McLeod Law Offices

I came across this article describing the tactics debt collectors use to get money from financially distressed debtors:

In one outrageous example, a collector for a funeral home threatened, to “rip the bodies” of the plaintiff’s parents out of the ground, “put them on his lawn…” and chop their heads off.

That’s not the only example given. However, in light of that example, one might be able to see how the use of the term “dirt-bag” may be justified, notwithstanding the fact that this is a professional blog. And some might even think it too polite a term to use.

Unfortunately, the article is not all together accurate because of this:

With new bankruptcy laws making it harder to wipe out credit card bills, experts say collection agencies feel justified doing whatever it takes to collect.

The only reason why it is “harder” is because there is more paperwork involved, and debtors seeking bankruptcy protection need to be consulting with attorneys who know the new law and are not just winging it. Statements like this only help perpetuate the misconception that bankruptcy relief is not available, which leaves many having to face these dirt-bag debt collectors for longer than they have to.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has filed suit against Boyajian Law Offices, P.C., JBC Legal Group P.C. and JBC & Associates, P.C. for abusive debt collection practices and activities.

The suit alleges that the Boyajian companies (1) used dunning letters and falsely stated or implied that they came from attorneys; (2) falsely accused debtors of criminal activity, and threatened debtors with arrest; and (3) failed to supply verification of the debt when requested to do so.

In addition, they were apparently trying to collect on bad checks which were more than 6 years old – and in New York, the statute of limitations for bringing such a claim is 6 years. According to a report here the outfits were apparently collecting checks made payable to Ames and Bradlees, two retailers than have long since been out of business.

Boyajian released this fascinating statement:

“Our clients deserve the full protection under New York law to recover their losses from those who passed bad checks, regardless of the time period that may have elapsed,” he said. “Instead of protecting the consumers, it appears the Attorney General of New York is seeking to protect bad check writers who have written checks in the past.” [emphasis added].

This debt collector is saying “I don’t care what the statute of limitations says”! Boyajian (who is reportedly a lawyer in California) is defending himself and his companies by saying that he does not care what the law says. And it’s not like he could have been misquoted – this was from a written written statement.

Are these entities and are these activities what Congress is thinking of excluding from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act? If it is, then consumers – and attorneys general in all 50 states need to be concerned.

See my prior posts:

Bounced Check Chaos

Pay Attention to this Legislation

FDCPA Amendment Under Consideration

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is a federal law that gives many protections to consumers. While the law has broad sweeping effect across the nation, states and municipalities are allowed to enact even stronger protections.

In response to a 70 percent increase in consumer complaints in two years, the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs held information gathering hearings, and may propose tighter restrictions on debt collecting agencies.

“People ought to pay their debts,” Jonathan B. Mintz, the city commissioner of consumer affairs, said during a break in the five-hour hearing. “But when debt-collection companies cross the line, which unfortunately they appear to be doing in an increasing way, then something has to change.”

Read more about it in the New York Times.