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Debt Collection Agencies Under More Scrutiny

Michael Agruss

Written and Reviewed by Michael Agruss

  • Managing Partner and Personal Injury Lawyer at Mike Agruss Law.
  • Over 20 years of experience in Personal Injury.
  • Over 8000+ consumer rights cases settled.
  • Graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law: Juris Doctor, 2004.

It’s estimated that 30 million Americans owe money and are being pursued by debt collectors. Almost one out of ten Americans are dealing with the endless hounding of debt collectors, for debts that average around $1,500 each—this information comes from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency which was set up in the wake of the housing crisis in 2008.Starting in January of 2013, the CFPB will intensely monitor larger debt collectors, i.e., third-party collection firms that chase down at least $10 million in debt per year. The hope is that new scrutiny and regulations will get rid of the awful industry practices common to debt collectors (buying defaulted debt and collecting the proceeds for themselves; collecting defaulted debt owned by another company in return for a fee; using company attorneys to collect through litigation; threatening people, etc).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. 

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