There needs to be something in place to stop the frivilous law suits that agencies have to spend thousands of dollars to defend even though they have tried to explain to the consumers / attorneys that there was no wrong doing and no case - a lot of these consumers file the suits Pro Se and continue pushing for a settlement or trial - in these cases the agencies spend monies to prove there was no cause for action to begin with and to have a judge agree with the agency. Please look at putting some kind of penalty on consumers or their attorneys when they send settlement demands or file law suits when they have been shown that there is / was no case
Response to US Marine: while this isn't the best forum for me to go into my company's entire collection process, we work a debt for at least 120 days with letters, live agent calls, robo calls, emails, mailed invoices, and by suspending subscription service (where allowed) as part of our collection campaign. Even then, we only go to litigation after the debtor has been unresponsive to our attempts to contact them. I've found that if a debtor talks to their creditors, many times creditors will take their situation into account. I've offered lengthy repayment plans, reduced or waived interest or late fees, or partial settlement for those explain their hardship. But if a debtor is uncooperative or doesn't respond to our attempts to work out a balance, what other alternatives do creditors have?
With increased and onerous liability for making calls and sending letters to debtors, creditors and debt buyers have had little option but to file suit rather than repeatedly attempt to contact an uncooperative or uncommunicative debtor. Most complaints provide adequate and identifying information about the debt. In my experience, most debtors don't feel taken advantage of by lawsuits, they simply understand they owe the debt so there is little point in filing an answer or taking time to appear in court. In fact, the vast majority never respond to a Federal Law letter inviting them to dispute the debt. Filing suits and appearing in court is expensive and time consuming for creditors and debt buyer, but there is little alternative, nor should there be as these matters have always been governed appropriately by State law and State judges. As more credit is granted (and the US is a credit ecomony - over 70% of our economy is based on consumer spending which comes mainly from credit extensions and not consumers pay increases), there are simply more defaults, particularly in a Great Recession. Any heavy handed Federal regulation will hamper and restrict credit granting and debt buying, both of which are needed by the economy and the credit industry. While credit grantors should should make their documentation retention systems more accessible and share more documents upon a sale of accounts, a lack of documentation should not hamper State court lawsuits when a debtor offers no dispute so long as the account is adequately identified in a complaint. In Michigan, efforts to "make it more likely that consumers would defend themselves" have fell very flat for the reasons mentioned above. As it has always been, the protections are in place and are used by those debtors that wish to avail themselves of them. Judges are there to listen. However, most debtors (bless them) understand they simply owe the debt.
compliance2013
1
There needs to be something in place to stop the frivilous law suits that agencies have to spend thousands of dollars to defend even though they have tried to explain to the consumers / attorneys that there was no wrong doing and no case - a lot of these consumers file the suits Pro Se and continue pushing for a settlement or trial - in these cases the agencies spend monies to prove there was no cause for action to begin with and to have a judge agree with the agency. Please look at putting some kind of penalty on consumers or their attorneys when they send settlement demands or file law suits when they have been shown that there is / was no case
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Aturk
2
Response to US Marine: while this isn't the best forum for me to go into my company's entire collection process, we work a debt for at least 120 days with letters, live agent calls, robo calls, emails, mailed invoices, and by suspending subscription service (where allowed) as part of our collection campaign. Even then, we only go to litigation after the debtor has been unresponsive to our attempts to contact them. I've found that if a debtor talks to their creditors, many times creditors will take their situation into account. I've offered lengthy repayment plans, reduced or waived interest or late fees, or partial settlement for those explain their hardship. But if a debtor is uncooperative or doesn't respond to our attempts to work out a balance, what other alternatives do creditors have?
View this comment in the discussion thread
WLF
3
With increased and onerous liability for making calls and sending letters to debtors, creditors and debt buyers have had little option but to file suit rather than repeatedly attempt to contact an uncooperative or uncommunicative debtor. Most complaints provide adequate and identifying information about the debt. In my experience, most debtors don't feel taken advantage of by lawsuits, they simply understand they owe the debt so there is little point in filing an answer or taking time to appear in court. In fact, the vast majority never respond to a Federal Law letter inviting them to dispute the debt. Filing suits and appearing in court is expensive and time consuming for creditors and debt buyer, but there is little alternative, nor should there be as these matters have always been governed appropriately by State law and State judges. As more credit is granted (and the US is a credit ecomony - over 70% of our economy is based on consumer spending which comes mainly from credit extensions and not consumers pay increases), there are simply more defaults, particularly in a Great Recession. Any heavy handed Federal regulation will hamper and restrict credit granting and debt buying, both of which are needed by the economy and the credit industry. While credit grantors should should make their documentation retention systems more accessible and share more documents upon a sale of accounts, a lack of documentation should not hamper State court lawsuits when a debtor offers no dispute so long as the account is adequately identified in a complaint. In Michigan, efforts to "make it more likely that consumers would defend themselves" have fell very flat for the reasons mentioned above. As it has always been, the protections are in place and are used by those debtors that wish to avail themselves of them. Judges are there to listen. However, most debtors (bless them) understand they simply owe the debt.
View this comment in the discussion thread