Another wave of relief is on the horizon to help stop foreclosures and to soften the devastation caused by wrongful foreclosures. The United States and a group of individual states are close to signing a monumental agreement with the major foreclosure players to set aside $17 BILLION dollars for those who lost their homes, are losing their home, and are trying to keep their homes! The settlement arises from an investigation into the alleged fraudulent practices of Bank of America (including Countrywide), JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup, for the “robo-signing” of foreclosure related documents.  The relief for homeowners will include principal reductions for mortgages, interest reductions, and cash payments to homeowners who lost their homes.  People have been screaming for a part of the bailout monies that went to the big banks.  Maybe now the people will see some of that.  I encourage lawyers to talk to their clients about this and clients to talk to their lawyers about this. The “robo-signer” fraud to stop a foreclosure has long been overlooked as a defense and as a good offense!

Charlie Lorant

That’s how much Asset Acceptance, a huge bottom feeder in the debt collections world, just got nailed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for unfair debt collection practices!  Just weeks after the appointment of a director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Washington sends another booming signal that it is getting serious about hammering debt collectors who harass consumers.   Again, you can see that the tide is starting to turn in favor of the “little guys”, the people who have been beaten to death  by this economy and have had trouble paying a debt. The FTC fine told Asset (and sent a message to other debt collectors) that it is no longer acceptable to harass a debtor, to mislead a debtor, to report inaccurate information about a debtor, to collect stale debts where the statute of limitations has expired, to fail to verify the validity of a debt, and to commit various other unfair collection practices. We already have cases against Asset Acceptance, Midland Funding, Portfolio Services, and other debt collectors for deceptively collecting stale debts and I continue to explore actions against debt collectors for these and other unfair, harassing, or deceptive collection practices.  With fines and lawsuits, maybe debt ridden Americas can float up a bit from the bottom and see light above the water.

Charles Lorant