Relieve Your Debts!

As of July 21, 2011, a new agency will be joining the Federal Trade Commission to help investigate the growing number or complaints regarding debt collectors violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. (FDCPA)

This new consumer protection, federal watchdog agency will be named the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and was created by a law enacted last year. According to reports, this agency will have the ability to set rules, whereas the FTC can investigate complaints, but not write rules.  

Regulations need to be addressed regarding the debt collection industry and communication with debtors  using  new techology including voice mail, cell phones and e-mail.

The newer technological advancements have brought to the forefront the need for stricter regulation as they create even greater opportunity for harassment and abuse by debt collectors in their efforts to communicate with a debtor. The new

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If you are like many other consumers in the US, you’ve got a facebook page. And, if you are like many other consumers  in the US, you’ve got debt. Put the two together and now Creditors and Debt Collectors have found one more way to reach out to you in an effort to collect on money owed.

The Federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, the law that protects consumers from debt collector harassment, was enacted long before social media or the internet. Thus the  line can become blurred between what is considered permissible contact and what constitutes harassment.

So may a debt collector reach out to your Facebook friends or family, post on your wall or “friend” you?  Two recent cases, one in Florida and one in California, have put some precedents in place for Social Media contact and the debt collection industry.

A judge in Florida ruled that a debt collector or creditor may use Facebook as a phone book of sorts to locate a debtor. However, s

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The largest fine in history for a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act has been leveled on a collection agency by the Federal Trade Commission last month. The Georgia company, West Asset Management, allegedly violated the Act with its aggressive techniques, and agreed to pay a settlement of $2.8 million. The settlement came after thousands of customer complaints against the collection agency, which employs about 1,500 people in 13 states, as well as in the Philippines. The collection agency has many clients in several industries, including government services, health care, telecommunications, and consumer credit. Full Post…

Debt collection agencies stoop to low levels at times to get their money. Many of these practices are illegal, not to mention immoral. Consumers are not always aware of their rights, and need to know that there is help and punishment for agencies that operate under these practices. Allied Interstate, a Minnesota based agency, has been caught in the act again. Apparently the first settlement the firm had to pay was not enough to make them stop their shady tactics.

For debtors contacting a debt lawyer is often their saving grace from companies who harass and abuse the person’s rights. Allied Interstate reportedly called people’s homes over and over again, even if they had the wrong number. Harassment apparently was not a word in their vocabulary. The

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