Consumer Law

Home foreclosures, late payments set records in first quarter of 2008

Posted on June 05, 2008
Home foreclosures, late payments set records in first quarter of 2008 [StarTribune]

Arbitration news roundup

Posted on June 05, 2008
Last week was quite a week for arbitration. Here was all the arbitration news that popped up here on Caveat Emptor: Mandatory binding arbitration sucks (say 81% of Americans). Taking a look at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce study on mandatory binding arbitration...

What in the world is a credit recession?

Posted on June 05, 2008
Apparently it is the reduced availability of credit. Think of it as the natural consequence of the overabundance of credit that tanked our economy in the first place. And it may last for a couple of years. Consider this a good reason to move your finances to a cash model...

Countrywide Is About To Foreclose

Posted on June 04, 2008
Countrywide Is About To Foreclose On Ed McMahon | Consumerist

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Car Buying 101 on YouTube.

Posted on June 04, 2008
Consumers for Auto Reliability and Conscious Youth Media Crew in California put together Insider Car Report a very good quick look at car buying. Its worth a look and of course there are all the link to similar clips.

Vintage debt collection postcards

Posted on June 04, 2008
Along with its great article on Pete Barry vs. the debt collection industry, the City Pages dug up a couple of vintage postcards used by debt collectors of yore to shame debtors into paying up. Check ‘em out: The Avenger: Expanded Content [City Pages: The Blotter]

Pete Barry makes dirty debt collectors pay

Posted on June 03, 2008
The CityPages just did a feature on my colleague and friend, Pete Barry. Choice quote: “Why did you call my client a lowlife piece of shit?” Barry asked. He was in California, deposing a debt collector who wore a Sean John T-shirt and a look of disdain...

Payday lending interest rates forced down in Ohio

Posted on June 03, 2008
On Monday, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed a law capping payday loan interest rates at 28% and limiting borrowers to 4 payday loans per year. Previously, payday lenders would charge interest rates close to 400%. Under the new law, they will be limited to 28%, which looks more like a (bad) credit card interest rate...

Homecomings Financial loses (part of) its motion to dismiss consumer fraud claims

Posted on June 02, 2008
In a class-action lawsuit against Homecomings Financial, consumers alleged that Homecomings would charge borrowers for unnecessary homeowner’s insurance, fail to process payments on time, forcing borrowers to pay “Speedpay” fees of up to $12...

Prices up, home values down, employment

Posted on May 31, 2008
Prices up, home values down, employment dropping slowly and wages lagging: a consumer nightmare. Consumers being squeezed from two sides [MSNBC]

Governor Tim Pawlenty loves the homeless so much he wants more of them

Posted on May 30, 2008
The Minnesota legislature put the Subprime Borrower Relief Act on Governor Pawlenty’s desk last week. The Act would have put Minnesota home foreclosures on hold for a year to give homeowners a chance to sell, refinance, or negotiate a workout plan with their lenders...

ABC News: National Arbitration Forum is selling justice

Posted on May 29, 2008
Maybe the tide is starting to change. ABC News’ Good Morning America show’s piece on what a scam mandatory arbitration is for credit cards is great. Among its highlights are a women who was harassed and sued for some one else’s debt, and a judge who was black balled for deciding in the consumer’s favor once...

ABC News did a great piece on debt

Posted on May 29, 2008
ABC News did a great piece on debt collection, arbitration, and especially the National Arbitration Forum, where consumers in California lose 99% of the time. A former NAF arbitrator says on camera that she was forced to quit for ruling in favor of a consumer one time...

National Arbitration Forum thinks courts should just rubber stamp arbitration awards

Posted on May 29, 2008
National Arbitration Forum basically offers a rubber stamp to debt collectors already, and they argue that courts should turn their awards into court judgments without looking too closely. Are courts unreasonably tossing out arbitration awards? Nope. NAF is just advocating for its clients, the debt collectors, who have no proof of the debts on which they [...

National Association of Realtors finally caves on internet listing

Posted on May 29, 2008
The Justice Department and the National Association of Realtors reached a tentative settlement in an antitrust lawsuit. The NAR was seriously hampering the ability of newer, lower-cost realtors to list properties for sale online. As anyone who has recently gone house-shopping knows, you have to go to a traditional broker if you want to see [...

Different crowd, same message

Posted on May 28, 2008
I recently had the privilege of attending a small conference at UMass/Amherst in honor of progressive financial guru Jane D?Arista. Details about the conference (The Political Economy of Monetary Policy and Financial Regulation) and about its sponsor, the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), are available here...

Big surprise: greedy subprime security buyers didn?t listen to their own consultants

Posted on May 28, 2008
Tracy Warren was a quality-control consultant for Bear Stearns and other mortgage security purchasers on Wall Street. Her job was to review mortgage loans to determine whether they had merit for investment purposes. (She saw the loans after they were made, but before they were sold to investors and led to the national economy’s crash-and-burn [...

A Monster List of Things Monster

Posted on May 28, 2008
A Monster List of Things Monster Cable Will Soon Sue [Gizmodo]

Monster Cable is apparently run by douchebags

Posted on May 28, 2008
How else could one explain their crusade to sue every other business that uses the word monster anywhere in its name? This includes the Chicago Bears, whose long-time nickname “monsters of the midway” must have been awfully confusing for all those consumers who showed up at Soldier Field looking to by HDMI component cables...

Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act prevents insurers from using your genes to jack up your premium

Posted on May 27, 2008
Insurers would love to assess your risk based your genes. That is, if you were high risk for cancer, your insurer would prefer to charge you a higher premium, since there would be a good chance it will be paying for expensive cancer treatment at some point...

Mandatory binding arbitration sucks (say 81% of Americans)

Posted on May 27, 2008
81% of Americans polled in a recent study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce disapproved of mandatory binding arbitration. This is the corporation-friendly, tie-your-hands arbitration that is written into most of the consumer contracts we sign every day for credit cards, cell phones, etc...

Some scammers in California were

Posted on May 27, 2008
Some scammers in California were caught telling groups of Spanish-speaking homeowners in foreclosure that they could transfer their homes to the federal government for $10,000. The scammers are in jail, and the police are trying to find the money. Foreclosure scammers busted in San Diego [California Debt Blog]

A judge recently said that (PDF

Posted on May 27, 2008
A judge recently said that (PDF link) Dell “has engaged in repeated misleading, deceptive and unlawful business conduct . . . .” The case specifically dealt with Dell’s grandiose promises in its service agreements, on which it did not deliver...

Apartment foreclosures multiply homeless and problems

Posted on May 23, 2008
When we talk about the foreclosure problem, we usually focus on the effect on the borrower-owner who had a a loan they could not afford. But where the borrower was a landlord, foreclosure causes a raft of problems for tenants, as well. A Star Tribune story on a mass eviction in North Minneapolis illustrates this well...

Minnesota Representative Keith

Posted on May 21, 2008
Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison co-sponsors the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008, which, contrary to other high-sounding legislative initiatives, actually does what it says. It would prevent ISPs from discriminating against certain internet traffic based on its content, source, etc...

Maxed Out hits Showtime

Posted on May 21, 2008
For those of you with a Showtime subscription, be sure to check out the documentary Maxed Out from the comfort of your own living room this Friday at 7pm. Maxed Out had its TV premier on May 12 on Showtime, and will run three more times: Friday May 23 at 7pm, Monday May 26 at [...

K2 Auto Group: not very nice car salesmen at all

Posted on May 20, 2008
In which a Bloomington auto salesperson asks a customer “What the hell would YOU want with a Jaguar? Really, what are you doing here?” K2 Auto Group In Minneapolis Uses The “I Hate You, Get Out” Sales Method [Consumerist]

Minnesota legislature passes Subprime Borrower Relief Act

Posted on May 20, 2008
The Subprime Borrower Relief Act gives borrowers with subprime loans the right to defer a foreclosure sale of their residence for one year after the bill becomes law. During the deferment period, the borrower will have to make reduced monthly payments, and a borrower who does not pay will lose the right to deferment...

Countersuits are acceptable losses for debt collectors

Posted on May 20, 2008
Speaking of screwing consumers, California consumer lawyer Jonathan Stein has an instructive story on what happens when corporations and debt collectors try to bully consumers into paying debts?even debts they do not owe. His client sold a car that was later involved in an auto accident...

Mortgage servicers make their money by screwing consumers and lenders

Posted on May 19, 2008
I was amused to read Mark Ireland’s post saying he came under fire by members of a panel on foreclosures at the recent Equal Justice Conference in Minneapolis for suggesting that mortgage loan servicers are not acting in the best interest of either consumers or lenders...

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