Law Commons^™

Closing The Cracks And The Courts: A Comparative Analysis Of Debt Collection Regulation In The United Kingdom And The United States, Tasia S. Harris, Candidate For Doctor Of Jurisprudence

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Consumers who borrow from a lender today cannot count on dealing with that same lender later if they default on their debt. In today's world of debt collection, the lender will outsource collection to a thirdparty debt collector, or those consumers' defaulted debt will be bought and sold numerous times for pennies on the dollar until eventually a debt buyer decides to pursue payment. Either way, under the current US debt collection laws and regulations, both third-party debt collectors and debt buyers can act outside the scope of debt collection regulation in the United States, and many will take that …

Why Is A Debt Collector Texting Me? The Modernization Of Debt Collection Practices, Emily Schmidt

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Portraits Of Bankruptcy Filers, Pamela Foohey, Robert M. Lawless, Deborah Thorne

Articles

One in ten adult Americans has turned to the consumer bankruptcy system for help. For almost forty years, the only systematic data collection about the people who file bankruptcy has come from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project (CBP), for which we serve as co-principal investigators. In this Article, we use CBP data from 2013 to 2019 to describe who is using the bankruptcy system, providing the first comprehensive overview of bankruptcy filers in thirty years. We use principal component analysis to leverage these data to identify distinct groups of people who file bankruptcy. This technique allows us to situate the distinctions …

Benign Language On Letters From Debt Collectors And Avoiding Violations Of The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Sebastian West

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

The [Un]Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: A Critique Of Henson V. Santander, Monica Paladini

Pepperdine Law Review

Congress was clear about its purposes and motivations behind enacting the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act of 1977. Namely, it set out to protect consumers from abusive debt collectors and to protect ethical debt collectors from being competitively disadvantaged by those who employ abusive tactics. Although Congress gave much time and effort to crafting the definition of “debt collectors” at the time of the Act’s passage, changes in the debt collection industry over the last four decades have greatly impacted the scope and reach of the FDCPA. Specifically, the advent and rise of debt purchasing have introduced an entirely new …

Time Bandits: The Seventh Circuit Gets It Wrong By Allowing Debt Purchasers To Escape Fdcpa Liability For Filing Time-Barred Proofs Of Claim In Chapter 13 Bankruptcies, Jeffrey Michalik

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Debt purchasers can use debtors’ bankruptcies to profit from stale, otherwise unenforceable debt. Although state statutes of limitations bar legal enforcement of this debt, predictable breakdowns of the bankruptcy process mean that the debtor might be forced to pay anyway. Courts have determined that this scheme does not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, allowing debt purchasers to continue this scheme without repercussion.

Access To Consumer Bankruptcy, Pamela Foohey

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This essay examines the state of access to justice in the context of consumer bankruptcy from two vantage points: (1) how people decide that their money problems are legal problems addressable by filing bankruptcy; and (2) the barriers people face in using the consumer bankruptcy system. To shed new light on how people decide to use bankruptcy to address their financial troubles, I analyze a sample of narratives accompanying consumers' complaints about financial products and services submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I also chronicle the evolution of research regarding consumer bankruptcy’s “local legal culture,” systemic racial bias, and …

Calling On The Cfpb For Help: Telling Stories And Consumer Protection, Pamela Foohey

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Since it began operating in 2011, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has handled more than a million complaints regarding consumer financial product and services. Beginning in June 2015, the CFPB began publishing consumers’ narratives submitted with their complaints. This Article analyses a random sample of 5,000 of these narratives to assess how people engage with the complaint mechanism in light of the CFPB’s role in processing complaints. I find that people predominately use the complaint function for two distinct purposes: to express their anger and frustration about companies’ practices, or to express sadness and fear about how companies’ practices …

Are Validation Notices Valid? An Empirical Evaluation Of Consumer Understanding Of Debt Collection Validation Notices, Jeff Sovern, Kate E. Walton

Faculty Publications

A principal protection against the collection of consumer debts that are not actually owed is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act’s (FDCPA) validation notice, which obliges debt collectors demanding payment to notify consumers of their rights to dispute debts and request verification, among other things. This Article reports on the first public study of whether consumers understand the notices or what they take away from them. For nearly four decades, courts have decided whether validation notices satisfied the FDCPA without ever knowing when or if consumers understand the notices. This Article attempts to remedy that problem.

Collectors who prefer that …

Are Validation Notices Valid? An Empirical Evaluation Of Consumer Understanding Of Debt Collection Validation Notices, Jeff Sovern, Kate E. Walton

SMU Law Review

A principal protection against the collection of consumer debts that are not actually owed is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act’s (FDCPA) validation notice, which obliges debt collectors demanding payment to notify consumers of their rights to dispute debts and request verification, among other things. This Article reports on the first public study of whether consumers understand the notices or what they take away from them. For nearly four decades, courts have decided whether validation notices satisfied the FDCPA without ever knowing when or if consumers understand the notices. This Article attempts to remedy that problem.

Collectors who prefer that …

Current Trends In Consumer Junk Debt Buyer Litigation, Peter Holland

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Current Trends In Junk Debt Buyer Litigation.Pdf, Peter Holland

Peter A. Holland

The Law And Economics Of Consumer Debt Collection And Its Regulation, Todd J. Zywicki

Todd J. Zywicki

This article reviews the law and economics of consumer debt collection and its regulation a topic that has taken on added urgency in light of the announcement by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that it is considering new regulations on the subject. Although stricter regulation of permissible debt collection practices can benefit those consumers who are in default and increase demand for credit by consumers, overly-restrictive regulation will result in higher interest rates and less access to credit for consumers, especially higher-risk consumers. Regulation of particular practices may also have the unintended consequence of providing incentives for creditors to more …

Due Process As Consumer Protection: State Remedies For Distant Forum Abuse, Alan K. Chen

Akron Law Review

This article takes the position that distant forum abuse is a practice which should be and can be halted by the employment of state consumer protection statutes. The article first lays out a history of distant forum abuse and its role as a tool for debt collection harassment. Next, it examines legal developments in this area at both the federal and state levels, and explains the need for a more wide-reaching remedy in most jurisdictions. The third section briefly addresses important aspects of procedural waivers under contract law which must be taken into account by policy-makers when fashioning new remedies …

Dirty Debts Sold Dirt Cheap, Dalie Jimenez

Dalie Jimenez

More than 77 million Americans have a debt in collections. Many of these debts will be sold to debt buyers for pennies, or fractions of pennies, on the dollar. This Article details the perilous path that debts travel as they move through the collection ecosystem. Using a unique dataset of 84 consumer debt purchase and sale agreement, it examines the manner in which debts are sold, oftentimes as simple data on a spreadsheet, devoid of any documentary evidence. It finds that in many contracts, sellers disclaim all warranties about the underlying debts sold or the information transferred. Sellers also sometimes …

Brief Of Amici Curiae In Support Of Appellant, James Townsend V. Midland Funding, Llc, Stuart Robert Cohen, Peter A. Holland

Court Briefs

The Consumer Protection Clinic of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, filed a Motion to Participate and an Amicus Brief in the case of Townsend v. Midland Funding, LLC. The case presents the question of whether documents created by third party predecessors in interest—usually a bank—may be admitted into evidence when a debt buyer plaintiff does not demonstrate personal knowledge regarding any of the foundational elements which would be required to admit the documents under the business records exception to the hearsay rule. Amici urge the Court to overturn the lower court, and hold that a …

The Search For More Fairness In The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Elwin Griffith

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.