Debt collectors can call you, hound you and make you feel like a lowlife, but here in America, they can’t throw you in jail …
debt collection
Is Credit-Card Debt Collection the New Robo-Signing Scandal?
The big-bank robo-signing scandal lifted the proverbial rock on the unsavory things financial institutions were doing to force people out of their homes, whether they had the legal grounds to do so or not. Apparently, similar …
Top Consumer Complaints: Our Latest, Biggest, Weirdest Grievances
So we like to complain. What else is new? No, really — what’s new? A consumer watchdog group just released a study about the biggest and baddest complaints fielded by various investigative agencies last year. There are some …
Enough to Make You Sick: Debt Collectors Hit Up Hospital Patients
Having a medical crisis that lands you in the hospital is stressful enough, but there’s a disturbing new trend that’s so bad, it makes the indignity of wearing a hospital gown pale in comparison. Debt collectors are masquerading …
Feds: Fake Debt Collectors Shook Down 600,000 People and Got More Than $5 Million
Callers from India — often posing as U.S. police officers — called at least 600,000 people across the U.S. about fake debts and took more than $5 million in real money, the Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday.
Robosigning Redux? Regulator Probes Chase Over Credit Card Collections
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is reportedly taking a good, hard look at the practices that credit card giant JP Morgan Chase used in its credit card collections business. American Banker has reported at length on …
CFPB Focuses on Debt Collection, Credit Reporting Companies
A big part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s potential to help consumers is its ability to supervise nonbank participants in the financial industry. This far-ranging swath of companies includes some that have been the subject of consumer complaints in the past, such as debt collectors and credit reporting agencies. Today, the …
$2.5 Million FTC Settlement Targets Collection of Expired Debt
One of the biggest debt collection companies in the country recently agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty in a settlement with the FTC — part of an escalating effort by the agency to keep tabs on and, when necessary, rein …
5 Steps To Settling Your Debts For Less Than You Owe
Zombie Debt: A Real-Life Horror Story
A person with blemished credit and a history of defaulted debts will have trouble getting a credit card, so an unsolicited credit card application can seem like a lifeline. But some of these cards come with some very sneaky fine …
A Long To-Do List Awaits the CFPB and Its New Director
Now that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a director (albeit one whose appointment could be challenged in court), it has quite the to-do list. At the top, according to newly installed bureau head Richard Cordray, is …
Feed the Meter, Save Your Credit Score
Years of high unemployment, reduced consumer spending and declining property values have created a kind of perfect storm for the coffers of cities around the country. Municipalities are increasingly turning to a new way to boost …
