Creditor Harassment Dunaway Attorneys at Law Birmingham Alabama

Debt Collection

Alabama Collection Lawsuits for Old Cell Phone Bills Favor Consumers
Posted by: Matthew Dunaway
March 04, 2008

Debt collectors regularly file collection lawsuits against Alabama consumers to collect on old cell phone bills. Many consumers are not aware that the statute of limitations on cell phone bills is two years. There is a great blog post at AlabamaConsumerLawBlog that describes this is detail. If you have been sued for an old cell phone bill, call or email me to discuss your options in defending the lawsuit and possibly suing the debt collector.

Zombie Debt Collectors Harass Alabama Consumers
Posted by: Matthew Dunaway
February 19, 2008

Zombie debts are very old debts that have been purchased by debt buyers from original creditors, or in many instances, from other debt buyers. Debt collctors will commonly attempt to collect zombie debts ten or more years after the initial default. Consumers harassed by debt collectors collecting on zombie debts should fight back. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and many state laws give a number of protections to consumers.

Creditor Harassment in Alabama to increase due to Debt Buyers filing more lawsuits in Birmingham and elsewhere
Posted by: Matthew Dunaway
August 02, 2007

The debt buying industry has grown dramatically over the last few years, to become a multi-billion dollar industry and the new "darling" of Wall Street and private equity firms. Debt Buyers are companies that buy defaulted debt from original creditors or other debt buyers. The original creditor will charge off a debt (usually after 180 days of non-payment) and sell the account to a debt buyer; usually for pennies on the dollar. The debt buyer will then legally own the debt and begin collection efforts.

Although this has been going on for years, few consumers understand how this works. Upon receiving a collection notice from a debt buyer, the consumer will thrown the notice away, not realizing that the debt buyer purchased the debt from the original creditor. Often these attempts to collect the debt will happen years after the original debt was charged-off.

Collection efforts will include phone calls to home, work, family members and neighbors, an endless supply of collection letters, negative reporting on credit reports, and in some cases, lawsuits filed by the debt buyer against the consumer.

Matthew A. Dunaway, Dunaway Attorneys at Law, representing consumers throughout Alabama including Birmingham, Mobile, Dothan, Selma Auburn, Montgomery, Cullman, Anniston, Gadsden, Huntsville, Florence, Decatur.