Posted by Jim Hightower
Whenever a corporation issues a statement declaring that it is
committed to "treating consumers fairly and with respect," chances are
it's not.
After all, if the outfit was actually doing it, there would be
no need for a statement. Indeed, this particular claim came from Encore
Capital, one of our country's largest buyers of bad consumer debt – and
it definitely has not been playing nice with the people it browbeats to
collect overdue credit card bills, car loans, etc.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman found that Encore,
based in San Diego, filed nearly 240,000 lawsuits against debtors in a
recent four-year period, using our courts as its private collection arm.
Problem is, Encore's bulk filing of lawsuits are rife with errors,
out-of-date payment data, fabricated credit card statements, etc. Tons
of them are missing original loan documents, payment histories, and
other proof of debt.
Debt predators, however, scoot around this lack of facts by
simply having their employees sign affidavits asserting that the level
of money owed is accurate. Judges, overwhelmed by the unending flood of
lawsuits filed by Encore et al, have accepted those affidavits as true,
thus ruling in favor of the corporations. But Schneiderman found that –
Surprise! – affidavits were simply being rubber-stamped by company
employees, who didn't have time to check for accuracy. An employee of
one large debt-buyer testified that he was having to sign about 2,000
affidavits a day!
This is no minor scam – one in seven adults in the U.S. is under
pursuit by debt collectors. It's hard enough for struggling families to
claw their way out from under the economic crash without having lying,
cheating, predator corporations twist the court system to pick their
pockets and shut off their hope of recovery.
"Debt Buyer Faces Fine In Doubtful Lawsuits," The New York Times, January 9, 2015.
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