Friday, August 31st, 2007
Good article in the FWST about the rise in lawsuits filed by debt collectors, a concern I expressed a few blog entries ago. Key points to remember: Don’t ignore debt collection efforts (especially letters and anything nailed to your door while you’re at work) and be ready to challenge the debt collector’s documentation of the debt. Often these groups buy debts from the original creditors and the paperwork necessary to establish the debt (the original credit card agreement and so forth) doesn’t make it from the creditor to the collector. In the three or four such cases I’ve handled for friends, I have yet to see one that had the evidence necessary to prevail at trial. But the debtor has to stand up and challenge the suit, or else face a default judgment (in which case the collector can get a judgment against the creditor despite not having all the necessary paperwork to back up the debt).
On a similar note, write your elected officials (state and federal) about the abuses heaped upon average consumers by the banking and lending institutions. Grandma’s utility bills go up and she falls a couple of months behind on paying off that new dishwasher from Sears, and suddenly she finds herself a defendant in a collection suit. That ain’t right.
Tags: debt collectors, lawyers
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Thursday, November 30th, 2006
Most Texas trial lawyers can attest that it’s harder and harder to get some plaintiffs’ cases to court these days. This is particularly true in cases involving victims of medical malpractice or homeowners who discover construction problems with their houses. These types of cases, among others, have been affected drastically by recent changes in the law which have the effect of “closing the courthouse doors” on injured parties.
And as much as it pains me that meritorious consumer cases are being shut out of the courthouse, what really galls me is the huge number of creditors’ lawsuits which are now being filed by the truckload across the state. These suits are often filed by debt-collection firms on behalf of huge retailers and credit card companies, and they use heavy-handed scare tactics to wring out a few dollars from debtors who can’t afford to hire lawyers. Intimidated by being sued and unable to defend themselves, many debtors get sucker-punched with default judgments that can haunt them for years.
I’m not advocating that creditors should not be allowed to pursue legitimate debts, or that debtors should not pay what they legitimately owe. The problem I see is that too many of these suits are being filed against the wrong people, or for the wrong amount, or have some other major defect. Twice in as many months I’ve had people come to me after being sued for debts that were not even theirs. Another time a lady came to me after being sued for a debt that she had been diligently paying off before the original creditor sold the debt to a “Rambo” collection firm.
It’s a shame that the big bully corporations and questionable debt-collectors are now clogging the courts with these dubious suits, particularly now when so many truly injured folks are kept out of the courthouse. Courthouses exist so that the little guy can take on Goliath, not the other way around.
Tags: creditors, debt collectors, lawyers, texas
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