Major U.S. Banks Under Investigation

Finally, the feds seem to be stepping up their enforcement of banking corporations. A recent report from Reuters, quoting anonymous sources familiar with the action, has announced that major U.S. banks – including Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo –are now under investigation, for knowingly providing debt collectors and debt buyers with bad information regarding charged-off accounts. The bad information was then later used as the basis for debt collection lawsuits, which continue to plague millions of people.None of the state or federal agencies involved, or any of the banks named, would comment on the investigation, or even confirm it. But, there has been talk for a while about an upcoming investigation; the intentionally shoddy record keeping around consumer debt is very similar to the bad bookkeeping and “robo-signing” which caused the housing collapse in 2008, and the subsequent recession the United States is still recovering from. Federal investigations around mortgage foreclosure documents resulted in a $25 billion settlement agreement between federal and state law enforcement and the major banks last year. Unfortunately, the banks were put in charge of their own repayment schedule and responsibilities; it’s hoped that people underwater on their mortgages will see some relief in coming months.The current probe is being led by state attorneys generals, but it’s possible the Consumer Finance Protection Board could get involved. The central issue of the investigation is the banks’ poor paperwork and their weak tracking of debts, and how this harmed individuals. In response to the debt collection industry’s aggressive actions to recover any and all debt, regardless of its validity, state regulators have been stepping up the documentation requirements around debt buying for several years. Many states (and increasingly, local governments—like the City of Chicago, for instance) have passed laws requiring debt collectors to provide people with specific information on their debts. Minnesota has two bills in chamber around the issue; California, Maryland, and New Jersey have all recently passed legislation around this issue.If a collection agency has harassed you, you may be entitled to money damages up to $1,000.00, based on the FDCPA, which has been around for almost 35 years. The FDCPA is a federal law that applies to every state. In other words, everyone is protected by the FDCPA. The FDCPA is essentially a laundry list of what debt collectors can and cannot do while collecting a debt, as well as things debt collectors must do while collecting a debt. Plus, the FDCPA has a fee-shift provision. This means, the collection agency pays your attorney’s fees and costs. Founding attorney, Michael Agruss, has settled over 1,500 debt collection harassment cases. We want to help you, too.