NY Debt Collection Harassment Attorney Abel L. Pierre, Esq. (212) 766-3323

In response to the widespread violation of New York consumers' rights by debt collections agency, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued 35 debt collection firms who improperly obtained default judgements against consumers.  From the Office of the Attorney General: Default Judgment Lawsuit.

A law firm at the center of the foreclosure crisis is closing due to scrutiny of their unfair business practices.  From the NY Times:

Mr. Baum and his colleagues have come under fire for their foreclosure-related legal work. They are one of numerous firms across the country that represent banks and services in trying to foreclose on the millions of homeowners who have defaulted on their loans. Some of these firms' aggressive, and, in some cases, duplicitous practices, have earned them the moniker "foreclosure mills."

The Baum firm's tactics, which included the "robo-signing" of documents, has been among the most criticized. Last year, a state court judge in Brooklyn called one foreclosure filing from the Baum firm "incredible, outrageous, ludicrous and disingenuous."

According to ChicagoBusiness.com, "the practice of shorting overtime, skirting minimum wage or forcing employees to work off the clock has been the subject of an increasing number of lawsuits."  Two of the Illinois staffing firms that are facing lawsuits are accused of paying employees less than minimum wage, including one situation where an employee was paid $57 for 21 hours of work, when minimum wage in Illinois is $8.25 an hour. 

Chicago Business: Wal-Mart Warehouse Workers Sue Claiming Unpaid Wages

A woman in Florida is suing for the harassment she endured while she was grieving the loss of her husband, over her late husband's debt.  Here's the story:

Woman sues debt collector and bank: MyFoxORLANDO.com

Wall Street Journal: For the Families of Some Debtors, Death Offers No Respite

Several Brooklyn residents entered an unpaid internship program that promised union membership after several months of hard labor.  Instead of landing the jobs they thought they were training for, they discovered their hard work was for nothing.  Now, they are suing to recover unpaid wages.  Read the full story here:  NY Times: Brooklyn Residents File Lawsuit to Recover Unpaid Wages

According to Bankrate.com, nearly 80% of credit reports contain some error, and at least 25% have errors serious enough to lead to loan and credit denials.  Mistakes can range from misspelled names and inaccurate birth dates to listing "closed" accounts as "open",  or even listing the same loan twice.   To ensure that your credit report is free from errors, you should order a free copy once a year.  If you notice an error or inaccurate information on your credit report, dispute it immediately with all three credit bureaus. 

To read more about credit report errors:
CBS News: 4 in 5 Credit Reports Have Errors
Bankrate: How to Fix Credit Report Errors
Chicago Sun-Times: 80% of Credit Reports Contain an Error
FTC: How to Dispute Credit Report Errors

Employers are relying on background checks with increasing frequency to make their hiring decisions. However, many background checks reveal false, inaccurate or out-of-date information that can negatively impact the job seeker. Here are some of the many stories of job searches damaged by background report errors:

Christian Science Monitor: Who Is Checking The Background Checkers?
ABC News: Advocates Complain About Background Check Errors
Wired: Bad Data Fouls Background Checks
Philly.com: Innocent "Felon": Background Check Gave False Info
NY Times: Flawed FBI Background Checks

The National Employment Law Project reports "Illegal Job-Screening Practices Worsen Unemployment Among African Americans":

"As the use of background checks expands, many employers are routinely excluding all job applicants with criminal records from consideration, no matter how minor or dated their offenses," said Maurice Emsellem, policy co-director of the National Employment Law Project. "Background checks are meant to ensure a safe work environment, but many employers have gone way too far, shutting out highly qualified candidates without even bothering to ask common-sense questions: What was the conviction for? How long ago was it? Is it even relevant to this job? What’s the person done with his or her life since?" 

Communities of color are particularly hard hit by the expanded use of criminal background checks by employers, which exacerbates the already severe effects of the recent economic downturn and anemic recovery to date. The average unemployment rate in 2010 for blacks was 16 percent, compared with 8.7 percent for whites and 12.5 percent for Hispanics. The widespread use of background checks only adds to the historic challenges that African Americans continue to face in finding equal opportunity in employment.

The impacts are not only felt by communities of color, however. More than one in four U.S. adults--roughly 65 million Americans--have arrests or convictions that will show up in routine criminal background checks, according to a recent report from the National Employment Law Project. Use of these background checks by employers has grown exponentially: 92 percent of employers conduct criminal background checks on some or all job applicants, according to a 2010 Society for Human Resources Management survey, up from 51 percent in 1996.

As more and more consumers fall behind on bills due to the economy, debt collection tactics are becoming more aggressive.  Consumers have been called names, threatened with jail, or even threatened with bodily harm.  These tactics are illegal, but occur frequently.  According to USA Today:

The Federal Trade Commission reports that the number of complaints about debt collectors rose from 104,766 a year in 2008 to 140,036 in 2010, says Tom Pahl, assistant director of the FTC's division of financial practices.

The agency has stepped up enforcement, taking 10 companies to court in the past three years, compared with six in the previous three years.

"We receive more complaints about the debt collection industry than any other industry," Pahl says. "The conduct of debt collectors is a major consumer protection problem."

From ABC News: