Consumer Law

Pay Day And Title Loans - Common Types Of Collection Harassment

By M. Stan Herring

We are seeing more and more clients who are suffering from some of the most outrageous forms of collection abuse. And the abuse is not coming from debt collectors or debt buyers. It is coming from pay day lenders and title loan companies.

I will follow up with more information and with some videos but I wanted to give you an idea of some of the abuses consumers in Alabama are facing from these companies.

First, third party contacts are an absolute favorite of pay day lenders. Normally these lenders require "references" - family and friends - and when the consumer is late all of the references start getting harassed. The calls are not subtle - instead they demand that the brother, or neighbor, or parent make the consumer pay the loan or the calls will continue. All of the details of the loan are revealed to the third party in order to invade the privacy of the consumer.

Second, "field visits" occur. This is where a car or truck from the pay day lender will pull up to the consumer's house - well, actually the car or truck usually stays in the middle of the street to draw more attention. At least two people will jump out of the car and rush the house. This draws the attention of all of the neighbors ("why is that car in the middle of the street and why are those big guys heading to see Donna's house?"). The employees of the pay day or title loan place will then confront the consumer to get money. If the consumer is not there, then a neighbor or family member will be interogated as to why the consumer is not paying, where the consumer is, etc. Again, the purpose of this is to embarass and invade the privacy of the consumer.

Finally (actually there are many more but we'll just cover three today), and this normally occurs in a title loan, if the loan payment is late the lender will send out a car or truck to pick up the car. If the car can't be found, then the repo guys will block in the consumer's driveway so no one can get in or out until the car is produced. Neighbors will be called, family will be called, etc. in order to draw as much attention as possible. Normally threats are made about what will happen if the vehicle is not produced immediately. This again is an invasion of privacy and it normally is false imprisonment and a breach of the peace.

If you are dealing with any type of pay day lender harassment, feel free to contact us at 205-879-2447, contact us through our website, or through this blog on the contact sheet to the left. We are here Alabama consumers who are dealing with pay day lender abuse.

Full post as published by Alabama Consumer Blog on May 30, 2009 (boomark / email).