A new class action lawsuit claims Chase Bank conspired with a debt collection agency to unlawfully obtain hundreds of millions, and possibly billions, of dollars from consumers.

Information on the recently filed lawsuit can be found here: http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/02/01/54484.htm

JP Morgan Chase & Co., NCO Group and collection law firm Bickerstaff, Heath, Delgado & Acosta are named as defendants in the lawsuit.  A class action lawsuit is a lawsuit filed on behalf of a group of people, which is the class.  The lead Plaintiff is Johanna Sierra, but the potentially huge class consists of anyone from whom the defendants tried to collect a debt using false or misleading information. Continue reading →

Two debt collection agencies who threatened, lied to, and harassed the people they were trying to collect from have been shut down by the Federal Trade Commission.

The closures were announced in January by the Federal Trade Commission.  Press releases can be found here: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2013/01/goldman.shtm and here http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2013/01/rumson.shtm

Rumson, Bolling & Associates has entered into an agreement with the FTC permanently barring them from collecting on debts.  In addition it will pay a fine of $700,000 and three other businesses which its owner controls will pay over $400,000 in fines. Continue reading →

Debt collection and credit cards neared the top of the list of consumer complaints in 2012, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network Data reports on data collected between January and December 2012.  A news release concerning the report can be found here: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2013/02/sentineltop.shtm

More than two million consumer complaints were collected in 2012.  The report splits the complaints into 30 categories. Continue reading →

Citigroup officials are preparing to pay up to $500 million in possible penalties resulting from the bank’s questionable credit card practices.

A report in American Banker says the banking giant has revealed it is setting $500 million aside in a reserve fund for legal and regulatory issues “related to U.S. consumer businesses.”  Continue reading →

One of the nation’s largest debt buyers has agreed to change how it handles debt collection and lawsuits after settling a lawsuit claiming it used fraudulent affidavits when trying to collect on debts.

The recently announced consent judgment settles a lawsuit against Midland Funding brought by Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson.

Continue reading →

The Matrix Credit Card is billed as a way to help people rebuild their credit. But consumers may find instead it creates even more problems for them to put up with.

The Matrix Credit Card is a Discover credit card from Continental Finance Company and aimed at consumers with below average credit. However, the card itself has gotten poor grades from several websites which critique credit cards. Continue reading →

Bank of America’s misleading advertising of a rewards credit card has gotten it into hot water with a watchdog agency. Continue reading →

“Julie” had been sued on a credit card debt, which credit card had been in her possession for many years. She had hired The Firm, PLLC for advice.

Julie kept a cool head, and followed all instructions from The Firm, PLLC, including requesting certain information from Bank, and permitting The Firm to request information from Bank, based on information supplied by Julie. Of course, Bank’s lawyers simply ignored Julie’s requests, and The Firm’s requests, for information about the suit. Banks know their contracts contain many illegal provisions, and they certainly do not want to provide them to anyone. Banks have many tricky, intelligent, and highly paid lawyers looking for ways to collect anything, legal or not.

Judge Stan Billingsley (Ret.) came to court with me in Julie’s case, and pointed out the problems with Bank’s argument Continue reading →

American Express is paying $112.5 million to settle claims that the bank charged unlawful late fees, deceived customers who signed up for its “Blue Sky” credit card program, and discriminated against new credit card applicants on the basis of age. Continue reading →

Capital One Bank is refunding $150 million to its customers after getting in trouble over high pressure tactics used to sell its customers misleading – and sometimes unusable – credit card products. Continue reading →