It is refreshing when debt collectors are held liable for their violations of consumer debt protection laws, but these consequences are often not enough to deter big debt collection companies from breaking the law to see bigger profits.  It is not everyday that debt collectors who engage in unlawful activity are held accountable for their actions.  Thus, when it does occur, it is an occasion to be celebrated.  Unfortunately, the celebration and victory may bring little

Just Because the Statute of Limitations has passed on debt it doesnt mean debt collectors will stop trying to get you to pay! Time-barred debts also known as Zombie Debt are debts for which the statute of limitations has passed.  What this means is that a lawsuit cannot legally be filed against you if the debt is too old and the collector has failed to file a lawsuit in time. This does not mean, by any stretch of the imagination, that debt buyers and collectors will

Become an Informed Consumer, Debt Collectors hate it.... Debt collectors hate informed consumers - they are the ones that can document violations and hold them accountable for their actions.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of consumers are not aware of the consumer laws in place to protect them and aren't able to recognize those violations being committed by debt collectors.  The following are resources from the Federal Trade Commission discussing different aspects of

Unpaid Bills Land Some Debtors Behind Bars : NPR. This is a disturbing trend.  The fact of the matter is that in Georgia, as I would expect is the case in many other states, there is a manner by which people end up going to jail simply because they owed debts to some party. I say to "some party" because so many of the debts for which people are sued and may go to jail are really brought by third party debt buyers.  These debt buyers are companies that most people b

So what is a debt buyer? Debt buyer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. In the context of debt collection and debt collection lawsuits, a debt buyer is a company, individual even a law firm who buys charged-off debts, usually for pennies on the dollar, and attempts to collect the full face value of the debt.  For example, large debt buyers such as Encore Capital (known to Defendant consumers as "Midland Funding") or Portfolio Recovery Associates buy large portfolios