabama consumer to sue a debt collector or debt buyer. Our previous post listed the four requirements that must be present in order to be under the protection of the FDCPA...

Collection Letters Often Are Illegal In Alabama

Posted on March 29, 2008
Many collection letters sent to Alabama consumers by debt collectors, collection agencies, and debt buyers are illegal as they violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. They may have false information, false threats to sue, false statements about credit reports, they may be confusing or contradictory...

Explosion In Debt Buyer Collection Lawsuits

Posted on March 29, 2008
We are at a conference on debt buyers and learned this interesting fact that will interest Alabama consumers. Just one debt buyer, and not even the biggest, filed an astonishing 23,000 lawsuits in 2003. That is a staggering number of lawsuits across the country...

What Is The Statute Of Limitations For A Debt Buyer Or Collection Suit In Alabama?

Posted on March 28, 2008
When Alabama consumers are sued, one of the first questions people ask is "What is the statute of limitations" on collection suits brought by debt buyers. Let's take a moment and examine this question. First, a suit begins when a lawfirm such as Zarzaur & Schwartz, PC or Nathan & Nathan or Nadler & Associates files suit on behalf of debt buyers such as Palisades, Unifund, Asset Acceptance, LVNV, Midland Credit, etc...

Loan Rates - May Be More Than Credit Scores

Posted on March 23, 2008
MarketWatch.com has a fascinating article about how loan rates are affected by more than just credit scores. Certainly credit scores are important - and they come from what is in our credit reports - but this article points out other factors that affect our rates...

FTC's 2008 Report on Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Posted on March 23, 2008
We recently posted on a FTC Report on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and now there is a well written post on the California Debt Blog about the most recent FTC report - please read it in its entirety here. There are good collectors and bad ones...

Article In Forbes About Jere Beasley

Posted on March 23, 2008
In our Birmingham Injury Blog we referenced an article in Forbes about Jere Beasley and his firm down in Montgomery. Beasley's firm focuses on personal injury but they have also done excellent work in the consumer law area for consumers in this and other states...

Excellent Post On Fighting Fraudulent Credit Card Charges

Posted on March 23, 2008
Carey at the Consumerist has a very good post on what he did when he discovered $1600 in fraudulent charges on a store credit card. Its good to read about what to do when something like this happens but it is also very helpful to read what someone actually did in this type of situation.

Excellent Post On What To Do When Collectors Call

Posted on March 22, 2008
Our friends at Caveat Emptor have an excellent post on what to do if a collector calls. We recommend you read this post in its entirety - it has a lot of good resources and information in it.

Good Overview of Chapter 13 Bankruptcy In Birmingham

Posted on March 21, 2008
As we have mentioned before, we don't file bankruptcies but we are asked about bankruptcies from time to time. Matt Dunaway has a good explanation and overview of the Chapter 13 ("Debtor's Court") on his blog. Please read this to get a good feel for what a Chapter 13 bankruptcy involves.

Alabama Consumers Sued - What Is The Difference Between Dismissal With Prejudice and Dismissal Without Prejudice

Posted on March 21, 2008
As our readers know, the explosion in collection lawsuits against Alabama consumers is staggering. There is a lot of confusion about how lawsuits end when a debt buyer or collector dismisses the case. What is the difference between a dismissal with prejudice and a dismissal without prejudice? The short answer is a dismissal with prejudice is a complete victory and a dismissal without prejudice is a partial victory...

Alabama Consumers Sued - The Role Of Your Credit Report - Part III

Posted on March 20, 2008
In our first part we gave an overview of why you need to pull your credit report when you are sued in Alabama by a debt buyer and in our second part we discussed looking at your credit reports to see what the junk debt buyer is saying about the age of the account...

Identity Thieves Target Tax Returns

Posted on March 18, 2008
We wanted to warn Alabama Consumers on the latest target for identity thieves. Apparently, they are now even so bold as to use the IRS to unwittingly commit identity theft on consumers. We recently came across a great article alerting us to this practice in the Wall Street Journal...

Three Recent Posts On Dangerous Drugs - Avandia, Heparin, and Trasylol

Posted on March 18, 2008
As many of our readers know, we have started a personal injury blog called Birmingham Injury Blog which focuses on personal injury, wrongful death, and products liability. This is the type of work we did for many years before turning our attention to consumer issues...

What Happens If Alabama Consumers Have Suffered A Default Judgment On A Cell Phone Bill?

Posted on March 18, 2008
We recently posted about the widespread problem of debt buyers suing Alabama consumers for cell phone bills more than two years after the bill was not paid. As we noted in the post, there is a two year statute of limitation that applies that debt buyers such as Palisades (AT&T Wireless) and other debt buyers ignore...

Excellent Series of Articles For Alabama Consumers On Federal Consumer Statutes

Posted on March 13, 2008
Our friend Matthew Dunaway is a consumer and bankruptcy attorney in Birmingham, Alabama, and on his blog Birmingham Bankruptcy Blog he has a recent series of articles that give a very nice overview of various federal consumer statutes. Here is a partial listing: Truth In Lending Act (TILA) Right of Rescission Under Truth In Lending Act Closed-End Transaction Under TILA Open Ended Transactions Under TILA Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOPEA) Fair Credit Billing Act These posts will give you a nice overview of the different statutes...

Sued For Cell Phone Bill After Two Years - You May Have A Lawsuit Of Your Own

Posted on March 04, 2008
We have seen many cases in Alabama where debt buyers such as Palisades, Asset Acceptance, Unifund, Hawker Financial, etc. are suing Alabama consumers for small debts including, at times, cell phone bills. Junk debt buyers will buy up many allegedly delinquent cell phone debts and then sue four or five years after the delinquency...

Chuck Newton Answers The Question "Why?" The Bankruptcy Stay Is So Often Violated

Posted on March 01, 2008
When you file for bankruptcy protection, an automatic "stay" goes into effect that prohibits the creditors from taking collection action against you. Often times, this stay is violated by both small companies and huge national banks. The question that is often asked is "Why?" Why would this be done...

Zombie Debt Article From Michigan Collection Attorney

Posted on March 01, 2008
Those who read our blog know that we enjoy the posts by Gary Nitzkin and that is true of his recent post on junk debt which is also known as zombie debt. We suggest you read the article in its entirety. Here is the conclusion of this post: If the debt is not verified within that time period, the CRA has to remove the zombie from your credit report...

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