Recent Blog Posts
Are You a Victim of Auto Dealer Fraud?
With their high-pressure sales tactics and domineering personalities, car salespeople have developed a reputation for being untrustworthy and dishonest. Shopping for a new vehicle can be an exciting experience, but the process can swiftly turn into a nightmare if the car dealer carries out fraudulent practices known as auto dealer fraud. This type of… Read More »
Florida Attorney General and Federal Trade Commission Shuts down a Pompano Beach Debt-Relief Fraud Scam
A civil complaint was filed earlier this summer in the Southern District of Florida against a Pompano Beach based debt-relief fraud scheme that resulted in about 15,000 consumers being duped out of approximately $70 million. The complaint seeks relief against several interrelated entities as well as officers of the entities. The defendants include, 321Loans… Read More »
Wells Fargo’s Credibility Sinks Deeper into the Hopeless Well of Despair
Wells Fargo once had a sterling reputation, known for stability and being conservative with risk. Everything changed with the 2008 financial crisis. Today Wells Fargo’s poor, fraudulent and illegal banking practices and corporate culture have come to light, however, just when a reasonable person would think it cannot get any worse, Wells Fargo finds… Read More »
Is Florida Really a Sunny Place for Shady People?
We have all seen the news report, it usually goes something like this, a wealthy individual from the northeast has creditors crawling out of the woodwork to collect on large sums of money. The wealthy individual has a multimillion dollar waterfront residence in Boca Raton which the creditors cannot get to. The person may… Read More »
Central Florida Debt Collection Operation Pretending to Be Attorneys & Collecting on Non-Legitimate Debts Being Shut Down
On July 10, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida for a permanent injunction and other equitable relief against Hardco Holding Group LLC (“Hardco”) and its related entities and officers. Federal Trade Commission v. Hardco Holding Group LLC et al., case… Read More »
3 Things Your Student Loan Servicer Might Not Tell You
With the cost of college skyrocketing over the last several decades, students are accumulating massive debt as they work towards their graduation date. The federal government depends on private companies to manage millions of student loan accounts each year, but these student loan servicers may not be giving you all the facts about your… Read More »
What Practices Are off Limit for Debt Collectors?
If you have ever been behind on paying your bills, you know what a hassle it is to deal with debt collectors. But did you know that there are strict statutes about what debt collectors can and cannot do? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act(FCCPA) protect… Read More »
Consumer Rights under Attack in the Second District Court of Appeal
One of the strongest consumer protection statutes, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), has come under recent attack in the Second District Court of Appeal which covers New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. The TCPA makes it “unlawful… to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send, to a telephone, facsimile machine,… Read More »
Has the Supreme Court Eroded the Rights of Consumers under the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act?
In Henson v. Santander Consumer USA, Inc., __ U.S. __, 2017 WL 2507342 (June 12, 2017). Justice Gorsuch, writing his first opinion as a Supreme Court Justice for the unanimous Court, ruled that an entity that “regularly” purchases defaulted debts to collect for its own account is not a “debt collector” under the Fair… Read More »
The ABC’s of Identity Theft and Steps to Take If You Are a Victim
The Fair Credit Reporting Act defines identity theft as “a fraud committed or attempted using the identifying information of another person without authority.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(q)(3). One of the most troubling aspects of identity theft is that more times than not the perpetrator is someone that the victim knows, in my practice I… Read More »