Recent Articles
New York Times – Inside the Criminial Underworld of the Debt Collection Industry
Last week’s New York Times Sunday magazine had a feature story detailing the criminal underworld network behind the bottom feeder debt collection industry. The article, by Jake Halpern, titled Paperboys: Inside the Dark Lucrative World of Consumer Debt Collection explains how the industry uses lies and pressure to make huge profits by paying 1% of […]
John Oliver Takes On the Payday Loan Industry
Sometimes it takes somebody from somewhere else to really see how much you are messing up. John Oliver takes the time to expose the myths and lies in the payday loan industry. Language Alert.
Wusik Rocks
This post has nothing to do with law but does have to do with customer service. I want to give a shout out and hearty thanks to William K., proprietor of Wusik.com for going above and beyond the call of duty in helping me with a software installation issue. If you are looking for music […]
Hidden Fees in the Indianapolis Bike Sharing Program
Gary Welch’s Advance Indiana blog has a great post explaining hidden fees in Indianapolis’s bike sharing program. If you don’t dock the bike every half hour, you can be charged astonishing fees. Read about it at this link.
The Affidavit From Hell
I’ve been spending a lot of time working on issues regarding assigned debts. When bottom feeder collection agencies sue on these accounts, they rely on affidavits from employees who are allegedly knowledgeable about the status of the accounts. Here is an affidavit that was filed in court by the law firm of Bowman Heintz Bocia […]
Death of a Borrower Doesn’t Kill Student Loans – Elizabeth Warren is Mad About It – About Time Somebody Is
If you are a parent who (or even a grandparent) who has cosigned private student loans for your family member, you are in for a rude surprise if the borrower dies. The entire loan balance often becomes immediately payable. This is a rude surprise for an older family member who thinks Junior is going to […]
Solving the Epidemic of Bad Debt Lawsuits in Indiana
I’ve been trying to understand the dynamic behind what appears to be a lot more lawsuits against consumers over bad debts, especially old credit card accounts, especially old credit card accounts that have been assigned to one or more debt buying company. Today I dusted off a law review article from 2012 that I put […]
Why I’m Not a Comcast Subscriber – Tips for cancelling cable, cell-phone and satellite television contracts.
People are surprised when I tell them that my family doesn’t have cable television. In fact, we haven’t had cable or satellite tv for more than 15 years; and we really don’t miss it. A mixture of broadcast television, Netflix and Hulu Plus suits us just fine, and the money we save is enough for […]
Great Tips – What to Say to Debt Collectors if They Call
This is a very good instructional video by Alabama consumer attorney John Watts giving you tips about how to handle calls by debt collectors. It is okay to screen repetitive calls by debt collectors, but I think it is important to talk to a collector at least once. As John points out, the collector may […]
