by Carol Lawson Esq | Sep 9, 2015 | Consumer Credit
When creditors or debt collectors are attempting to collect a past-due debt. You may receive debt collection calls and voicemails in their attempts to collect a debt. There are several rules, that must be strictly followed if the creditor or debt collector is going to comply with both state (“FCCPA”) and federal (“FDCPA”) law.
Many creditor and debt collectors use technology (i.e., computers or software) to place these debt collection calls. Automatic Telephone Dialing Systems (ATDS) and Predictive Telephone Dialing Systems (PTDS) are used to place calls repeatedly to consumers until a call is answered. This can mean that you are receiving calls dozens if not hundreds of times a month until a creditor or debt collector reaches you and secure payment. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) 47 U.S.C. Section 227, restricts telephone solicitations (i.e., telemarketing) and the use of ATDS, and PTDS from placing or making telephone calls to consumers cellular telephones, as well as the use of prerecorded voice messages, SMS text messages, and fax machines, in certain circumstances.
Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), creditors are strictly prohibited from behaving in a way that can be classified as harassing. This includes calling debtors at all hours of the night, using offensive language, persistently communicating with a debtor at their place of work after being asked to desist and misrepresenting facts in any way.
If you have notified a creditor or debt collector that you have hired an attorney for representation regarding your debts, the debt collector cannot call you to collect the debt. If it does, it is violating both the FCCPA and the FDCPA. You could be entitled to up to $2,000.00 statutory damages plus reasonable attorney fees and costs. If you have suffered from the abuse of a harassing creditor, you may have rights. Have the following taken place:
- Creditor/Debt Collector has notice of attorney representation regarding the debt;
- Creditor/Debt Collector Calls your cell phone in an attempt to collect the debt and has been told not to;
- Creditor/Debt Collector uses an Automatic Telephone Dialing System,
If a creditor or debt collector leaves a voicemail on your answering machine or cell phone, never delete it! It is evidence that could assist you in proving a violation of consumer protection laws and getting potentially thousands of dollars in damages, you could be entitled to up to $1,500.00 per call. Specifically note if the call was made to your cell phone, what your cell phone number is, and why you think the call was placed using an automatic telephone dialing system, also make note of the details of when the call was received, to what phone, etc.
Revoking Consent
To revoke any consent Associated Recovery Systems or its affiliated entities have to contact you in an attempt to collect any debt owed to them, including revoking consent to use an automatic telephone dialing system to call your cellular telephone, please either:
- Tell them you have hired LAW OFFICE OF CAROL A. LAWSON, to represent you, give them our contact information and then use the Creditor Communications Log to capture information regarding debt collection calls;
- Send them a Cease & Desist Letter; or contact the creditor/debt collector and revoke consent with the creditor via their website or telephone.
Clearwater Bankruptcy, 28870 U.S. Hwy 19 #300, Hodusa Towers, Clearwater, FL 33761,
Phone: (727) 330-1627 email: calh@gate.net
by Carol Lawson Esq | Aug 30, 2015 | Consumer Credit
What you Need to Know:
Callers cannot avoid obtaining consumer consent for a robocall simply because they are not ‘currently’ or ‘presently’ dialing random or sequential phone numbers.”
2. A called party “may revoke consent at any time and through any reasonable means.”
The FCC states that “a called party may revoke consent at any time and through any reasonable means. A caller may not limit the manner in which revocation may occur.”
The FCC also emphasized that “regardless of the means by which a caller obtains consent, under longstanding [FCC] precedent, if any question arises as to whether prior express consent was provided by a call recipient, the burden is on the caller to prove that it obtained the necessary prior express consent.”
3. Consent must be specific to the type of call, and type of telephone service of the number being dialed.
4. Only “the consumer assigned the telephone number dialed and billed for the call” or “the non-subscriber customary user of a telephone number included in a family or business calling plan” may consent.
However, “providing one’s phone number evidences prior express consent to be called at that number, absent instructions to the contrary.”—I got a real problem with this part. Just because I give Google my phone number and post it on my webpage does not mean I consent for business to call and solicit me. I really hate the Google partner calls wanting to do my ads or SEO. Wonder if this counts as an expressed revocation of acceptance of solicitation calls under TCPA ???
5. “Callers are liable for robocalls to reassigned wireless numbers when the current subscriber to or customary user of the number has not consented, subject to a limited, one-call exception for cases in which the caller does not have actual or constructive knowledge of the reassignment.”
6. The FCC rejected one Petitioner’s arguments (subsequently withdrawn) that “the TCPA’s protections are limited to telemarketing calls to wireless numbers and should not require consent for non-telemarketing robocalls made with a predictive dialer.”
7. “The TCPA’s consent requirement applies to short message service text messages (“SMS” or “text message”),” as well as “internet to phone text messages,” in addition to voice calls.
8. The FCC’s 2012 “prior express written consent” rule is waived “for certain parties for a limited period of time to allow them to obtain updated consent.”
9. “'[O]n demand’ text messages sent in response to a consumer request are not subject to TCPA liability.”
10. “[C]ertain free, pro-consumer financial- and healthcare-related messages” are exempt “from the consumer-consent requirement, subject to strict conditions and limitations to protect consumer privacy.”
The FCC imposed the following restrictions and requirements regarding these messages:
“voice calls and text messages must be sent, if at all, only to the wireless telephone number provided by the customer of the financial institution;
voice calls and text messages must state the name and contact information of the financial institution (for voice calls, these disclosures must be made at the beginning of the call);
voice calls and text messages are strictly limited to the [specified purposes] and must not include any telemarketing, cross-marketing, solicitation, debt collection, or advertising content;
voice calls and text messages must be concise, generally one minute or less in length for voice calls (unless more time is needed to obtain customer responses or answer customer questions) and 160 characters or less in length for text messages;
a financial institution may initiate no more than three messages (whether by voice call or text message) per event over a three-day period for an affected account;
a financial institution must offer recipients within each message an easy means to opt out of future such messages, voice calls that could be answered by a live person must include an automated, interactive voice- and/or keypress-activated opt-out mechanism that enables the call recipient to make an opt-out request prior to terminating the call, voice calls that could be answered by an answering machine or voice mail service must include a toll-free number that the consumer can call to opt out of future calls, text messages must inform recipients of the ability to opt out by replying ‘STOP,’ which will be the exclusive means by which consumers may opt out of such messages; and
a financial institution must honor opt-out requests immediately.”
The FCC also adopted the following conditions for each exempted message made by or on behalf of a healthcare provider:
voice calls and text messages must be sent, if at all, only to the wireless telephone number provided by the patient;
voice calls and text messages must state the name and contact information of the healthcare provider (for voice calls, these disclosures would need to be made at the beginning of the call);
voice calls and text messages are strictly limited to [certain specific healthcare-related purposes]; must not include any telemarketing, solicitation, or advertising; may not include accounting, billing, debt-collection, or other financial content; and must comply with HIPAA privacy rules;
voice calls and text messages must be concise, generally one minute or less in length for voice calls and 160 characters or less in length for text messages;
a healthcare provider may initiate only one message (whether by voice call or text message) per day, up to a maximum of three voice calls or text messages combined per week from a specific healthcare provider;
a healthcare provider must offer recipients within each message an easy means to opt out of future such messages, voice calls that could be answered by a live person must include an automated, interactive voice- and/or keypress-activated opt-out mechanism that enables the call recipient to make an opt-out request prior to terminating the call, voice calls that could be answered by an answering machine or voice mail service must include a toll-free number that the consumer can call to opt out of future healthcare calls, text messages must inform recipients of the ability to opt out by replying ‘STOP,’ which will be the exclusive means by which consumers may opt out of such messages; and
a healthcare provider must honor the opt-out requests immediately.”
https://www.fcc.gov/document/tcpa-omnibus-declaratory-ruling-and-order-order
If your right have been violated contact our office to discuss the matter.
Clearwater Bankruptcy, 28870 U.S. Hwy 19 #300, Hodusa Towers, Clearwater, FL 33761,
Phone: (727) 330-1627 email: calh@gate.net
by Carol Lawson Esq | Jul 2, 2015 | Consumer Credit, Uncategorized
Holding: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Section 36B’s tax credits are available to individuals who purchase health insurance on an exchange created by the federal government. http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/king-v-burwell/
Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Roberts, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined. Scalia, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Thomas and Alito, JJ., joined.
In the case of an applicable taxpayer, there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle for any taxable year an amount equal to the premium assistance credit amount of the taxpayer for the taxable year.
(2) (a) the monthly premiums for such month for 1 or more qualified health plans offered in the individual market within a State which cover the taxpayer, the taxpayer’s spouse, or any dependent (as defined in section 152) of the taxpayer and which were enrolled in through an Exchange established by the State under 1311 [1] of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, […] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_v._Burwell
What this means to you. You may keep the subsidies you receive for the insurance the government is forcing you to carry.
Clearwater Bankruptcy, 28870 U.S. Hwy 19 #300, Hodusa Towers, Clearwater, FL 33761,
Phone: (727) 330-1627 email: calh@gate.net
by Carol Lawson Esq | May 3, 2015 | Consumer Credit, Florida Foreclosures, Foreclosure, Loan Modification
Morejon v. F&M Real Estate, Inc., et. al., 40 Fla. L. Weekly D823a (Fla. 2n DCA April 8, 2015). Unless a borrower voluntarily agrees to produce financial documents in advance of a mediation to allow a lender to evaluate possible mortgage options or options to foreclosure, court-ordered foreclosure mediations may become futile. The 13th Judicial Circuit’s interlocutory order requiring borrowers to produce private financial records for court-ordered mediation, based upon their Uniform Order of Referral to Foreclosure Mediation which requires that the borrower provide a completed financial disclosure form and any additional documentation requested by the plaintiff at least 30 days prior to the scheduled mediation was quashed by the 2nd DCA.
Clearwater Bankruptcy, 28870 U.S. Hwy 19 #300, Hodusa Towers, Clearwater, FL 33761,
Phone: (727) 330-1627 email: calh@gate.net
by Carol Lawson Esq | May 3, 2015 | Bankruptcy, Consumer Credit
In Donaldson v. LVNV Funding, LLC, Civil Action No. 1:14-cv-01979-LJM-TAB (S.D. Ind. Apr. 7, 2015) and Torres v. Asset Acceptance, LLC, Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-6542-ER (E.D. Pa. Apr. 7, 2015), the debt collectors filed proofs of claim in the plaintiffs’ Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases. The Debtors filed lawsuits under the FDCPA alleging that filing the proofs of claim violated the FDCPA by making false representations of the character, amount, or legal status of the debt, by threatening to take action that cannot legally be taken, by using false representations or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect the debts, and by using unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect the debts. The Southern District of Indiana and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted the creditors Motion to Dismiss in both cases, declining to follow the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in Crawford v. LVNV Funding, LLC, 758 F.3d 1254 (11th Cir. 2014). The 11th circuit found that the POC violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA” 1257 or “Act”). 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692-1692p (2006).
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15631228362360253615&q=Crawford+v.+LVNV+Funding,+LLC,++758+F.3d+1254+(11th+Cir.+2014)&hl=en&as_sdt=40006
Clearwater Bankruptcy, 28870 U.S. Hwy 19 #300, Hodusa Towers, Clearwater, FL 33761,
Phone: (727) 330-1627 email: calh@gate.net
