The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau CFPB) is now accepting complaints from consumers as part of their effort to monitor and improve consumer protection throughout the United States.  Complaints in the following areas are now being accepted:

• Bank Accounts / Bank Services
• Credit Cards
• Credit Reporting
• Money Transfers
• Mortgages
• Student Loans
• Vehicle or Consumer Loans

Your complaint can be submitted online by clicking here and following the link to the CFPB complaint page.

I strongly encourage consumers who feel they have a complaint about a financial product or service to submit a complaint.  Your complaint can potentially help you and help other consumers as well.  If the complaint helps motivate the business who did something wrong to fix your issue, it will be helpful to you.  It will also be helpful to other consumers in two ways.  First, it may help determine whether the same thing is happening to others, and is part of a larger pattern and practice of the business.  Second, the CFPB has the power to issue regulations in a number of areas involving consumer finance, and it uses consumer complaints as one way of helping determine whether and to what extent additional rules are required.

Speaking up is one of the most important ways for any consumer to seek justice.  If your issue occurs here in Central Florida (Seminole County, Orange County, Volusia County, Lake County, Brevard County or Flagler County), you are also welcome to call us toll-free at 1-888-834-5297 or click here to send us an email.  Our initial consultation is always free, and we would be honored to pursue justice on your behalf.

Just a few days ago, the California Attorney General announced the filing of a lawsuit against Chase Bank USA, N.A. and two related companies for fraudulent and unlawful debt collection practices.  The lawsuit alleges that Chase Bank filed a staggering 100,000 debt collection lawsuits in California alone between January 2008 and April 2011.  On a peak day, Chase Bank filed more than 450 lawsuits in a single day.  The lawsuit alleges that, in order to keep up with this pace of lawsuits, Chase Bank cut corners in its debt collection lawsuits in illegal ways, including:

• Robo-signing:  signing affidavits and court documents without having first reviewing them properly to ensure they were accurate
• Sewer service:  failing to properly serve consumers with lawsuit paperwork, while falsely telling the Courts that the consumers were properly served
• Filing irregularities:  including the revealing of consumers’ personal information that could expose them to identity theft, filing false affidavits that are not based on personal knowledge, and failing to determine whether a consumer is in the military service and therefore entitled to additional protections under the law

According to the lawsuit, this is not limited to lawsuits brought by Chase, but also by debt buyers to whom Chase has sold their accounts.  You can click here for more information about the lawsuit filed against Chase Bank, including a copy of the actual complaint filed in court.

In Florida, we have recently seen many lawsuits filed by Midland Funding LLC who claims to have bought the account from Chase Bank or an affiliate.  You may have several defenses against such lawsuits filed by Midland Funding LLC and by any other debt buyer who bought the account from Chase Bank or its affiliates.  Call us today for a free consultation about how we can help you protect your rights, or simply click here to submit an online contact form.

Plaintiff: Midland Funding, LLC

Original Creditor: Citibank

Plaintiff’s Attorneys: Joel Lucoff and Armando Vasquez

Plaintiff’s Law Firm: Pollack and Rosen, P.A.

Case Outcome: Case dismissed without our client paying anything

Our client was sued for Breach of Contract and for Unjust Enrichment by the law firm of Pollack and Rosen, PA. Attorneys Joel Lucoff and Armando Vasquez represented Midland Funding, LLC. Midland Funding claimed that it had purchased the alleged debt from Citibank, and that the records reflected that our client owed them money. Our client disputed these claims, and even provided documentation that he had paid Citibank in full. Our client originally tried to defend this credit card lawsuit himself, but Midland continued to prosecute it. Once we were retained by our client, we filed appropriate motions with the Court and sent out discovery requests that would prove our client was correct. Midland Funding then dismissed the case without our client paying anything to them or their attorneys.

If you have a similar situation, or if the debt collector is refusing to listen to you, contact us now. Let our experience defending debt collection cases work for you. We are located in Lake Mary, Florida in Seminole County and accept such cases throughout Central Florida.

Plaintiff:  LVNV Funding LLC

Original Creditor:  Citibank

Plaintiff’s Attorneys:  Jeffrey Kahn

Plaintiff’s Law Firm:  Wagner, Hunt & Kahn, P.A.

Case Outcome:  Case dismissed without our client paying anything

Our client was sued by the law firm of Wagner, Hunt and Kahn, P.A. on behalf of LVNV Funding for claims of Account Stated, Open Account, Money Lent and Quantum Meruit.  While the original creditor for the credit card was Citibank, LVNV Funding claimed to have purchased the account and sued our client.  We served discovery including Interrogatories, Requests for Production and Requests for Admission on LVNV Funding.  We also successfully defended a motion filed by their lawyers.  Our client did not pay anything to Citibank, LVNV Funding, or their attorneys as a result of this lawsuit, which they dismissed.

If you need an attorney who deals in debt collection defense, FDCPA, debt collection harassment, credit reporting, identity theft, contractor fraud, breach of contract, warranty issues, or auto scam cases, contact us.  We also handle cases involving defective products, personal injury from car accidents and other consumer justice issues, call us toll free for a free consultation.  You can also view more information about our other areas of practice at www.CarSafetyLawyer.com and www.TheAirbagBlog.com.

Plaintiff:  Merrill Lynch / Merrill Lynch Bank, USA

Plaintiff’s Law Firm:  Pollack & Rosen, P.A.

Plaintiff’s Attorneys:  Joseph Harrison and Joel Lucoff

Plaintiff sued under:  Breach of Retail Installment Sale Contract

Case Outcome:  Case Dismissed Without Client Paying Anything

Client Problem:  Our client was sued by Merrill Lynch.  The Law Firm of Pollack and Rosen, P.A. from Coral Gables, Florida and attorneys Joseph Harrison and Joel Lucoff represented Merrill Lynch.  They sued for an automobile repo deficiency.

Outcome for Client:  After retaining us, we put our knowledge of the law in the areas of debt collection, auto repossession, and deficiency judgments to use to defend the case.  We filed our answer and affirmative defenses, as well as various notices and motions.  We were successful in winning the case at a court hearing before trial.

Contact us if you have been sued and need an experienced Seminole County consumer lawyer to defend your debt collection case or auto deficiency case after a repo.  Don’t be victimized by any unfair or deceptive practice by a car dealership, such as odometer fraud, car sales fraud, spot delivery / yo-yo / bait and switch financing, undisclosed rebuilt wrecks, financing fraud, or a refusal to honor warranty.  These laws also apply to motorcycle dealers, truck dealers, scooter / trike dealers, and RV dealers, as well as car dealers.  We would be honored to represent you.

My first case in law school dealt with a landlord tenant case.  My client was sued by the landlord trying to evict her, but I was able to keep her in her home.  More rewarding than winning the case was seeing our client’s expression when she realized she had won.  I remember the countless thank you’s as if it were yesterday.

When I established my law practice in 1998, I decided to represent only consumers, and to provide personal attention to each and every client.  That personal service continues today.  When you call our firm, you will not have to identify yourself by a case number or wonder who will answer your questions:  ours is a family practice, and you will speak with my wife and office manager, Tina, or me.  We will make ourselves available at a time convenient for you, including evenings and weekends.  After all, questions arise at all hours of the day, and not just between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

Tina and I both believe it is important to give back to the community, so we proudly support and sponsor many charities.  We have volunteered for many charitable groups, including our church, Meals on Wheels, Seminole County Animal Shelter, and several legal services organizations.  Helping Florida Consumers is not just a tag line, it is something we strongly believe in.

I have given many presentations to community groups, and have been interviewed by several news stations and newspapers.  My practice of consumer protection law includes debt collection defense, abusive debt collectors/Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, credit reporting/Fair Credit Reporting Act, auto dealer fraud/lemon law, and defective products, including those that cause personal injury.

When creating my website, I decided it was important to respect our clients’ privacy.  That is why we do not identify any clients by last name or case number; nor do we list the dollar amounts we have recovered on behalf of our clients.  You also won’t see us on a billboard or in a TV commercial, but instead you may hear about us from our past clients.

Unfortunately, some people do not call an attorney because they think they can’t afford one or because they had a bad experience with a prior lawyer.  That is unfortunate, because everyone deserves an experienced attorney they can trust.  Everyone deserves to have their questions answered by an attorney throughout their representation and not just at the initial consultation.  As a consumer protection attorney and former automotive engineer, I am here to assist you from beginning to end.  Don’t go through your lawsuit alone, contact us for a free consultation.  Please feel to feel to also visit my other websites www.CarSafetyLawyer.com and www.TheAirbagBlog.com.

We are very pleased to announce that Taras Rudnitsky has earned the Seminole County Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award for 2012.  This award was presented by Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, which operates in 10 counties throughout Central Florida.  It is based, in part, on the number of hours an attorney provides for pro bono representation of clients in our community.

We are very proud of this award.  We are also proud of our providing pro bono representation to numerous consumers since we first opened our law practice more than 14 years ago.  We would also like to thank everyone else who also donates their time by giving back to their community.  The photo below shows Taras and Tina Rudnitsky, along with the award plaque.

Taras Rudnitsky – Attorney of the Year Award for Seminole County Pro Bono Work

You may receive a letter from an attorney telling that you are being sued even before the process server has a chance to serve you with the Summons and Complaint.  Once you receive a copy of the lawsuit, it may say that you have 20 days to file a response (if it’s in County Court or Circuit Court) or that you have to appear in Court on a specified date and time (if it’s in Small Claims court).  Should you try to defend the lawsuit on your own (called appearing “pro se”) or should you hire a lawyer?

There is a lot of information floating around on the internet, but much of it is simply wrong.  Even if it’s not wrong, the failure to follow the court procedures, rules and deadlines can result in you losing valuable rights, or even losing the whole lawsuit without even a trial.  However, when you hire our consumer protection law firm, we will attend all necessary court hearings, depositions, and trials; we will apply our knowledge from beginning to end.  Don’t risk Summary Judgment or take the chance of having your wages garnished or your bank accounts or other property seized.  We are here to help.

Some of our clients trusted a mediator, only to learn when it is too late that they had other options.  All too often someone tells us what they signed is not what was explained at mediation.  Always take your time and be sure to read what is in front of you; this may help avoid severe negative consequences later.  Once you sign a mediation agreement, you may later realize you have lost important rights.

When we are retained, we typically file our Notice of Appearance to inform the Court and the debt collection lawyer that we represent you.  From that point on, you should not be contacted by the debt collector or its lawyers.  If you are, you may be able to file a law suit against them.

Next we will typically file an Answer and Affirmative Defenses.  After that, the parties often engage in discovery.  This includes sending and responding to Requests for Admission, Requests for Production and Interrogatories.  Answering these properly is critical.  For example, if you do not respond to Requests for Admission in the time frame specified by the Court Rules, they are automatically deemed admitted.  If this happens, you can lose your whole case without even a trial.

Remember the debt collector bringing the lawsuit has the burden of proof.  Some things to consider in deciding how to respond include:  Did I own a credit card from this company?  If it’s a debt buyer, do they have proof that they bought my account?  Are these even my charges?  Is the amount sued on accurate?  Many people get confused thinking the law firm that is suing them is the account owner, when in fact the law firm is only representing the company suing you.

We will keep you informed every step of the way.  I will work on your case from beginning to end.  When you retain our firm, rest assured my office manager and wife, Tina, and I will put our experience to work for you.  Please call us toll free at 1-888-834-5297 or contact us through this website by clicking here.  We are here to help you.

Attorneys Daniella Diaz and Kimberlee Otis from the law firm of Zakheim and Associates, P.A. (now known as Zakheim & LaVrar, P.A.) represented Capital One Bank (USA), N.A. in a credit card debt collection lawsuit against our client.  Our client was sued under Breach of Credit Card Agreement and Account Stated.

After being retained and filing the necessary paperwork, Capital One dismissed the case without our client paying anything.  When time is of the essence, contact a knowledgeable credit card attorney to represent you.  Helping Florida Consumers is what we are all about.

CACH, LLC hired attorney Mellissa A. Ferris in Orlando, Florida to sue our client for a credit card debt they claimed they had bought from Bank of America.  Based on our investigation, we were able to assert numerous affirmative defenses to their debt collection lawsuit.  Soon after we filed our Answer, Affirmative Defenses and Jury Demand with the Court, CACH agreed to permanently dismiss their lawsuit and to remove any negative information they had provided for the account from our client’s credit reports.

If you are being sued, please contact us.  We are conveniently located in Seminole County and accept such cases throughout Central Florida, including Seminole County, Orange County, Volusia County, Brevard County, Lake County and Flagler County. Please don’t hesitate to contact us by clicking here or call us today for a free consultation.

Our client was sued by Citibank (South Dakota), N.A. in County Court for an alleged credit card debt under various legal theories: Account Stated, Money Lent and Open Account. Citibank was represented by attorney Patrick Carey, Mairim A. Morales and Robert Rivera from the debt collection law firm of Patrick A. Carey, P.A. in Orlando, Florida.

After being served with the Summons and Complaint, our client initially reviewed information on the internet about debt collection lawsuits, but instead decided to retain us to defend against Citibank’s lawsuit. We promptly filed the appropriate notices, answer and affirmative defenses with the County Court, and served other legal documents on Citibank’s debt collection lawyers. As in many other cases, we were able to obtain an excellent result for our client: the Citibank (South Dakota), N.A. lawsuit against our client was dismissed without our client paying Citibank or their debt collector lawyers anything at all.

Don’t rely on the information on the internet, as much of it is either outdated, or not applicable to Florida law, or simply wrong. Put our experience and knowledge of Florida statutes, cases and court rules to work for you. While the facts of every case are different, one thing stays the same: the debt collection lawyers are experienced in debt collection. You need a knowledgeable Central Florida consumer protection attorney to represent you when you are sued, because your time, property, money, credit score, and your reputation are all at stake.

Our client was sued in County Court here in Central Florida for an auto deficiency judgment following a repossession.  The Plaintiff, Cavalry Portfolio Services LLC, was a debt buyer who claimed to have bought the Retail Installment Sales Contract and debt from GMAC.  They were represented by the Florida debt collection law firm of Law Offices of Andreu, Palma & Andreu, PL, including their debt collection lawyers Jorge Palma and Diamelyn Cepero.

We agressively fought this auto deficiency lawsuit in court using our knowledge of Florida law and Florida court rules.  As a result, Cavalry Portfolio Services dismissed their lawsuit.  Our client did not have to pay anything.

While each case is different, one thing stays the same: the debt buyer’s law firm will be experienced in debt collection.  You need an experienced Central Florida consumer protection attorney to represent you when you are sued, because your money, your property, your credit score and your reputation are all at stake.  As a Florida debt collection defense law firm, we have won other auto deficiency lawsuits and would be honored to defend your lawsuit against these debt collectors and their lawyers.  We are conveniently located in Lake Mary (Seminole County), Florida and accept such cases throughout Central Florida, including Seminole County, Orange County, Volusia County, Brevard County, Lake County and Flagler County.  Please don’t hesitate to contact us by clicking here or call us today for a free consultation.

The Attorney General of the State of Minnesota has sued Midland Funding, LLC and an affiliate, Midland Credit Management, Inc., for fraud in connection with its debt collection activities.  Midland Funding is a well-known debt buyer that has also filed numerous lawsuits here in Florida seeking to extract money from Florida consumers.

The Attorney General’s lawsuit focused on “robo-signed” affidavits.  This refers to the practice of signing affidavits under oath claiming a debt is legitimate even though the person signing the affidavit has not verified their accuracy or sometimes even without reading them, in order to quickly obtain a judgment against consumers.  It is referred to as “robo-signing” because the process is similar to robots doing the same thing over and over again without any verification.  As some of you may know, “robo-signing” has been exposed as a huge problem here in Florida in the context of mortgage foreclosure actions.

This lawsuit demonstrates that “robo-signing” is also a huge problem in the area of credit card lawsuits and debt collection lawsuits generally.  For example, the Attorney General indicates that they have sworn testimony from numerous Midland Funding employees that they have signed up to 400 false affidavits per day; those affidavits were then filed in Court as supposed “proof” of the debt.  In my opinion, not only should the signers of the affidavit be held responsible for their actions, but so too should their employer, Midland Funding, and the lawyers who submit those affidavits to Florida Courts.

More information about the Minnesota Attorney General’s lawsuit can be found by clicking here.  If you have been sued by Midland Funding or suspect you are a victim in a case where such a false affidavit was submitted, please contact us through this link or by calling us on our toll-free number at 1-888-834-5297.  As an experienced Florida credit card and debt collection defense lawyer, I am here to help the consumers of Seminole County, Orange County (including Orlando), Volusia County, Brevard County, Lake County and Flagler County.

Some of our clients come to us after they have first tried fighting against a debt collection lawsuit on their own.  Someone representing themselves is known as “pro se” or “in propria persona” from older Latin phrases.  Sometimes they knew the credit card debt or other debt was not theirs, and felt they could convince the debt collector to dismiss their lawsuit.  Unfortunately, this rarely works, because many debt collection lawyers simply assume you are not telling the truth and are trying to avoid a judgment.

Sometimes our clients read something on the internet to educate themselves on how to defend a credit card lawsuit.  This, too, almost never works.  Much of the information on the internet does not address Florida laws on debt collection lawsuits.  Other times, the defenses listed on such websites are simply not valid legal defenses.  In those instances where the information is correct, the defenses must be asserted at the right time and in the right form, or they are invalid.  There is nothing worse than knowing you are “right” and still losing the lawsuit.

Sometimes our clients tried to engage in “discovery” themselves to obtain enough documents to help them win their case.  Unfortunately, this is more difficult than it sounds, since the debt collection law firms are very experienced and know how to stall or thwart discovery altogether.  They will cite statutes, court rules and various Florida legal cases in objecting to your requests and generally obstructing discovery.  Then, if you want to enforce your rights, you have to file the appropriate motion with the Court, cite the relevant legal authorities, schedule a hearing, and attend the oral argument in Court.  This can prove a daunting task for many people representing themselves.

Sometimes our clients tried defending themselves until they were faced with a Motion for Summary Judgment, a Motion for Summary Disposition, or a similar motion.  These motions can have dramatic consequences, and can cause you to lose your lawsuit without a trial.  Also, if you are proceeding under the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, there are very detailed procedural requirements for how and when you must respond.  Even if you have a complete legal defense, if you fail to assert it at the right time and in the proper form, you can still lose the entire lawsuit and have a judgment entered against you.

If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed due to one of these situations, please don’t hesitate to call us.  We have managed to get such lawsuits back on the right track, even when we were retained very late in the litigation.  In fact, we have accepted such cases right up until just before trial, and still managed to beat the debt collectors.  Of course, we don’t recommend that you wait so long; the longer you wait, the more likely it is that you will have waived certain defenses and limited your strategic options.  If you initially tried defending the lawsuit yourself, but now realize you need the help of an experienced and dedicated consumer protection lawyer, please call us for a free consultation.  Or, if it’s easier, simply contact us through our convenient web contact form.  Either way, we can still advise you of your rights and your options.

The U.S. Treasury issued a new regulation set to take effect on May 1, 2011 that would help protect consumers who have had judgments entered against them.  Specifically, the new rule provides automatic protection from garnishment for bank accounts containing certain federal benefits including Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), VA benefits and similar benefits.

These benefits are already generally exempt from garnishment from judgments entered by the courts of Florida and other jurisdictions.  However, in practice, this garnishment exemption is not strong enough.  That is because judgment creditors often garnish such funds, meaning that the bank removes the money from the consumer’s bank account.  Then, it often takes weeks or months for a consumer to challenge the exemption and get the money back.  This means that the most vulnerable consumers (including the elderly, the disabled and veterans) often lack the money to pay next month’s rent, needed medications or other necessary expenses of daily living.  Sometimes, the process of claiming an exemption and getting the money back through the necessary legal maze and court hearing is too confusing and intimidating, and the consumers simply give up.  This allows debt collectors to keep money they were not entitled to seize in the first place.

The new law changes all that.  Now, the banks in which accounts containing these exempt funds are held must determine whether any of the money is exempt under the new regulation before they even seize the money.  If the source of the money is exempt as Social Security, SSI or VA benefits, then the bank must leave at least two months of the income in the account.  That way, the consumer has enough money to last while he or she challenges the garnishment in court.

Although there are many more ways in which the government can strengthen existing laws against abusive debt collectors, this new regulation is a good start and can mean all the difference in the world to the most vulnerable consumers.  If you are being garnished, these exemptions or many others available under Florida law could protect you.

It’s no surprise that Florida debt collectors are having a field day in this economy.  We often hear stories about how those debt collectors harass and abuse consumers throughout Central Florida.  Consumers have a right to expect that their government will protect them from debt collectors who refuse to follow the law.  However, a recent article in the Orlando Sentinel pointed out how Florida’s regulators of debt collectors are failing to protect Florida consumers.  The key points of the article are almost too incredible to believe:

 Last year, the Federal Trade Commission received more than 11,000 complaints from Floridians about debt collectors.  Based in part on those overwhelming complaints, a new law regulating debt collectors took effect last October.  Since then, the Florida Office of Financial Regulations has received more than 400 complaints about debt collectors.  Yet, incredibly, that Office has not punished or fined a single debt collector!

 It has only “taken administrative action” against one debt collection company, but has not even imposed any penalty yet.  Rather than imposing an appropriate punishment, the Florida agency is apparently negotiating with the debt collector over what the punishment should be. 

When your government won’t protect you, you need a consumer protection attorney to pursue debt collectors who violate the law.  If you find yourself being harassed or abused by a debt collector here in Central Florida, please email us or call us at 1-888-834-5297 for a free consultation regarding your legal rights.

Increasing amounts of Florida credit card lawsuits and debt collection lawsuits are filed by debt buyers rather than original creditors. Often, the lawsuits brought by debt buyers rely on incomplete and unreliable data and cause significant abuse of consumers. This post will describe the difference between debt buyers and original creditors. Other posts will describe some of the documented abuses of the legal system by debt buyers and will present recommendations on how Florida law can be modified to reduce those abuses.

An original creditor is typically a bank or finance company that has extended credit to a person or business. For example, credit card companies such as Capital One, Bank of America, Chase / WaMu, Citibank or Citibank (South Dakota) N.A., Target, Discover and American Express are usually original creditors. A debt buyer is simply a company or person who buys the debt from someone else. Examples of debt buyers we have encountered here in Central Florida (including Orlando, Sanford, Oviedo, Deland, Deltona, Orange City, Port Orange, Daytona Beach, Melbourne / Cocoa, Mt. Dora, Tavares, Leesburg, Palm Coast, Bunnell and surrounding areas) include Arrow Financial, Asset Acceptance, CACH, Cavalry Portfolio Services, LVNV, Equable Ascent Financial, LLC, Mainstreet Acquisitions Corp., Portfolio Recovery Associates and Financial Independence Services.

Debt buyers usually pay pennies on the dollar to buy the debt. For example, a large debt buyer’s report indicates that it paid an average of only 3 cents on the dollar for the debt they purchased. This means that if you had a debt of $3,000 purchased by such a debt buyer, it would have paid only about $90 for your debt. However, if they sue you for this debt, they would sue for the entire $3,000, not for the $90 they actually paid for it. So, even if they collect only 10% of your debt ($300), their profit margin could be as high as 333%. No wonder there are so many debt buyers out there trying to squeeze money from consumers.

And, even if the debt buyer does not collect any money on the debt, it can (and often does) resell the debt to another company who can also try to collect the debt. This is one reason some consumers are contacted by multiple companies who try to collect on the same debt. This cycle of debt buying, attempted collection, and reselling can be repeated several times. Each time, the “quality” of the debt is worse: each subsequent debt buyer has less information about the legitimacy and amount of the debt, and the consumer may have additional defenses. These secondary debt buyers are often referred to as “junk debt buyers“, “bottom feeders” or “scavengers”.

If you have been sued by either an original creditor or debt buyer, please don’t ignore the lawsuit. If you do, chances are you will have a default judgment entered against you. That means that you will likely lose the case automatically, without any trial. This is true even if you have potential defenses – and we normally see several potential defenses in most cases we review. So don’t delay, contact us right away for a free, no obligation consultation to learn about your rights and potential defenses.

We recently had the privilege of representing a client who was subjected to improper debt collection tactics employed by a Florida debt collection lawyer.  That lawyer prepared a writ of garnishment that failed to comply with Florida laws for wage garnishment.  Generally, that law provides that the employee’s paycheck funds seized from an employer under a writ of garnishment be kept by the employer until the Court decides who is entitled to those funds: the consumer or the debt collector.  Even after the Court dissolved the writ of garnishment, the debt collection attorney failed to return the wrongfully seized money.

Based on these facts, we sued the Florida debt collection law firm for its violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  We were able to quickly obtain justice for our client, including the return of the improperly seized garnishment funds, payment to her of statutory damages of $1,000.00 under the FDCPA, and reimbursement of the additional expenses she was forced to incur when her money was wrongfully seized; all of this was done at no charge to our client.

You too have rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act if your rights have been violated by a debt collector or debt collection attorney, even if a judgment has been entered against you.  If this has happened to you, please feel free to contact us; there is no charge for our review.  Moreover, we do not charge our clients for either our attorney fees or our costs in a case involving the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA); instead, we seek recovery of those from the debt collector who violated the law.  We understand that the wrongful seizure of your money can have immediate consequences and create a “ripple effect” on your finances.  So don’t delay, contact us today to enforce your rights.

A recent article reveals that certain late fees and delinquency notices from National Credit Solutions may be a scam.  National Credit Solutions is apparently trying to collect on debts that they claim arose from late fees imposed by Hollywood Video or Movie Gallery.  However, some consumers are disputing any suggestion that they owe those late feees, indicating that the video rental chains would not have allowed them to subsequently rent videos if they actually had late fees that were owing.

As the old saying goes, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire”.  Attorneys General in half a dozen states have received complaints about National Credit Solutions, and at least one state (Montana) has filed a lawsuit against it.  There are two common complaints.  First, consumers were never provided notice of the alleged late fees, and therefore were not able to dispute them before they were placed on consumers’ credit reports.  Second, National Credit Solutions has tried to impose a $75 collection fee, which some feel is outrageous.  Please click here for more information about filing a complaint against a debt collector.

There is no question that placing a delinquency notice on a consumer’s credit report exerts pressure to pay National Credit Solutions, especially when the consumer is trying to obtain credit for a large purchase such as a home or car.  In all, about a half-million consumers have had their credit report damaged by the notices from National Credit Solutions.  If this has happened to you and you believe you do not owe the charges, make sure to promptly dispute the debt in writing with each credit reporting agency that has placed it on your credit report.

In addition, if National Credit Solutions failed to comply with state or federal debt collection laws, you may be entitled to sue the the debt collector to resolve this issue and recover any damage you may have suffered from their conduct.   If this has happened to you here in Florida, please do not hesitate to contact us to learn how we can assist you in preserving and vindicating your rights.

Debt collectors are well known for filing improper lawsuits.  Sometimes they sue the wrong person, either due to identity theft or due to sloppy record-keeping.  Sometimes they negotiate a settlement with the person who owes them money, and then sue anyway.  Sometimes they sue for charges that were never authorized or approved.  Sometimes they file a lawsuit on a debt that is past its Statute of Limitations.

In each of these cases, you may have not just a defense to their lawsuit, but you may be able to sue them back.  Suing the Plaintiff who has sued you is known as filing a Counterclaim, which is simply a counter-lawsuit against the person or company who has sued you.  Sometimes a Counterclaim is one of the only ways you can get their attention that you are serious when you say they violated your rights.

If you prevail on your Counterclaim, the plaintiff may actually have to pay you money damages.  They may also be responsible for paying for your attorney fees.

Examples of Counterclaims you may be able to assert under the right facts include breach of contract / breach of settlement agreement, fraud or misrepresentation, violation of the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA), violation of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and others.  In some of these cases, you may also be able to sue the lawyers who filed the debt collection lawsuit against you.

As a Florida consumer attorney, I would be honored to help you determine whether you have a Counterclaim against the debt collector or its lawyers.  For a free consultation, please feel free to call us toll-free at 1-888-834-5297, send us an inquiry through our website contact form or fax us your information.

Just a few days ago, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a report detailing numerous problems with American’s debt collectors, along with recommendations on how to improve the system to make it more fair for consumers.  The report is entitled “Repairing a Broken System: Protecting Consumers in Debt Collection Litigation and Arbitration”.  The information in the report included feedback gathered from consumer advocates and others during roundtable discussions across the US in 2009.

The major problems highlighted in the report include:

• Debt collectors fail to properly notify consumers about lawasuits filed against them
• Debt collectors filing lawsuits without enough evidence about the debt
• Courts granting default judgments (meaning debt collectors win withoout a trial) when consumers do not show up in court to defend themselves
• Debt collectors filing lawsuits on debts that are past the statute of limitations (which means the debt can no longer be sued on)
• Debt collectors seizing money and freezing bank accounts that are exempt from such debt collection efforts (this includes exemptions for head-of-household, social security income, unemployment benefits, and many other exemptions)
• Debt collectors forcing consumers to resolve disputes in private arbitrations that are biased, unfair and deceptive, and without adequate court supervision

To address these issues, the Federal Trade Commission made a number of recommendations, including:

• States should adopt measures to make it more likely consumers will defend themselves when they are sued, resulting in fewer default judgments
• States should require debt collectors to include more information about the alleged debt when they file their lawsuits
• States should take steps to ensure that debt collectors are not filing lawsuits for debts on which the statute of limitations has expired
• Changes should be made to federal and state laws that would prevent a certain amount of money in a bank account from being frozen, and make that amount exempt from garnishment

The problems identified above are happening every day here in Seminole County (including Lake Mary, Longwood, Altamonte Springs, Sanford, Oviedo, Winter Springs, Casselberry), as well as throughout Central Florida, including Orange County, Volusia County, Brevard County, Lake County, Flagler County and the cities of Bunnell, Cocoa, Daytona Beach, DeBary, DeLand, Melbourne, New Smyrna Beach, Orlando, Tavares, Titusville, and many others.

If you have experienced these problems, or any other problems relating to debt collection, we are here to help!  You can put our experience in representing consumers against debt collectors to work for you.  Please feel free to contact us by phone, fax or by filling out our simple web contact form for a free no-obligation consulation.  We’ll tell you about your rights and your ability to fight back against debt collectors.

The Federal Trade Commision (FTC) has released its 2010 annual report on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).  That report includes the latest statistics on debt collectors’ abuse, harassement, deceptive tactics and other illegal conduct that violates the FDCPA.  Those numbers shows that debt collection is growing worse, both in terms of how often it occurs, and how bad it is, based on 2009 statistics:

• In 2009, the FTC received a total of 119,364 complaints from consumers about debt collectors, both initial creditors (the banks and companies who initially lent money) and third-party debt collectors (those who were hired by creditors to try to force payment).  This is an increase of nearly 15,000 complaints from 2008.
• Consumers filed 41,028 complaints against debt collectors for abusive debt collection tactics such as repeated or continuous telephone calls.
• The FTC received 14,321 complaints that debt collectors used obscene, profane or other types of abusive debt collection tactics.
• 9,684 cconsumers complained that debt collectors called before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m., or at a time they knew was inconvenient for the consumer.
• There were 2,517 complaints of debt collectors using or threatening to use violence to try to force a consumer to pay a debt.
• Consumers registered 27,420 complaints that debt collectors tried to collect a debt that the consumer did not owe, or they tried to collect more than the consumer owed, or they mischaracterized the amount or character of the debt in some other way.
• The FTC received 9,632 complaints that debt collectors were attempting to add on unauthorized charges, such as attorney fees, collection costs or other charges that were not permitted.
• 18,438 complaints addressed debt collectors threatening to take actions that were not permitted by applicable law
• Debt collectors made 11,505 false threats of arrest or seizure of property.
• Consumers complained 11,973 times that debt collectors impermissibly called them at work.
• The FTC received 10,758 complaints that a debt collector illegally notified a third party about the consumer’s alleged debt.
• Consumers complained that in 22,708 instances, the debt collector failed to provide the notice of consumer rights required by the FDCPA.
• 10,158 complaints dealt with the debt collector’s failure to verify the consumer’s debt, despite specifically being requested to do so.
• Consumers complained 7,411 times that the debt collector failed to stop communicating with the consumer, despite the consumer informing the debt collector that all collection activities should cease.

If you have been the victim of any of these types of abusive, harassing or deceptive tactics, please feel free to call me so that I can assist you in obtaining justice against these debt collectors who refuse to follow the law.

Debt settlement companies (debt relief companies) have been getting a lot of scrutiny lately, and with good reason.  Although they are making lots of money during this difficult economy, it is usually from the people who can least afford it – consumers who are already behind on their payments.

Often, these debt settlement companies will advertise that they can settle your debt at a significant discount from what you owe.  However, in most cases, this is simply a scam.  What many such companies do is convince the consumer to stop paying on their debts to credit card companies, home finance companies, store charge accounts, and sometimes even on their car payments and mortgages.  Instead, the consumer is instructed to send in just one payment – to them, of course.

At first, consumers feel relieved – they are now paying only one company instead of 3 or 4 or even more creditors.  Sometimes the creditors will send a letter asking why you’ve stopped paying.  When the consumer calls the debt relief company to find out, they are often told not to worry about it, since they are “in the middle of negotiations”.  Many times, this is simply false.

Instead, the debt settlement companies take a major share of the payments you have made to them, even though you thought the payments were going to pay down your debts.  In the meantime, your creditors usually escalate their contacts with you.  After a few months, it is not unusual to be sued by one of those creditors that you thought was being paid by the debt settlement company on your behalf.  Then, when you call the debt settlement company about the lawsuit, they tell you that they are not lawyers, and can no longer assist you.  You’re left on your own, at the receiving end of a lawsuit, and without your hard-earned cash to either pay your debt or retain an attorney to help you out.

By the time you realize what has happened and try to get your money back, most of it has been taken by the debt settlement company as their up-front fee for their “services”.  Even if you get some money back, you almost always lose a significant portion of it, and you end up with even more debt!  This is because the interest kept increasing while your debt settlement company was not paying your creditors.

Most consumers don’t know that their creditors have no obligation to deal with such debt settlement companies – and many simply refuse to deal with them.  Instead, many creditors will just file a lawsuit against you in an attempt to make you pay.  Virtually always, the debt settlement company can do nothing to force your creditors from suing you.

This does not mean that every debt settlement company is a scammer.  I myself have not personally experienced a legitimate debt settlement company, but there may be some non-profits or governmental agencies that may legitimately assist you.  On the other hand, I have represented many consumers who were taken advantage of by such debt settlement companies, leaving them in a much worse financial, legal and emotional condition than they were before.  If you are contacted by a debt settlement company, and are considering signing up, be sure to get a detailed explanation of how much they charge, when they charge it, and the exact dollar amounts that will be going to each specific creditor.  If they refuse to tell you the numbers in dollars and cents (beware those that deal only in percentages), or if they don’t promise to pay any set amount to specific creditors (and instead only talk about paying down debt generally without specifying the amounts for each creditor), or if they insist on getting paid up-front before your creditors, the debt settlement service may be just a scam.

If you have been defrauded by such a company, you may want to speak with consumer attorney near you, who should be able to advise you of your rights, and the possibility of recovering some of your money.

Recently, a new report was published regarding debt deception and how debt buyers abuse the legal system.  Although the report was based on a study in New York, my experience as a consumer protection lawyer in Central Florida reveals the same kind of debt collection abuse takes place here in the Orlando – Daytona – Melbourne metropolitan area.

Debt buyers are companies who buy debt from other companies who were unable, unwilling or prohibited from collecting those debts from consumers.  For example, a credit card company may decide that it is unlikely to collect a debt from a consumer, and simply sell that debt to another company who specializes in debt collection.  Usually, such debt is sold for pennies on the dollar.  That way, a debt buyer who is successful in collecting on that debt stands to make a huge profit.

The study revealed that 94% of debt buyers prevailed in court, usually through default judgment.  A default judgment is when the plaintiff (in this case, the debt buyer) wins the lawsuit simply because the defendant did not show up in court or did not file the proper paperwork.  The study noted that 90% of the consumers did not answer the summons and complaint, and only 1% were represented by an attorney.  As you might expect, virtually all people who had default judgments entered against them lived in low- or moderate-income neighborhoods.

Debt collectors obtain billions of dollars in judgments, sometimes using questionable or even illegal tactics.  Some of these tactics include:

• Filing lawsuits on claims that are legally barred, such as filing them after the statute of limitations has run
• Filing lawsuits on claims for which they lack proof of the debt
• Failing to ensure defendants receive proper notice of the lawsuit
• Failing to provide notice of their right to dispute the debt under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
• Using intimidation to pressure consumers to give up their legal defenses

This is consistent with my experience in Florida’s small claims courts in Central Florida.  This past week, I was in court on one of my cases in Volusia County.  My client was the only one who had a lawyer assisting her, out of 14 cases scheduled for that morning.  In other cases, I have personally observed consumers manipulated by stand-in lawyers who the consumers apparently believed to be impartial mediators.

Don’t allow yourself to be intimidated by debt collectors using illegal or questionable tactics.  If you have been sued by a debt collector, contact a consumer lawyer before you are deprived of your rights.  If you are in Central Florida (Orange County, Seminole County, Volusia County, Brevard County, Flagler County, Lake County, and surrounding area) and need an attorney to defend you in a debt collection lawsuit, please feel free to call us for a free consultation.  Or, just click here to send us an email and we will be happy to call you to discuss your case with you.  Remember, once a debt collector receives a judgment against you, they may be able to freeze your bank accounts, seize your assets (including cars), and garnish your wages.  A judgment will make it more difficult for you to obtain credit, secure housing or even find a job.   Don’t let this happen to you!

A recent study published by the National Consumer Law Center shed new light on the abuses that can arise from forced arbitration.  Arbitration is a process where the parties avoid going to court by using a private process to resolve disputes that would otherwise normally end up in court.  Arbitration is a private process, with lots of secrecy and without many of the most important rights you would have in court.  Unfortunately, many agreements have forced arbitration buried in the fine print of your contract, including credit card agreements, car purchase agreements, bank agreements, phone company agreements and many others.

Millions of consumers have given up their right to have a court resolve any disputes, along with the protections provided by the court.  Instead, the big business gets to choose the arbitrator.  Often, big businesses chose arbitrators that had previously given them what they wanted in such cases.  Simply put, the deck is stacked against consumers in those cases, no matter what the facts are and no matter what the law says.  Once big business wins in arbitration, it is generally very difficult for a court to set that win aside.

The study showed that, back in 2006, a Wall Street Investor to stack the deck even more.  He helped facilitate a direct financial connection between a law firm who often represented big business in those arbitrations and the arbitration companies themselves.  This corrupt arrangement was finally uncovered by the Minnesota Attorney General in the summer of 2009.

As a result of the work by the Attorney General and her staff, the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) was exposed, and agreed to stop doing most consumer arbitrations.  At least four giant banks also agreed to stop enforcing the arbitration provisions.  The giant debt collection law firm, Mann Bracken, collapsed from the fraud charges.  Please click here to read the full NCLC report.

Now that the fraudulent practices of forced arbitration have been exposed, I hope that they will disappear.  However, the banks’ pledge not to enforce arbitration agreements expires in 2013.  That is why it is important to put legislation in place to prevent companies from forcing you into arbitration through the use of fine print.  There has been some discussion of this in Congress recently, but only time will tell if it becomes the law of the land.

During a debt collection lawsuit, the other side may send you requests for production of documents.  Those requests are exactly what they sound like: a legal request for you to produce the listed documents.  However, keep in mind that you also have the right to ask the other side to produce documents relevant to the case.  In a debt collection case, that includes documents proving the debt collector owns the debt, copies of your billing statements, copies of your credit card agreement or other loan documents, envelope “stuffers” sent to you that discuss the terms of your contract, and numerous other documents.  Each side must generally produce the requested documents that are in their possession, custody or control, unless there is a legal objection or the documents are privileged.

Such requests are an excellent opportunity to find out whether the debt collector has the documents necessary to prove its case against you.  If they fail or refuse to produce the necessary documents, you should object to them later trying to present evidence about those documents at trial or court hearings.

If you receive such requests and believe they are inappropriate, or would like to determine your rights and responsibilities  for producing documents, you should promptly consult with a consumer rights attorney near you.  Here in Central Florida, please feel free to contact us for a free consultation: you can contact us by clicking on the Contact Us link, calling our toll-free number (1-888-834-5297), or by faxing us.  We are happy to represent consumers sued by shady and unscrupulous debt collectors.

During the “discovery” phase of a lawsuit, both sides may have the opportunity to ask the other side to answer interrogatories.  These are written questions that must be answered under oath.  They can be very important in finding out what evidence each side has to support their case – and what evidence they don’t have!  If a debt collector refuses to answer questions about your debt, or provide documents to prove the debt, that may be a sign they will be unable to prove their case at trial.

A person sued by a debt collector needs to be very careful in answering such interrogatories.  It should go without saying that the answers need to be truthful.  However, you have the right to object to certain questions.  For example, there is no legitimate reason to answer interrogatories asking for your bank account information.  That information is not relevant to whether you owe the debt or not.  Instead, debt collectors use this shady tactic to be intimidating and to save time later on, in case they win.  Generally, the best response to an irrelevant question is a legal objection.

If you have any questions about whether specific interrogatories are appropriate or not, you should contact a local consumer attorney experienced in defending debt collection cases to discuss the specific facts of your particular case.  If you are located in Central Florida, or have been sued for an alleged debt in Central Florida, (including Seminole County, Orange County, Lake County, Brevard County, Volusia County or Flagler County), please feel free to click on the “contact us” link or call us toll-free at 1-888-834-5297 for a free consultation with an experienced consumer attorney.

During a lawsuit, you may receive a document from the opposing side asking you to respond to their “requests for admission”.  These are part of the “discovery” phase of the lawsuit.  During discovery, each side generally is allowed to obtain certain information from the other side about the issues in the lawsuit.  However, Florida courts limit or even prohibit discovery in certain situations.  For example, in Florida small claims court (a division of county court) a lawyer for one side generally is prohibited from sending discovery requests to a person on the other side who is not represented by a lawyer.

Requests for admission can be very important.  Under Florida court rules, you can respond in at least four different ways to every single request for admission:  you can file a legal objection, you can admit it, you can deny it, or you can indicate why you cannot admit or deny it.  Here’s a critical point: if you simply fail to respond, the requests are deemed admitted.  In credit card debt lawsuits, for example, credit card companies can file requests for admission that ask you to admit the debt is valid, that you owe the full amount they are suing you for, and that you have no legal defenses.  If you don’t respond, you may have lost the opportunity to defend the case.  The debt collector can then file a motion for summary judgment or motion for summary disposition and use your admissions to win the case before you even get your day in court.  Don’t let this happen to you!

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it is investigating several debt collectors and debt buyers. The specific companies named in the FTC investigation are:

• Arrow Financial Services, LLC (sometimes represented locally in central Florida by Hayt, Hayt & Landau / Robert J. Orovitz and Dana Kalman)
• Asta Funding, Inc.
• B-Line, LLC
• eCast Settlement Corp.
• Encore Capital Group, Inc.
• NCO Portfolio Management, Inc (sometimes represented locally in central Florida by David E. Borack of Borack & Associates)
• Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC (sometimes represented locally in central Florida by Robert J. Orovitz from Hayt, Hayt and Landau)
• Sherman Financial Group, LLC
• Unifund Corp. (sometimes represented locally in central Florida by Jorge Palma or Armando Vasquez or Joseph Haynes Davis)

Many people do not recognize that debts can be bought and sold, just like cars or houses or other property. Debt buyers are companies who buy the debt from an original bank or creditor who provided credit to a consumer. It is widely known that debt buyers pay pennies on the dollar to buy the debt. However, that does not stop them from trying to collect the full amount of the debt and even filing lawsuits for more than they paid for the debt. Because these lawsuits are brought on behalf of the debt buyer, some consumers may not even recognize why they are being sued.

The documents requested by the FTC will reveal how much the debt buyers paid for the debts they bought. They also seek to recover significant additional information on what is, in my opinion, the questionable practice of debt buying and the relationship between the banks and finance companies that sell the debt and the debt buyers who buy that debt, and who often resell it to other debt buyers.

I believe the documents requested by the FTC will also be helpful in defending individual lawsuits brought by these debt collectors in Seminole County, Volusia County, Orange County, Brevard County, Lake County, and elsewhere in central Florida. Although most of the lawsuits are brought in County Court as either Small claims cases or County Civil cases, some may also be brought in Circuit Court. As a debt collection defense lawyer, I have experience in successfully defending consumers sued by debt collectors. I would be honored if you would select the Rudnitsky Law Firm to represent you as your credit card debt defense lawyer to defend you in your credit card debt lawsuit, auto and motorcycle repossession deficiency debt lawsuits, and other consumer debt lawsuits. There is no charge for our initial consultation. Please feel free to call us on our toll-free number (1-888-834-5297), or contact us by email.

The best way to protect yourself when a debt collector calls you is to know your rights under both federal (U.S.) law and under Florida law. Many of these rights are described in the articles on False and Misleading Statements by Debt Collectors, Harassment and Unfair Debt Collection Tactics, Debt Collectors Calling at All Hours, Debt Collectors Calling Family and Friends, and other articles on this blog.

This article describes the best way for you to assert those rights, regardless of whether or not you owe the alleged debt.

First, write down the name of the person who contacted you, and the name of their company. If they contacted you by letter or in writing using another method, save that letter.

Second, write the debt collector a letter requesting them to “validate” or verify the debt. You only have 30 days to request this. Click here for a list of the information to which you are entitled, if you request it.

Third, don’t be afraid to tell the debt collector to leave you alone. If you don’t owe the debt, put it in writing to the debt collector who contacted you.

Fourth, don’t agree to make even a small payment. Some slick debt collectors try to convince you to make a small payment, often claiming that it is needed to show your “good faith”. Debt collectors often do this on old debt which is past the Statute of Limitations, and for which they cannot legally sue you. However, if you make even a small payment, this can reset the clock, meaning they can then sue you for the entire debt, even if they couldn’t do so before.

Fifth, keep voice mail messages they have left for you, especially if they are abusive or show profanity. In Florida, you cannot generally record phone calls to or from debt collectors unless you first advise the debt collector that you will be recording their phone call. However, you can keep any recordings they leave on your answering machine or on your voice mail. You’d be amazed at how often debt collectors will leave threatening messages, including saying they work for law enforcement, or that you will be arrested, or that they will send someone to “send a message” to you. Even though these are illegal, abusive debt collectors will often still leave such messages.

Sixth, if you get sued by a debt collector, you must respond promptly, or you may lose automatically. You can either represent yourself and defend the lawsuit, or hire a consumer attorney experienced in defending debt collection cases who will know the rules of civil procedure and the rules of evidence.

Seventh, protect your credit score and credit report. You are entitled to a free credit report once per year from the major credit reporting agencies, so don’t hesitate to get it. Many consumers are surprised at all the debt that are listed, even when those debts are not theirs. Don’t wait until you apply for a car loan or home loan to discover these. And, if you find such debts that are not yours, dispute those debts in writing to make sure they are cleared up before you go shopping for a car or home.

Eighth, if you believe you are a victim of abusive debt collection practices, don’t hesitate to file a complaint with the federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission. Click here for information on How to File a Complaint Against a Debt Collector.

Of course, if you have any questions about your rights, or if you need help dealing with an abusive or stubborn debt collector, please do not hesitate to call me on our toll-free number (1-888-834-5297) for a free initial consultation.