Our Legal Liaison, David Greenberg, traveled to Berlin, Germany in September for the 2016 FENCA World Congress. More than 200 experts from the debt collection industry from Europe, North America, Asia, Arabia, Israel, India and North Africa gained valuable knowledge about the newest trends in the industry and gave a snapshot of the future, where […]
Selling a Debtor’s Property
A Dramatic and Effective Remedy – That Should Rarely Be Used Usually, as soon as a judgment is entered against an individual, the first question a creditor asks is, “Can I force her to sell her house?” If your judgment debtor owns property, it is by far the most tempting target for enforcement, especially if […]
Convenience Fees and Collection Costs
Do Your Standard Practices Violate the FDCPA? It’s such a standard business practice we generally don’t think twice about it anymore: when making a payment, if the payer wishes to use a credit card or check-by-phone, she can expect to be charged a “convenience fee”. These fees can be a flat amount, or calculated as […]
Why John Oliver Is Wrong About Debt Collection
Debt Buyers and Bad Actors Should Not Define an Industry More and more Americans turn to comedy shows for news in addition to entertainment. These shows make plenty of jokes, but they also claim to present facts, presumably accurate, in a journalistic way. While not always a problem, Last Week Tonight’s recent episode on […]
Why Is a Qualified Interpreter or Translator Necessary
Let’s start with a couple of definitions – Interpretation is the process where a person converts spoken words from one language to another language. Therefore, an “interpreter” acts as an intermediary between individuals who are speaking different languages. Translation, on the other hand is the process of converting the written word from one language to […]
Collecting From The Spouse Of Your Judgment Debtor
You filed suit and obtained a Judgment against a debtor and afterwards you learn the Judgment debtor is married. Can you go after assets and income held in the name of the Judgment debtor’s spouse? Whether or not that is possible will largely depend upon the State in which the debtor and spouse reside. However, […]
Am I a Debt Collector?
The FDCPA Can Apply to Creditors Collecting Their Own Debt With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and other government agencies –including the United States Supreme Court– becoming more and more involved with regulating debt collection in the United States, it is important to remember that although the focus of […]
Can I Cash This Check Without Compromising My Claim?
What should a creditor do if a debtor sends a check with the notation: “paid in full” or other similar language, but the creditor believes a greater amount is owed? Does cashing the check settle the claim, thereby preventing the creditor from pursuing further collection? What happens if creditors cash this check without realizing the […]
The Positive Effects of the Debt Collection Industry in the USA
In the current national mood of consumerism, there is a popular belief that debt collection is an assortment of villainous scavengers praying on innocent victims and who contribute nothing to our society and nation. Somehow, however, the good and positive effect of reputable debt collection agencies and lawyers seems to get lost in the bargain! Recently, […]
Do You Just Delete Those Scams?
For Credit & Collection Professionals On a daily basis it’s routine for each of us in this industry to go to our email inbox and find several new emails from people who claim they represent major companies abroad, asking us if we handle breach of contract or collection cases. Then they invite us to send […]