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Consumer Law

Alabama Consumer Blog

Covers news and events dealing with consumer law in Alabama.
By M. Stan Herring

Post Frequency: 2.8/day

Last Entry: March 29, 2011 at 19:05:21

Another Media Report On Zombie Debt Buyers

Posted on March 01, 2008
The financial advice website The Motley Fool has an article on zombie debt buyers called "Return of the Living Debt". This is from 2004 but it is still relevant today - it is interesting to see what people were saying almost 4 years ago. Considering Alabama consumers are facing zombie debt buyers harassing them and suing them over junk debt that the zombie debt buyers can not even prove - we need to have as much information as possible to counter these attacks and make the junk debt buyers follow the law...

CNN Story On Abusive Debt Collectors

Posted on February 29, 2008
CNN just put up a fascinating story on debt collectors and collection agencies that are abusive towards consumers. This is something that we are seeing more and more of as Alabama consumers are becoming targeted by abusive collectors as the economy continues to seem to slow down...

My ?AS IS? car turned out to be a Lemon. Is there anything I can do?

Posted on February 28, 2008
Just about any car Alabama consumers buy that is not new will be sold ?as is.? Does this mean that the seller can sell you a junker or a lemon and you?re just out of luck because you agreed to purchase the car ?as is.? Under Alabama law, you may be able to revoke the purchase...

Bottom Feeder Debt Buyer Addresses Letter "Dear Sh#* Face"

Posted on February 26, 2008
We recently came across this excellent post from our friend Ron Burdge, a consumer lawyer in Ohio. You can visit his website here. Mr. Burdge also has an excellent blog called the Consumer Rights Law Blog. In a recent post, Mr. Burdge discusses the unfortunate trend of emboldened collection practices by debt buyers and debt collectors...

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Slide-Show On How The Sub-Prime Disaster Occurred

Posted on February 26, 2008
The Consumerist has a post that contains a "stick figure" slide show that explains, remarkably well, the way the sub-prime mess has occurred. Be warned there is some strong language in the slide show but on the whole it is very well done and, with humor, explains how we got in this terrible position we are in now.

Identity Thief tries to Scam Jurors

Posted on February 25, 2008
Alabama consumers should be aware of this jury duty scam we recently read about on the Houston Consumer Blog. This is a blog that the local ABC News Station has on their website. The blog is maintained by Mike Mcguff, who has done an excellent job of informing Houston consumers of issues they need to be aware of...

Bankruptcy Reform Law - A Political Cost To Hurting Consumers?

Posted on February 24, 2008
Credit Slips is a wonderful blog written by professors about consumer issues. The most recent post is by Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard professor. The title is The New Politics of Bankruptcy. We recommend you read this article as it discusses the beginnings of a backlash against those in Congress who voted for the change in the bankruptcy law that has harmed so many consumers across the country...

Bankruptcy - Proof of Claim Filed By Junk Debt Buyers

Posted on February 24, 2008
While we don't practice bankruptcy law, we do get calls from time to time to help bankruptcy attorneys who are dealing with various types of improper conduct from creditors and particularly from junk debt buyers. In this fascinating post by Michael Doan, he talks about a proof of claim filed by a debt scavenger who, amazingly, did not even own the debt but was planning on buying the debt...

Five Percent of All Identity Theft Victims Are Children

Posted on February 24, 2008
According to myentrust's article, a staggering five percent of all identity theft victims are children. You should definitely read the entire article but here is a critical part of the article: Here are some common sense Tips to Protect Children from identity theft and online fraud: 1) Keep info private - Educate children about the importance of keeping personal information private...

Different Types of Identity Theft

Posted on February 24, 2008
Lita Epstein of Walletpop has an excellent post on Protecting Your Identity - Understand The Types of Identity Theft. We highly recommend this particular article and this site in general. Identity theft is a terrible problem that we all face and every bit of information we can gain (and that we use - knowledge by itself is worthless) can be the difference between almost being a victim and being an identity theft victim.

Identity Theft - Seven Year Old Boy Told Owes Taxes On $60,000 He Has Made

Posted on February 24, 2008
This would be funny if it wasn't so serious - a 7 year old boy has been told by the IRS he owes back taxes on $60,000. It turns out a despicable person has been using the boy's identity since 2001. Let's see - using advanced math skills - the boy was, what, one year old when his identity was stolen? Or was he not even one yet? Amazing! The story is pretty short but it gives the details - we recommend you read it in the San Diego Union Tribune...

Alabama Consumers Sued - The Role of Your Credit Report - Part II

Posted on February 24, 2008
In our first part in this series we gave you an overview of why as an Alabama consumer you need to pull your credit reports when you have been sued by a junk debt buyer such as Palisades, Unifund, Asset Acceptance, and the like. We pointed out three reasons: 1...

Reminder to Watch for Credit Card Skimming

Posted on February 21, 2008
We ran across this video that discusses the dangers of eating out. Though this happened in April of 2007, you could still potentially be a victim of this scam. The scam involves credit card skimming, which is where someone who uses your credit card runs it through a device, which records your personal information from the card...

Experian Sues Lifelock For Violating The Fair Credit Reporting Act

Posted on February 21, 2008
Most of us have probably heard or seen the commercials from LifeLock - the owner gives out his social security number without fear because he is protected against identity theft. For the curious, his social security number can be found on the website...

Should Alabama Consumers Contact A Consumer Lawyer The First Time They Hear From A Debt Collector?

Posted on February 20, 2008
Whenever an Alabama resident is contacted by a collection agency or debt buyer or debt collector, we recommend that the Alabama resident contact a consumer attorney. There are several critical reasons why we recommend this. First, there are some rather strict deadlines about what can be asked of a debt collector in, for example, the first 30 days after contact...

Deposition Tips For Alabama Consumers

Posted on February 19, 2008
We have focused this blog on consumer issues but we have spent many years developing our personal injury and wrongful death litigation skills over many cases. We have gained some insights into depositions and have shared a few of our preparation skills in our new blog - Birmingham Injury Blog - in five separate posts that we believe will be of use to our consumer readers...

PayDay Lenders Target the Elderly and Disabled In Alabama

Posted on February 13, 2008
We ran across this recent article titled "Social Insecurity: High-Interest Lenders Tap Elderly, Disabled" in the Wall Street Journal detailing how payday lenders have been targeting the elderly and disabled. This isn't something that is happening just in other parts of the country...

Should I Sue the Debt Collector that is Harassing me or report them to the FTC?

Posted on February 12, 2008
In its recent report, ?Annual Report 2007: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act,? the FTC noted that it received more than 69,000 complaints from consumers for abusive practices by debt collectors. The FTC acknowledges that this is likely a small percentage of the consumers who are actually being harassed by debt collectors...

Verizon Faces Massive Class Action Certified In Arbitration Case

Posted on February 12, 2008
We are not fans of arbitration but courts have at least recently made it more tolerable by allowing class actions to proceed within arbitration. This news article is very intriguing, as it shows an arbitrator has certified a class action within arbitration...

Alabama Consumers Sued - The Role Of Your Credit Reports

Posted on February 12, 2008
We have received a number of calls and emails from Alabama consumers who have been sued recently by debt buyers. Many of these people have been sued by junk debt buyers such as Palisades, Asset Acceptance, Midland Credit, etc. and by local lawfirms such as Zarzaur & Schwartz or Nathan & Nathan...

Lemon Law Issues With Honda Accord and Hyundais

Posted on February 11, 2008
Ron Burdge has two posts on problems with the 2008 Honda Accord and then with Hyundais in general. We recommend both of these posts to you. In the first, Ron discusses the surprisingly growing problem with the 2008 Honda Accord. We normally think of Hondas as being wonderful cars from a reliability standpoint but there are reports of growing problems that you should be aware of if you are considering buying the new Honda Accord or if you have one...

Different Forms of Contact During Bankruptcy By Mortgage Lender

Posted on February 09, 2008
We enjoy reading Chuck Newton's Stay Violation website as it contains a wealth of information about what is and what is not considered a stay violation in bankruptcy court. A recent post discusses how a court viewed numerous letters and phone calls by GMAC to a homeowner regarding the homeowner's mortgage...

Top Ten Auto Scams

Posted on February 09, 2008
We ran across this good article by the lawyers at Krohn & Moss. We recommend reading this entire article (and looking through the rest of this excellent website) but this one scam resonated with us as we have had numerous clients deal with this one: Scam 3 ? Spot Delivery Scams Spot Delivery is when a dealership allows a consumer to drive the vehicle home off the dealer?s lot even though the sale is not consummated and complete...

FTC Advice On Dealing With Old Debt

Posted on February 09, 2008
One issue we repeatedly hear from Alabama consumers is what are my rights when I'm contacted by a debt collector trying to collect on a seven or ten year old debt. The FTC has put out a two page pdf on this very subject. We recommend looking at this FTC publication if you have been contacted about an old debt...

Excellent List Of Tips When Dealing With Debt Collectors

Posted on February 09, 2008
We just put up a post by Richard J. Dalton, Jr about zombie debt and it had a link to a fine list of things to keep in mind when dealing with collection agencies. We recommend you check out this article if you have been contacted by debt colllectors...

Another Story On Zombie Debt Haunting Consumers

Posted on February 09, 2008
It is good when the untold stories are told - when people can see what is really going on with real people. This Newsday.com article tells about ordinary people who are being hounded - haunted as the article puts it - by debt collectors and junk debt buyers...

Recent FDCPA Attorney Fee Decision From Georgia

Posted on February 08, 2008
We are often asked by other lawyers to comment on recent consumer cases and the recent case from Georgia, St. Claire v. Trauner (2008 WL 151542), caught our attention so we thought we would mention it here. On January 11, 2008, Judge Evans from the Northern District of Georgia issued an opinion in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case that only involved a dispute over the attorney's fee to be awarded the consumer lawyer Lisa Wright...

Debt Collectors Not Entitled To State Immunity When Violating the FDCPA

Posted on February 07, 2008
A growing trend is for abusive debt collectors to start collecting on bad checks - which is fine as long as the law is followed - but the twist is these companies do this as if they were the district attorney. The Consumer Law & Policy Blog summarizes the decision as follows in its excellent blog post: Judge Berzon's opinion is the most thorough and scholarly treatment to date on the question of private entities and sovereign immunity...

Credit Reports After Bankruptcy

Posted on February 07, 2008
Our good friend Matthew Dunaway, bankruptcy and consumer lawyer in Birmingham, Alabama, recently blogged about the growing problem of false entries on a credit report. As Matthew puts it, Also, if the account continues to show a balance is owed, and the debtor eventually attempts to purchase a home or car, or refinance an existing home loan, the debtor will many time be forced to pay-off the old debt in order to get the loan approved...

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