Employment law and consumer protection, explained by the attorneys who litigate it. Straight answers on your rights at work and in the marketplace.
Consumer Rights
Anyone who has called a customer service hotline has heard this message before being connected to an agent: “This call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes.” Most of the time, we accept that our call might be recorded in this context, because we have been informed and it does not seem like […]
Consumer Rights
Digital radio giant SiriusXM has promised to repay customers affected by its fraudulent business practices, change its subscription cancellation policies and pay a $3.8 million fine to settle accusations filed by attorneys general in 44 states. The company had been accused of not cancelling subscriptions after promising customers they would do so. A multistate investigation […]
Consumer Rights
Buying a car should be an exciting event. Many of us only buy a new car a few times in our lives, and finding the right vehicle is a huge investment. So it is disheartening when the car has a major malfunction shortly after you drive it off the dealership’s lot. In the past, buyers […]
Consumer Rights
Telephone solicitations are so unpopular that it is a wonder that American companies still use this tactic to try to generate businesses. Still, people get these unsolicited calls. Most of the time, they are a minor annoyance, but some businesses choose to be overly aggressive. They use auto dialers to call their targets day and […]
Consumer Rights
After a long day at work, the phone rings and your child answers it and says. “There is someone on the phone saying that you owe them money!” Annoyed, you grab the phone and on the other end is a debt collector demanding payment for a debt you do not owe, to a creditor you have never heard of. […]
Consumer Rights
In a recent Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lawsuit heard in a Federal Court, plaintiff Heather Nelson alleged that debt collection agency, Santander Consumer USA called her cell phone 1,026 times and left 116 prerecorded messages over the course of a year. Nelson sued the debt collector for violating the TCPA, and was awarded $571,000 in statutory damages. Nelson […]
Consumer Rights
A consumer has accused Global Holding & Investment Co. of threatening her with a lawsuit in regards to a 20-year old “zombie” debt. The term “zombie debt” refers to debts that are “obsolete” as defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Under the FCRA, accounts are obsolete after 7 1/2 years after the first default which was never […]
Consumer Rights
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently made some clarifications regarding the CAN-SPAM Act. The clarifications include: The term “sender” in regards to multi-advertiser e-mails. The modification of the term “sender” addresses the situation in which there are more than one advertiser in a single commercial e-mail. According to the clarification, one of the advertisers can assume the role of “sender” as […]
Consumer Rights
Many desperate debt collectors threaten debtors with immediate wage or bank account garnishment as a tactic to intimidate them into payment. However, it is important to know that debt collectors who threaten to garnish a consumer’s wages, without being entitled to do so are in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Until a creditor has obtained a […]
Consumer Rights
Collection agencies, Rawlins & Rivera, Inc., Ryan & Reed, Inc. and their lawyer has been permanently prohibited from falsely representing the character, amount, or legal status of a consumer’s debt. As well as, representing that their collector is a lawyer or represents a lawyer, or that if the consumer does not pay, the defendants can or will file […]
Consumer Rights
Debt Collection agency, National Credit Audit Corporation was accused of violating the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act (FDCPA) after one of its debt collectors allegedly misrepresented herself as an attorney to a debtor’s husband in an effort to intimidate them into paying an alleged debt. After the call the debtor’s husband contacted National Credit Audit Corp’s main line […]
Consumer Rights
Over the years, many clients have asked me if they are able to sue a debt collector for harassment under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), even if they owe the debt they are being harassed about. My answer to them is a resounding YES! The FDCPA protects all consumers against debt collection abuse, whether the consumer owes the debt or not. In […]
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