Collector Abuse Lawsuits Stem New Businesses
The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act protects consumers from debt collector abuse. If a consumer feels that they are a victim of collector harassment or abuse, they can file a lawsuit and be rewarded damages. Over the last several years, the number of cases brought by consumers each year has been growing in exponential proportions according to many in the industry.
The extreme number of cases has driven many litigation-weary debt collection firms to seek protection of their own stemming two new companies: FDCPA Case Listing Service LLC and WebRecon LLCs FDCPA Litigant Alert.
Both companies have developed search tools which search cases looking for those that mention the FDCPA or the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The software then groups the information pertaining to those cases and delivers it to the subscribing debt collection firm.
With this information the accounts receivables firms have the names of consumers and attorneys who bring FDCPA cases and can see those that have filed multiple FDCPA cases. With this information, the debt collection firm can proactively remove those consumers from their list and avoid any potential lawsuit as a result.
Since a single FDCPA lawsuit can cost a debt collector thousands of dollars in damages, subscribing to a service such as these can potentially “pay for itself” and debt collectors are subscribing quickly for just that reason.
