Topics: Creditor/Debtor - 57 results

The last thing consumer on the brink of financial ruin need is to be harassed about debt they can’t pay. According to the Federal Trade Commission, claims of debt collection harassment make up about 10% or 180,928 complaints of all issues brought to them in 2011, second on their list. And some of the people they’re trying to collect from are dead. What can consumers do? Tim Powderly of the Powderly Law Firm describes harassment activities: Contacting friends or family, …

The Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement this month with two debt collectors who were accused of abusive and over-the-top practices, including threatening to rape a debtor’s mother, kill the family dog and desecrate the corpses of debtors’ dead children. Conduct of debt collectors governed by Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Abuses are widespread due to ignorance of law and difficulty of enforcement Know how to protect yourself from abusive collectors   Pay This Bill Right Now, or . . …

The Federal Trade Commission struck a $2.5 million settlement with one of the country’s largest debt collectors over charges that the company tricked consumers into reviving expired debts.  Asset Acceptance used multiple fraudulent practices to collect old debts. As part of the settlement it must inform consumers whose debts are too old to be legally enforceable—also called time-barred debts—that it will not sue to collect on them.   In a statement issued by the FTC, the director of the agency’s …

Renters across America are getting shocking news when a new owner shows up and says that they have to move out — even though they are current on their rent — because their landlord lost the house or apartment in foreclosure. What do you do when the new owner tells you to get out? Stay put and learn your rights under the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act. Tenants Get the Wrong Kind of Heat in Foreclosure The number of tenants …

U.S. consumer bankruptcies continue to decline gradually but that doesn’t mean economic prosperity has returned to the economy, according to consumer bankruptcy lawyers.  U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings totaled 100,980 nationwide during November, a 12 percent decrease from the 114,587 total consumer filings recorded in November 2010, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), relying on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center (NBKRC). The November consumer filings also represented a 5 percent decrease from the 106,255 filings in October. Chapter …