Archive for debt collection
The New Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Posted by: | CommentsIn July 2010, a new federal agency was created to help protect consumers. It is called The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB’s tasks include:
- Conducting rule-making, supervising, and enforcing Federal consumer financial protection laws
- Restricting unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices
- Creating a center to take consumer complaints
- Promoting financial education
- Researching consumer behavior
- Monitoring financial markets for new risks to consumers
- Enforcing laws that outlaw discrimination and other unfair treatment in consumer finance.
While the CFPB is still gearing up its operations, it has launched a new website full of helpful information for consumers, including information regarding:
- Bank Accounts
- Budgeting
- Credit Cards
- Credit Counseling Agencies
- Credit Reports and Credit Scores
- Debt Collection
- Gift Cards
- Home Foreclosure
- Home Ownership
- Investments
- Student Education Loans
If you are facing a consumer law issue, there is help available! Contact our office for a free consultation with a knowledgable consumer law attorney today!
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Abusive Practices by Mann Bracken Exposed on Local News Broadcast
Posted by: | CommentsWSBTV of Atlanta, Georgia recently ran a segment documenting the abusive collection practices of Mann Bracken. WSBTV reports that the Georgia Attorney General is currently suing Mann Bracken over alleged abusive practices.
The segment airs images of Mann Bracken’s infamous 14th floor, described as a “boiler room” which houses Mann Bracken’s abusive collection unit. The segment details the following abusive collection acts by the firm:
- A recording of a call in which a Mann Bracken collector chides a debtor for not affording the debt the same priority as a utility payment;
- Mann Braken’s refusal to heed a consumer’s protest against their collection attempts on the basis that the debt was not owed by her and where the original creditor admitted in writing that the debt was the product of fraud and was not owed by the consumer;
- Attempts to collect debts by placing harrassing telephone calls to elderly relatives;
- Threats to take the consumer’s home;
- Lawsuits against debtors on debts that are clearly time-barred.
Steve Koval, a consumer attorney, comments that Mann Bracken knowingly pursues abusive debt collection tactics because such tactics are profitable, even after accounting for the inevitable FDCPA based lawsuits filed against them.
The segment closes with a very interesting encounter with William Christopher Bracken, III, a co-founder of the firm.
The video can be viewed by clicking here.
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Rare growth area for firms: debt
Posted by: | CommentsGiven the state of the economy, attorneys warn, companies are getting more aggressive when it comes to collecting their due.
via Rare growth area for firms: debt.
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Consumers Have Rights Under Fed Law
Posted by: | CommentsIf you are a consumer and you feel that you are being abused or harassed by a debt collector, there is hope! There is a Federal law that governs the way debt collectors can and cannot behave while collecting consumer debts. It is called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, commonly referred to as the “FDCPA.”
In general, the FDCPA protects consumers from abusive treatment by debt collectors who are collecting consumer debts as outlined in the FDCPA. Some of the prohibited conduct by debt collectors is as follows*: Read More→
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