tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46376832121620080252008-07-16T23:48:04.749-04:00Credit Self DefenseCredit Reportnoreply@blogger.comBlogger157125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-45149612273415832532008-07-17T00:40:00.000-04:002008-07-16T23:48:04.768-04:00Collection Agency AFNI In The DoghouseMinnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson has sued Illinois debt-collection agency AFNI (famous for sending demand letters to dogs) for attempting to collect invalid debts from Minnesotans. "This debt collector crossed the line by pursuing debt people said they didn't owe and failing to verify that they did owe it," Swanson said. The office received more than 50 complaints about AFNI Inc., a <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/337760576" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/07/collection-agency-afni-in-doghouse.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-46172289746919518222008-07-14T01:26:00.002-04:002008-07-14T01:31:18.035-04:00AFNI Collections Accuses Dog Of Having Verizon BillMore than 70,000 consumers complained about third-party debt collectors in 2007, but one Sacramento couple said they have good reason to bark about the bill they received.
Steve Fanelli received a bill from AFNI collections claiming an Andy Fanelli owes Verizon Online $142.34.
And although Steve Fanelli does indeed live with an Andy Fanelli, there is a small, furry problem with the bill. Andy <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/334901203" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/07/afni-collections-accuses-dog-of-having.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-80266005824912617052008-07-10T20:52:00.005-04:002008-07-10T21:01:30.595-04:00Can You Pay Me Now? Verizon To Pay 21 Million For ETF ScamVerizon Wireless will pay $21 million to settle their California class-action lawsuit over early termination fees. Early Termination Fee (ETF) victims are usually charged $150 to $250 when they terminate their cellphone contract.
The settlement came less than a month into trial proceedings for the suit, filed in 2006 in California by plaintiffs who claimed the fees were a violation of <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/332322783" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/07/can-you-pay-me-now-verizon-to-pay-21.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-70419257237384488122008-07-07T00:52:00.005-04:002008-07-07T11:06:43.067-04:00Collection Agency Owner Stole Payments Made By StudentsA Cape Coral woman who ran a student loan collection agency faces up to 10 years in prison after she stole $115,000 from Mississippi State University.
Nickie Bradley, 56, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of theft of public money.Bradley, who ran H.W. Ketchum Collection Agency, contracted with Mississippi State University to collect delinquent federal Perkins loan accounts.Perkins loans are <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/328606563" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/07/collection-agency-owner-stole-payments.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-57384974699880641632008-07-04T00:51:00.000-04:002008-07-07T01:00:28.921-04:00First Bank & Trust And Midland Credit Management Shaking Down Disabled VetsWendy Adams, of Las Vegas, is living a nightmare. <!-- story_factbox.comp --> <!-- /story_factbox.comp --> A former Navy hospital corpsman with disabilities, Adams received an Aspen MasterCard in June 2006. She was approved for a $350 credit limit, but when the card arrived, Adams said, she'd already been billed for $285 in processing fees, leaving her <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/323003597" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/first-bank-trust-and-midland-credit.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-44528147901704076722008-07-03T13:33:00.003-04:002008-07-07T00:59:10.272-04:00Florida Sues Countrywide Financial For Deceptive PracticesFlorida Attorney General Bill McCollum says his office has filed a lawsuit against Countrywide Financial Corp., accusing it of deceptive and unfair trade practices.
Countrywide was acquired by Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp. on Tuesday.
The lawsuit claims the Calabasas, Calif.-based lender put borrowers into mortgages they couldn’t afford or loans with rates and penalties that were <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/326057677" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/07/florida-sues-countrywide-financial-for.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-27595975890851316362008-06-26T00:05:00.000-04:002008-06-26T00:03:56.731-04:00EZPAWN To Pay Texas $600,000 For Exposing Customers To Identity TheftA year ago the Texas Attorney General's office took action against Texas-based EZCORP Inc., and its subsidiary, EZPAWN, for systematically exposing its customers to identity theft. According to documents filed by the Attorney General, the pawn shop and payday lender violated the law by repeatedly failing to protect customer records that contain sensitive personal information.
Investigators <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/320101013" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/ezpawn-to-pay-texas-600000-for-exposing.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-53506574987494202412008-06-23T00:58:00.005-04:002008-06-23T02:04:21.968-04:0026 Victims Of Foreclosure Rescue Scam Will Get Their Homes BackBrockton, MA attorney Alec G. Sohmer, Timeless Funding Inc., and Carteret Mortgage ran a foreclosure rescue scam targeting homeowners in dire economic straights.
Sohmer deceived the homeowners into signing documents supposedly allowing them to stay in their homes by making monthly payments to Sohmer, and then to "repurchase" their homes from Sohmer by obtaining new financing through Timeless <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/317857797" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/26-victims-of-foreclosure-rescue-scam.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-53226949970677209822008-06-19T01:01:00.005-04:002008-06-19T03:16:11.220-04:00LexisNexis Costs Man Job With Error Filled Background CheckLexisNexis is used by lawyers and law students to such a degree you might think the people who ran it would know something about the law. You might especially expect competence from their high tech investigative SWAT team, Risk & Information Analytics, which claims to offer fraud detection, collections management, and identity screening. Their site goes so far as to proclaim, "Our intelligence <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/315201009" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/lexisnexis-costs-man-job-with-error.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-12803683771179349462008-06-18T01:41:00.005-04:002008-06-18T01:58:47.490-04:00EZCORP Is Loansharking Per FloridaEZCORP is one of the biggest pawnshop chains in the US. The pawnshop inventory it sells is mostly jewelry, tools, electronics, sports equipment, and musical instruments forfeited by customers who used them as collateral and then couldn't repay the sky high-interest loans in time. EZCORP also peddles payday loans through about 75 of its pawnshops, as well as more than 430 EZMONEY payday loan <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/314380858" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/ezcorp-is-loansharking-per-florida.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-29174344490398508472008-06-16T01:53:00.003-04:002008-06-16T02:07:00.075-04:00Debt Collection Abuse Protections For Consumers In NYTrying to protect the public from the "exploding" collections industry, the New York state Assembly has passed a series of bills aimed at fighting abusive and unfair collection practices in New York State.
The package of bills includes amending the state Debt Collection Practices Law to create a private right of action by a debtor who has been a victim of improper debt collection practices. This<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/312994227" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/debt-collection-abuse-protections-for.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-28347378539417838722008-06-14T03:23:00.005-04:002008-06-14T16:57:30.891-04:00Collection Agency Midwestern Health Mangement Contacting Patients Under Phony NameThere are state and federal regulations to discourage collection agencies from abusing consumers. However, if the consumer doesn't know the real name of the collection agency, accurate complaints to authorities are harder to come by.
A lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court against the Midwestern Health Mangement Inc., collection agency, and its parent company, Heartland Health for using <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/311677670" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/midwestern-health-mangement-collection.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-51825511912518977132008-06-11T00:56:00.002-04:002008-06-16T02:15:49.746-04:00Jefferson Capital Systems Collection Agency And CompuCredit Hammered By FedsAfter CompuCredit failed to present an acceptable settlement offer to the U.S. government, U.S. regulators moved forward and accused CompuCredit Corp and two banks of deceiving hundreds of thousands of credit card customers by withholding important details and blindsiding them with fees. The FTC lawsuit also names collection agency Jefferson Capital Systems, a subsidiary of CompuCredit, as a <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/310419223" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/jefferson-capital-systems-collection.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-70783763789455793222008-06-10T00:01:00.000-04:002008-06-09T23:45:16.082-04:00RJM, CACH, Asset Acceptance, LVNV Funding And Other Zombie Debt Collectors Jamming Civil CourtsRJM, CACH, Asset Acceptance, and LVNV Funding collection agencies are well known to victimized consumers and consumer attorneys. What is now becoming clear to the media, however, is the scale of their actions.
In Chicago, for example, more than 119,000 civil lawsuits against alleged debtors are clogging courtrooms, and at least half will result in judgments that debt collectors will use to dock <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/308527646" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/rjm-cach-asset-acceptance-lvnv-funding.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-28551813730535429522008-06-09T00:41:00.002-04:002008-06-09T00:44:04.237-04:00National Arbitration Forum Exposed By BusinessWeekWhat if a judge solicited cases from big corporations by offering them a business-friendly venue in which to pursue consumers who are behind on their bills? What if the judge tried to make this pitch more appealing by teaming up with the corporations' outside lawyers? And what if the same corporations helped pay the judge's salary? It would, of course, amount to a conflict of interest and cast <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/307785144" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/national-arbitration-forum-exposed-by.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-42279984649632255202008-06-06T04:08:00.003-04:002008-06-06T04:13:24.187-04:00Lawsuit Seeks Ban On American Express Use Of Manadatory ArbitrationChicago consumer lawyer Andy Martin today filed suit against the American Express Company accusing the iconic brand of systematically violating a series of federal consumer protection laws. Martin also charged the company with seeking to terrorize ('in terrorem') its customers into submission.
'AmEx's mandatory consumer arbitration program is a massive fraud. Even Amex ignores the provisions of <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/305952396" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/lawsuit-seeks-ban-on-american-express.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-60825504934109866742008-06-05T00:16:00.004-04:002008-06-05T00:23:31.350-04:00Ebay Sends Paypal Users To Collection AgenciesA California judge has said that upset consumers shouldn't fight PayPal in blogs online, but should sue in court.
Bill Brush feels as if he's been banished from one of the world's largest online networks -- eBay -- because of an ongoing dispute with PayPal."It's very frustrating," said Brush. I'm just an account number that owes them money. And they've made the decision, and that decision is <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/305055016" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/ebay-sends-paypal-users-to-collection.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-29479217736382490722008-06-04T02:00:00.001-04:002008-06-04T02:03:29.804-04:00Consumer Lawyer Peter Barry Goes After Those Who Live Off The Misery Of OthersIf debt collectors thrive on intimidation, there's one man who strikes fear into them: Pete Barry. In the decade he's been suing dirty debt collectors, Barry has pried loose millions of dollars in damages. So successful are his techniques that he's begun teaching seminars nationally to train up an army of lawyers equipped with the weapons to sue rogue debt collectors and win. "He's an incredible<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/304527282" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/consumer-lawyer-peter-barry-goes-after.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-42769441362517020662008-06-03T02:34:00.003-04:002008-06-03T02:46:35.752-04:00Past Due Medical Bills Being Auctioned Online To Collection AgenciesIn a move consumer groups say will increase pressure on people with unpaid medical bills, some hospitals are trying out a new tactic to recoup patients' debts: They're auctioning the debt online. Hospitals have long relied on outside collection agencies to go after debtors. Under traditional arrangements, these agencies receive a percentage of any money they get from a debtor; the more they <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/303660064" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/past-due-medical-bills-being-auctioned.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-55107373025877664542008-06-01T00:01:00.000-04:002008-06-01T00:01:01.285-04:00Credit Reporting Agency TransUnion Settles Largest Consumer Class Action Suit In History If you have used a credit card or carried any kind of debt or loan account in the past 21 years it's very likely you can take part in an unprecidented $10-billion dollar lawsuit settlement.
Credit reporting agency TransUnion must pay back Aldin Cubillas and 160 million American consumers for selling their private credit information.
Anyone with credit information held by Transunion can <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/302186680" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/06/credit-reporting-agency-transunion.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-75007429642939192962008-05-30T00:01:00.000-04:002008-05-30T00:01:03.970-04:00National Arbitration Forum Exposed By ABC NewsAnastasiya Komorova, a recent Russian immigrant, had no idea what was going on when bill collectors started calling her about the $11,000 in credit card debt she owed.
"One time one of them called me an idiot," Komorova's husband Nima Nayebi said. The problem was that Komorova, who lives in San Francisco, had no idea what the collectors were talking about. "I have never had a credit card <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/301001055" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/05/national-arbitration-forum-exposed-by.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-62707583410751785122008-05-29T00:01:00.000-04:002008-05-29T00:01:02.807-04:00Military Families Losing Foreclosure BattleMilitary families are losing their homes to foreclosure actions four times faster than the national average. Foreclosures in areas within 10 miles of military facilities rose by an average of 217% from January through April, compared to an overall 59% rate, according to RealtyTrac.
The biggest surge was in Columbia, S.C., home to the Fort Jackson training base. The second-biggest increase was in<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/300305533" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/05/military-families-losing-foreclosure.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-36884183130865500612008-05-28T00:55:00.004-04:002008-05-28T01:09:33.589-04:00Dell Slapped Down For Fraud And Abusive Debt CollectionsDude, you're getting a fine and a restitution order.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has won a lawsuit against Dell and their credit division, Dell Financial Services (DFS) for fraud, false advertising, deceptive business practices, and abusive debt collection practices.
State Supreme Court Justice Joseph C. Teresi, who made the ruling, said: "Dell has engaged in repeated misleading, <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/299593065" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/05/dell-slapped-down-for-fraud-and-abusive.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-54972240421886569072008-05-26T11:19:00.004-04:002008-05-26T11:37:47.030-04:00Riddle & Associates Caught By State Attorney GeneralAn investigation of Riddle & Associates, a collection agency law firm, by West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw, has resulted in the end of Riddle & Associates representing DIRECTV in the state.
Nearly 300 West Virginia consumers received a collection letter from Riddle & Associates, falsely threatening to add attorneys fees and collection costs to alleged DIRECTV bills.
But Riddle & <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/298487364" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/05/riddle-associates-banned-from.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637683212162008025.post-52498910819785216272008-05-24T00:55:00.003-04:002008-05-24T01:06:30.330-04:00Farmers Insurance Sends Collection Agency After Homeless Fire Victim for $420,000 False ClaimFirst a devastating fire robbed a Seattle, Washington family of nearly everything. Then a big insurance company tried to take the rest and more, sending a collection agency to go after the family with a bill of $420,000.
Last October Chris Christoffersen and her daughter Melissa awoke to devastation. The apartment complex they lived in was engulfed in flames.
"I watched everything from <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CreditSelfDefense/~4/297045810" height="1" width="1"/>Credit Reportnoreply@blogger.comhttp://www.creditselfdefense.com/2008/05/farmers-insurance-sends-collection.html