Predatory
collection agencies are filing bogus lawsuits against hard-hit consumers.
Whenever a corporation issues a statement declaring that it’s
committed to “treating consumers fairly and with respect,” chances are it’s
not. Otherwise, there would be no need for a statement.
This particular claim came from Encore Capital,
one of our country’s largest buyers of bad consumer debt. And it definitely
hasn’t been playing nice with the people it browbeats to collect overdue credit
card bills, car loans, and other expenses.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman found that the San Diego-based firm 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Problem is, Encore’s lawsuits are rife with errors, out-of-date
payment data, fabricated credit card statements, and other fraudulent filings.
Tons of them are missing original loan documents, payment histories, and other
proof of debt.
Debt predators, however, scoot around this scant evidence by
simply having their employees sign affidavits asserting that the alleged debts
of their victims are accurate. Judges, overwhelmed by the unending flood of
lawsuits, have largely accepted those affidavits as true and ruled in favor of
the corporations.
But Schneiderman found that — surprise — these 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 had to sign
about 2,000 affidavits a day.
This is no minor scam — a third of all
adults in the United States are 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, predatory
corporations twist the court system to pick their pockets and shut off their
hope of recovery.
OtherWords
columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker.
He’s also editor of the populist newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown. OtherWords.org.