At least robo-signers actually sign their names, even if they have no idea what they are signing. Some foreclosure law firms have a room full of clerks signing attorneys’ names to foreclosure documents. Bank of New York attorney Gary McCafferty said “many documents his firm submitted to court with his signature had in fact been [...]
Caveat Emptor
Caveat Emptor is Sam’s debt collection, bankruptcy, and consumer news blog.
It turns out that a lot of mortgage servicers haven’t been taking legal process very seriously. Robo-signers are employees whose jobs are to sign their name to as many affidavits as possible without reading them, and robo-signing is all the rage among mortgage servicers these days. Instead of acknowledging that the mortgage industry created this [...]
Alaska, where you can allegedly see Russia from, has more consumer credit card debt per person than any other state in the nation, according to a new study. On average, every American citizen has $5,165 in debt. Alaska is well above that number—the average Alaskan owes $7,135. Heavy burden On average, each American household has [...]
Force-placed insurance is an insurance policy your mortgage service picks out when your homeowners insurance policy expires. It can cost up to ten times more than a regular homeowners policy, in part because mortgage servicers are often getting kickbacks and other incentives due to self-dealing. American Banker suggests that force-placed insurance may be a far [...]
Waste from electronics doesn’t just pollute, it makes workers across the world sick. In corporate speak, this is called externalizing costs. Instead of spending money to build non-toxic, durable electronics, manufacturers let workers and consumers bear the costs of the e-waste: sickness, cancer, miscarriages, and worse. Annie Leonard explains in The Story of Electronics (Thanks, [...]
When I worked as a collection attorney, I would see the same erroneous defenses over and over again. Here are some of the most common: You don’t have a signed contract Somewhat surprisingly, creditors are not required to produce a signed contract to prevail in court. There are others case theories, such as account stated, [...]
I’ve been trying to decide whether to add my voice to the chorus of consumer advocates who are slamming the Kardashian Kard, a prepaid debit card aimed at kids that hides more transaction fees than I thought possible. Instead, I’ll let Asian animation house NMA explain: (Thanks, Consumerist!) Related posts:FTC teaches kids about consumer issuesSet [...]
“FTC proposes new guidelines for collecting debt from dead people“, reads the Washington Post’s headline. As it turns out, debts don’t die with the debtor, and debt collectors don’t let a little thing like a funeral slow them down. They keep calling, implying that relatives ought to discharge the deceased’s “moral obligation” to pay the [...]
Gift cards are an easy gift, which makes them extremely popular, especially at the last minute. But gift cards frequently go unused, and may come with hefty penalties. Before you give a gift card, consider the risks. For starters, $8.2 billion in gift cards go unredeemed every year. They expire, get lost, or just never get [...]
Class action lawsuits are an extremely important tool, but the case of Seraji v. Capital Management Services is an example of a class action handled very badly. Capital Management Services is a debt collection agency that, according to the complaint, left—potentially—millions of voicemail messages that violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The messages violated [...]