Sunday, July 18, 2010
Cohen & Slamowitz, a New York law firm that specializes in debt collection, preys upon a system of consumer debts described by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as broken and in need of reform. Although it has only 14 lawyers, Cohen & Slamowitz manages to file about 80,000 lawsuits a year (or an average of 220 a day) against Americans who have fallen behind on their loan or credit card payments.
Cohen & Slamowitz manages such a high volume of civil actions through computer software that helps prepare court cases. But many of those cases rely on inaccurate or incomplete information about the debtor or the amount owed, critics contend.
To help begin fixing the consumer debt system, the FTC is proposing “that states require collectors to include more information about debts in their lawsuits, including a breakdown of the current balance by principal, interest and fees, and the relevant terms of the original credit contract, if not the contract itself,” reports The New York Times.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Automated Debt-Collection Lawsuits Engulf Courts (by Andrew Martin, New York Times)
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