The Federal Trade Commission has issued a new warning regarding a new scam that tricks people into thinking their social security benefits are in danger. The FTC has posted a sample of the call on their webpage that can be accessed here. The FTC states: The Social Security Administration scam is the number one scam […]

Can an FCRA claim for punitive damages survive the plaintiff\’s death? Learn what courts have decided and why it matters for your case. Free consultation.

A federal jury awarded a consumer in Portland, Oregon $101,000 for damages related to a Fair Credit Reporting Act (\”FCRA\”) claim. The background: Despite repeated attempts by Sponer and his lawyer to get his bank to delete the $29,000 debt that his credit report showed he owed for the car loan, Wells Fargo didn’t do

The Eleventh Circuit released an opinion recently regarding the implied warranty of merchantability and products that are \”unfit\” and \”defective\” as those terms are defined by Alabama law. In Easterling v. Ford Motor Co., No. 18-12914, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 23286 (11th Cir. Aug. 5, 2019) the Court stated: On the other hand, defectiveness and

Equifax has agreed to settle claims over the 2017 data breach: The proposed settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, if approved by the federal district court Northern District of Georgia, will provide up to $425 million in monetary relief to consumers, a $100 million civil money penalty, and other relief. The bureau coordinated its

Mobile, Alabama, like many other cities, set the maximum that a towing company can charge for towing a car.  Often companies attempt to find loopholes in the ordinances and charge more.  Mobile Police has cracked down on this practice: “Some of these wrecker companies are charging in excess of 25, up to 100 percent more

The Atlanta Journal Constitution has an article regarding the problems that go along with small claims debt lawsuits and the impact it has on consumers: Keys is among the tens of thousands of metro Atlanta residents who get dragged into small-claims courts over debts. But the system, set up to help neighbors resolve disputes, essentially

The Federal Trade Commission has sued several debt collection companies over collecting non-existent debts: The agency ordered a federal court in North Carolina to temporarily freeze the assets of the Global Asset Financial Services Group, which the FTC claims ran a so-called \”phantom debt\” scheme in which employees masqueraded as attorneys or legal assistants to

The National Consumer Law Center has released a report on state specific debt collection information and complaints.  Most notable is the high percentage of complaints in the South: Seven out of the ten states with the highest per capita number of debt collection complaints in 2017 are in the South (Florida, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, South Carolina,

The New York Times ran a story on ranking every state\’s lemon law: All 50 states and the District of Columbia have “something that is arguably a lemon law,” but too many fail consumers, said Jason Levine, the executive director of the center, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded by Ralph Nader. … The states