Consumer Law

Foreclosure Scams: A Growth Industry

Posted on August 03, 2009
The unresponsiveness of mortgage servicers to the millions of homeowners facing foreclosure is a national scandal.  One consequence of this hasn?t received as much attention as it deserves.  As growing numbers of desperate homeowners are unable to get the help they need from their loan servicers, more and more are succumbing to the aggressive sales [...

Foreclosure Relief Law Project seeks to stop Minnesota foreclosures

Posted on July 31, 2009
Mortgage loan modifications are hard to come by, especially since banks are foreclosing before consumers have a chance to get a modification. In an effort to halt foreclosures in Minnesota so that consumers can get modifications, the Foreclosure Relief Law Project has filed a class action on behalf of homeowners, and asked the Minnesota U...

Kucinich right on arbitration, wrong on courts

Posted on July 30, 2009
Dennis Kucinich and his House Domestic Policy Subcommittee just released a report on arbitration abuse in the National Arbitration Forum (PDF). In the report, the subcommittee stated that “[c]onsumer arbitration lacks the safeguards that have been designed into our judicial system by our Constitution, by state and federal statutes, and by centuries of judicial decisions” [...

Bankruptcy lawyers succumb to economy-induced stress

Posted on July 29, 2009
In its monthly newsletter, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys mentioned that several bankruptcy attorneys recently committed suicide, had heart attacks, or gave up on bankruptcy practice entirely to get away from the stress. Consumer rights lawyers, including bankruptcy attorneys, see some of the worst effects of the recession...

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Win money with physics

Posted on July 28, 2009
Winning guessing games may not be a valid retirement plan, but it won’t hurt the family finances. In this video, a physics teacher gives a lesson on how to improve your odds at “how many candies are in this jar” guessing games. How to shark a ‘guess the number of M&Ms in a jar’ contest… | [...

Payday loans prove irresistable, even to those who know better

Posted on July 28, 2009
Payday loans are small, short-term, high-interest loans. Most are less than $400, with a term of two weeks or less. In exchange, the consumer generally pays $15 for every $100 borrowed, or a 360% APR. (Even high-interest credit cards generally charge less than 30% APR...

Credit score basics

Posted on July 23, 2009
All the information out there on credit scores can be confusing. At the heart is the FICO score, which is what lenders use to determine your riskiness as a borrower. Here are the main elements of the FICO score: Payment history ? Account payment information on specific types of accounts you may have, such as credit cards, [...

AAA drops consumer debt arbitrations, too!

Posted on July 22, 2009
Following on the heels of National Arbitration Forum’s agreement to stop handling consumer debt arbitrations, AAA said they will also bow out “until new guidelines are established” (possibly an allusion to the industry’s call for minimum standards in lieu of banning mandatory, pre-dispute, binding arbitration)...

National Arbitration Forum awards may be unenforceable

Posted on July 21, 2009
The Minnesota Attorney General’s lawsuit against National Arbitration forum alleges that NAF is “in cahoots” with one of the largest debt collection law firms in the United States, Mann Bracken. Mann Bracken, un-coincidentally, is also one of NAF’s best clients...

Nat?l Arbitration Forum sued, agrees to stop handling consumer debt cases

Posted on July 20, 2009
The Minnesota Attorney General sued National Arbitration Forum (PDF) last week, accusing NAF of colluding with creditors and debt collectors to screw consumers. At a press conference, AG Lori Swanson said “[t]his is a classic case of the little guy getting stepped on by fine-print contracts...

FTC helping consumers avoid foreclosure rescue scams

Posted on July 15, 2009
Better late than never. Foreclosure rescue scammers claim they can stop foreclosure and save homes. They can’t. This has been going on for a while (and may be on the wane, actually), but the FTC has decided to make it a prime issue. Here is their short video introducing the problem...

Debt collector to pay $32,000 under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Posted on July 14, 2009
Minnesota debt buyer and collector Debt Equities, LLC, must pay nearly $32,000 to resolve a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuit in Minnesota. Earlier this year, Debt Equities offered judgment for $15,000 (PDF). Just today, Magistrate Judge Keyes ordered Debt Equities to pay an additional $16,700...

A look inside a check cashing and payday lending businesses

Posted on July 13, 2009
An amusing and terrifying look inside two shady types of businesses that will fleece you every way they can, from check cashing fees to postage for a premium. As Ben Popken says “I can’t wrap my mind around the idea of paying someone for my own money...

A look inside a check cashing and payday lending business

Posted on July 13, 2009
An amusing and terrifying look inside two shady types of businesses that will fleece you every way they can, from check cashing fees to postage for a premium. As Ben Popken says “I can’t wrap my mind around the idea of paying someone for my own money...

Link roundup, week of July 12

Posted on July 12, 2009
Lots of credit card news this past week, plus a few other highlights and great tips: Credit card companies are jacking up fees (again) as consumers pay down debt | Alpha Consumer Figure out how long you will be in debt (seriously, do it; you may be shocked) | Federal Reserve Board Back on the wagon already, Morgan [...

U.S. consumer spending visualized

Posted on July 12, 2009
How The Average U.S. Consumer Spends Their Paycheck | Visual Economics (via BoingBoing)

Consumer loan defaults still rising, will lead to greater abuses of consumers

Posted on July 07, 2009
More consumers are falling behind in their bills. 6.6% of all credit cards are more than 30 days late, and delinquencies tracked by the American Bankers Association are the highest since it began tracking them in 1974. The rise in defaults—which is really not news, at this point—will inevitably lead to an increase in debt collection [...

Link roundup, week of July 5

Posted on July 06, 2009
When I get busy, quality links tend to pile up in my Google Reader queue. Here are some great news items I have not gotten around to blogging about: Researchers can guess your social-security number from public information like your birthdate and birth location | Red Tape Chronicles Young adults dispute Suze Orman’s claim that young people today “have [...

Reverse Mortgages: Trouble Brewing

Posted on July 02, 2009
In recent years, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)? the main federal regulator of the nation?s biggest banks ? has seemed concerned with consumer protection only when it was acting aggressively to protect ?its? banks from the prospect of being sued by state attorneys general for their predatory practices...

Sharing passwords post-mortem

Posted on July 02, 2009
Cory Doctorow’s post on sharing passwords after death was timely for me. My wife and I are currently working on our own wills and estate plans, and wrestling with how to ensure we are able to access one another’s digital information. Like Doctorow, our digital information is locked up safely in encrypted filesystems...

Mortgage modification: what you can and cannot get

Posted on July 01, 2009
The government and the banks say consumers are getting mortgage modifications, while the numbers and consumer advocate say otherwise. Minnesota business lawyer Nathan Brandenburg took a stab at unraveling the confusion which may be part of the reason why consumers are not getting the modifications they want...

Tips for refinancing your mortgage

Posted on June 30, 2009
Bad news: property values are way down, to the point where many people are sitting on mortgages at or above what they paid for their house. Good news: mortgage rates are low, making it a great time to refinance. You can also install energy efficient appliances to put some money in your pocket...

NY AG shuts down a particularly abusive debt collector

Posted on June 24, 2009
How would you like to get a call like this, just because you are behind on your credit cards? “Hello, this is Investigator Brook Carlson from the Warrant Division. This is the last time I am going to attempt to contact you,” the caller said in one message...

Save big on your cable bill

Posted on June 22, 2009
Cable companies, perhaps more than any other product providers love to entice new subscribers with new packages at low rates. Existing customers tend to get nothing—other than frustrated. Maybe that has changed. I use Comcast—for cable ($60/month) and internet service ($45/month)...

Consumer Financial Protection Agency must have teeth and be flexible

Posted on June 18, 2009
Earlier this week, President Obama announced his plan to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency as part of his financial reform package. It is a great idea, and I hope it will succeed. Why we need it If you buy a sports car, you are not likely to accept a station wagon when you go to pick [...

Arbitration reform cannot come soon enough

Posted on June 17, 2009
In case you missed it, NPR has a really great story on why we need arbitration reform. The piece starts out with the story of Jamie Leigh Jones a 20-year-old Halliburton/KBR employee in 2005, who was in Iraq for only four days before she was brutally gang raped by fellow employees...

Sun Sentinel shines on AFFIL

Posted on June 15, 2009
This is a great week for AFFIL because our friend Denise Richardson devoted an entire column to us at the Florida Sun Sentinel. (Thanks again Denise!) You can see her column here. Coincidentally, a while back Sam asked me to write a ?what AFFIL is up to? blog post, and lucky for me, Denise has [...

Avoid utility charges that are not yours

Posted on June 10, 2009
Never assume the next tenant will put utilities in their own name. Or if you move out and leave behind a roommate or sublease to someone, never assume they will do it, either. When you move, make sure you call your utility providers to let them know you are moving and that they should remove your [...

Rental property foreclosures affect tenants, too

Posted on June 10, 2009
Local channel KARE 11 on the effect of rental foreclosures on tenants. This video features HOME Line, a Minnesota tenant advocacy hotline doing great work to help tenants dealing with their landlord’s foreclosures. Related posts:Form letters for tenantsHOME Line offers eight useful forms for Minnesota tenants on...

Debt-management firms are not working for you

Posted on June 09, 2009
Thinking of using a debt-management firm? Think again. These services don’t help you as much as you think. Many of these firms are not helping as much as their subscribers think—sometimes at least half of what the customers pay goes to administrative fees—money that is never paid on the customer’s behalf...

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