Debt Collectors Lobby to Block Tougher Rules

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) A wave of U.S. state laws that require debt collectors to document exactly who owes what has triggered a state-by-state lobbying battle over rules of evidence that the industry says could slice into profitability.

A 2009 law in North Carolina requiring collectors to provide original contracts and imposing penalties for erroneous litigation has slowed the industry’s work in that state. Other states, including Massachusetts, Florida, California and Oregon, have followed North Carolina’s law with similar proposals. Consumer advocates say the laws are necessary to curb abuses.

Though a new federal agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will have jurisdiction over debt collectors, the industry is ramping up its lobbying primarily at the state level, hiring former Georgia attorney general Thurbert Baker to spearhead an effort to modify the state bills.

“We don’t have lobbyists in 50 states but we do have internal resources that are talking, certainly, to all the large states,” Steven Fredrickson, chief executive officer of Portfolio Recovery Associates, Inc., the largest publicly traded debt collector, said in a May 11 conference call. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-21/debt-collectors-lobby-to-block-tougher-state-rules.html

[blueknight]

1. fuck those scumbag

debt collectors. they tried to get money out of me for a debt i never owed, to a company i never heard of. fuck those rotten bastards

[truebrit71]

5. + 1 million

...

[msongs]

2. debt collectors should be ILLEGAL unless they have a court judgement as their basis nt

[Dreamer Tatum]

4. That makes no sense.

You want them to have a court judgment so they can get a court judgment? What?

[chill_wind]

3. K & R. n/t

[sam11111]

6. NO COLLECTORS in a truly Progressive society: one never needs a loan

Free drs
Free college
Jobs for all
All housing belongs to occupant (no landlords no mortgages)
Fat ss pension
Free coverall insurance
Guaranteed minimum income

(The famous "6 legs of socialism" plus one new one - the minimum income - now weakly in place in parts of Europe..eg Holland last I heard)

Paid for by TTR tax the rich - Buffets idea - and partially seen in Finland as it moves to this goal.

World survey - finns have highest Quality of Life
-(UN)

Similar Danes - top a survey on happiness

They live longer (we are #48 IIRC.. or 49)

Progressiveism WORKS - in both theory and practice.

Einstein was a socialist.

[sarcasmo]

7. You know these are good new laws when the scumbag debt collectors have to lobby.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. The current rules are also effective but they are not well known and hard to enforce

Anything that makes the scumbag collectors' lives harder is still a good thing