HOUSTON CONSUMER LAW ATTORNEY

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week recommended that debt collection laws, such as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), be overhauled and modernized to provide for more efficient disclosures, access to better information, and greater consumer protection. I am sure that creditors, debt collectors, and their attorneys will be in opposition to these proposed changes by the FTC.

A link to the article regarding the FTC proposals is provided below.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/02/fdcpa.shtm

Administrator Consumer Law, Debt Collection Practices, Recent Developments in Consumer Laws Debt Collection Practices

As the economy becomes worse and consumers begin to become unemployed or get behind on their bills, you can be sure the debt collectors will be thriving in this environment. Debt collections are sure to raise in this bad economic cycle that we are in right now. Of course, what that means for American consumers is more harassing phone calls, letters, and lawsuits by debt collection agencies. Most consumer debt consists primarily of credit card debt. The idea of putting that expensive pair of shoes or purse on the credit card did not seem as burdensome when you had the ability to pay the bill, however, now that the economy is in recession, thousands of consumers now face constant phone calls and letters from debt collectors demanding payment. In some instances, debt collectors and credit card companies will sue a consumer in hopes of obtaining a judgment and collection payment. It is important to remember that even if you are sued by a creditor/debt collector, that you still have rights.

First of all, if you are sued make sure that you file an answer by the date specified by that particular court. Depending on the amount owed, creditors may sue you in district court, county court, or a justice of the peace court. It is important to file an answer and not let a creditor or debt collector obtain a default judgment against you in lawsuit. In fact, many creditors and debt collectors realize that a high percentage of debtors never file an answer in lawsuit. Many creditors or debt collectors business models and profit margins are based upon their expectations of debtors failing to file an answer and contesting the lawsuit. Thus, many debt collectors are unprepared to properly prove-up their cases when a consumer unexpectedly files an answer and obtains adequate legal representation to defend themselves in court. The creditor or debt collector just can not simply come into court and assert that a consumer owes them money, the creditor or debt collector must prove it by a preponderance of the evidence under the law. There are usually several elements that must be proven before a creditor or debt collector can prevail in a lawsuit. Thus, a consumer with proper legal representation will know how to put on an adequate defense in these cases. It is important that a consumer sued by a creditor or debt collector seek legal representation immediately. An attorney defending a consumer in debt collection cases should be familiar with the substantive law and the rules of evidence. A consumer law attorney would be able to assist a consumer in defending him/herself against the creditor or debt collector. For example, a debt collector must show that it has standing to sue (basically debt collector must be able to show it owns the debt), and must be able to prove how much debt is actually owed by a particular consumer. Sometimes, if a debt has been sold to many debt collectors over a period of time, a debt collector that sues a consumer might have trouble proving its case in court. In addition, there may be affirmative defenses that an attorney would assert on behalf of a consumer against a creditor or debt collector, such as statute of limitations. Under Texas law, the statute of limitations for credit card debt is generally four (4) years from the time that an account went past due and the last payment was made to the account, however there are certain exceptions to this general rule. In addition, a debtor might have potential counterclaims against a debt collector for violations of the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Texas Collection Practice Act (TCPA), or other causes of action under federal or state law.

A proper defense against a credit or debt collector may result in your case being dismissed. Of course, there may be cases in which a dismissal may not result, but a debtor may still be able to negotiate a more favorable settlement or outcome of the case. Thus, it is generally always in a consumers best interest to seek adequate legal representation and file an answer, if you have been sued by a creditor or debt collector. DO NOT LET A DEFAULT JUDGMENT BE ENTERED AGAINST YOU!!!!

Administrator Consumer Law, Credit Card Defense, Debt Collection Practices credit card defense, Debt Collection Practices

Here is link to the article contained in the Houston Chronicle regarding Stanford Financial Group.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/stanford/6272687.html

Basically, the Stanford Financial Group is accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of defrauded consumers of billions of dollars in a scheme involving the misrepresentation of the investment performance of the investment company’s Certificates of Deposit (CD) rates. This story continues a trend of recent headlines involving financial services companies being accused of securities violations, fraud, and other unlawful activity. My question in all of this is simply, “Where are the regulators”. I mean why does it seem that the regulators only step in after the damage is already done. How can these massive amounts of fraud go on undetected by regulators? It’s the job of the SEC, Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, FDIC, Federal Reserve, and other federal and state regulators to insure that these types of massive fraud and unlawful activity never happen. However, to often it seems that these agencies are not adequately doing their jobs. In my opinion, regulators often place the profits of banks and financial services companies ahead of the need of to protect consumers from fraudulent or unlawful business practices. For far to long, the banking and financial services industry have stated that regulation was not necessary because the industry could regulate itself, or that increased regulation would increase the costs of doing business and that these costs would be passed down to consumers. After the collapse of our financial markets, I find that the banking and financial services reasoning against increased regulation is lacking. First of all, I find it hard for the industry to say that it can self regulate itself after the massive amounts of fraud and unlawful activity that we have seen recently. Furthermore, I find it hard for the industry to state that costs would be passed down to consumers as a result of more regulation, after the billions of dollars lost by consumers as a result of fraud and lax oversight of the industry. Not to mention, the amount of money that taxpayers are having to pay to bail out the industry due to its greed and the lack of oversight by regulators. At this time, I believe we need stronger oversight and regulation of the industry. The industry has not shown that it can adequately regulate itself and regulators have shown the inability or capability to oversee this industry under the current regulatory scheme. It’s time that regulators place consumer protection ahead of business profits.

Administrator Consumer Fraud, Consumer Law Consumer fraud