Over the past four decades, I’ve received hundreds of letters or emails from lawyers I’ve assigned to collection cases (after a few days or a week handling a case) to tell me, “The debtor isn’t responding to our demands for payment. Do you want to send us costs to begin a lawsuit?” However, precious little […]
This firm has long enthusiastically supported the use of arbitration clauses in contracts for the extension of credit, and arbitration clauses have been extensively utilized and litigated throughout the United States. However, many collection professionals are unaware of an alternative to arbitration available in California: Judicial reference. The Basics. California Code of Civil Procedure, Sections […]
This office has long enthusiastically supported the use of arbitration clauses in contracts for the extension of credit. Arbitration favors the creditor in several ways: disputes are more quickly and cheaply resolved, and it offers the parties more control over how the dispute will be handled. Although arbitration provisions have recently come under fire from […]
A Chinese client of ours placed an account with us for collection. On contacting the company who bought their product we were referred to their lawyer. When we contacted the lawyer he explained that his client had an initial offset to the $650,000 debt because of approximately $30,000.00 worth of defective goods. Beyond that, opposing […]
The Challenge of Judgment Collection Debtors can avoid a creditor for a long time. Repeated, but failed, promises to pay, increasingly unbelievable excuses, and simply ignoring the creditor are all tactics debtors employ to delay collection. It can be remarkably frustrating. But, if a creditor is persistent, vindication will come in the form of a […]
This has been a sensational year for our law firm. We’ve had the privilege of gaining quite a few new clients, both from the United States and abroad. It truly is a humbling set of emotions to know we’re in a position to help those clients with their cases and just to answer questions about […]
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 […]
Imagine that a document exists that gives you a debtor’s financial history, addresses and phone numbers, outstanding and disputed debts, and many other salient facts about your debtor’s financial health. There is, of course: the debtor’s credit report. However, given the power of this document, access is limited and protected by California and federal law. […]
The goal of any collections professional, including lawyers, is to collect the claim with as little time and cost as possible. The creditor must constantly make the calculation: is the additional time and money I’m going to spend on this claim worth the increased return? This calculation becomes most intense when considering trial in collections […]
Who Owns This Debt? A client recently placed a substantial commercial debt for consulting services with my firm. Upon contacting the debtor, I found that the debtor had beaten us to the punch: They had filed a Complaint for breach of contract to preempt my client’s collection activity. In such a situation, unless the debtor […]