Every person who comes before the courts in Massachusetts has the right to be treated with dignity and respect, to be accorded an opportunity to present his or her case and to have that case decided in a way that is fair, impartial, and timely. The Boston Globe’s report on debt collection in small claims sessions of the District Court focuses attention on an “industry which has swamped the court dockets with lawsuits.”
The rest is here
The third Globe installment focusing on the hell debtors go through looks at constables as well as county sheriff offices.
The office of constable is as ancient as it is obscure, governed in Massachusetts by laws that date back to the 1600s. One power of the office – never repealed – is to ”take due notice of and prosecute all violations of law respecting the observance of the Lord’s day, profane swearing and gambling.”
Nowadays, constables, and the deputy sheriffs who perform parallel work, busy themselves delivering subpoenas and other court papers, placing liens on real estate, and seizing personal property to satisfy court judgments – in the case of constables, judgments of no more than $2,500.
Where they differ is in accountability. Constables, for example, can legally operate only in the communities that license them. But that restriction, the Globe found, is often ignored.
Today’s Boston Globe installment (the second of a four part series) focuses on the Massachusetts Court system.
[The small claims session] is a de facto arm of a fast-growing and aggressive industry that has swamped court dockets with lawsuits – cases that often lead to threats of jail for debtors.
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A Globe review of proceedings and records in 20 of the state’s 70 small-claims courts found that court officials and collection lawyers routinely break court rules, almost always to the detriment of the defendant. Collectors are almost never asked to prove the debts they claim; defendants are rarely informed of their rights. And debtors, usually too strapped to afford a lawyer, must contend with this legal mismatch alone.
Today the Boston Globe starts a four part series on the plight of consumers facing debt collectors (it also appears on the front page of the Sunday Globe. The piece describes many issues and I have written about here in the last several months. Even though I have linked it here, you’ll only have access to a few pages before you’re required to sign in with a user name and password. If you’re not already registered with Boston.com, you’ll need to do so. Registration costs nothing.
This second post was prompted by Dana’s comments to earlier post from this morning. While KAA’s phones are busy and/or disconnected, they are apparently still trying to get money from folks by using their bank information.
Click here for Kensington Assistance Agency’s website. There is a place on the site that enables viewers to “contact them” via email however, I could locate no phone number. I sent them a test email, and it appears to be working.
Please keep us posted. If you’re located in Massachusetts, please contact me directly using the contact information shown at the right.
Months ago, I warned readers about Kensington Assistance Agency. Since then, reports have popped up all over the country with similar warnings about this outfit, such as this one from the NBC affiliate in Greenville, South Carolina.
Recently, I have been flooded with calls and emails from folks all over the country. When they call Kensington Assistance Agency, they get a fast busy signal. We do not know if they have packed up their offices and moved into another rat-hole, or if they chose not to pay their phone bill with the hundreds of dollars they have been swindling from folks who can least afford to lose it.
If you have been victimized by Kensington Assistance Agency, here’s what you should do:
Contact your local Attorney General’s Office or Office of Consumer Protection. This is usually a state agency.
Contact your local bar association and get a referral for a local attorney who concentrates in consumer protection and consumer rights. You may have rights under your local state laws.
Earlier posts:
Rip Off Alert: Another Update on Kensington Assistance Agency
Rip Off Alert! Update: Kensington Assistance Agency
Rip Off Alert!: Kensington Assistance Agency
How can a debt incurred in 1995 somehow be in debt collection now? It’s called “re-aging.” In other words, debt collectors may do what scientists, philosophers and politicians only wish they could do: turn back the clock. The Dallas CBS affiliate reported on this subject on Tuesday.
Five people have been indicted in a foreclosure scam coming out of Southern California.
From DailyBreeze.com:
The defendants visited homeowners defaulting on their mortgages and offered to stop their foreclosures with short-term loans and refinancing options. But instead of applying for refinancing, the defendants allegedly submitted loan applications to banks under the names of the homeowners.
The defendants allegedly pocketed the loan money from the banks, which were never repaid. The victimized homeowners, meanwhile, lost their property titles, according to the indictment.
Foreclosures continue to spike here in Massachusetts, and nationwide. There are a number of bottom-dwellers out there preying on people who may be facing a foreclosure. According to a report from today’s Winston-Salem Journal, these scams on rising all over the country. The president and chief executive of the local Better Business Bureau had this to say:
“At-risk homeowners are bombarded with offers…Just take a look at the signs at the nearest phone pole or intersection. Smooth-talking salespeople appear everywhere, eager to buy your property and promising to ’save’ your home by paying off the amount that is overdue on the loan.”
He said that homeowners are often talked into moving out and deeding the property over to a third party, who tells them they can rent the property with the option to buy it back later. But the rent payment is often higher than the homeowner can afford. If homeowners decide to buy back the property, the price is typically too high for them.
Foreclosures in Massachusetts continue to rise. ForeclosuresMass.com reports that they are at a 12-year high.
From today’s Worcester Telegram:
The role played by the state’s slow economy [in the high foreclosure rate] is not clear, but many home buyers who used sub-prime loans or variable-rate mortgages are having trouble keeping up with payments as interest rates increase — especially those who purchased properties with little or no down payment.