By: Robert J. Nahoum THE PROBLEM You just heard from your landlord and he tells you the rent check bounced; or maybe you swipe your debit card at the grocery store cash register and the cashier tells you your card has been rejected. Turns out, your bank account has been frozen due a debt collection judgment! In New York, the […]
Can a Debt Collector Freeze My Direct Deposit?
What is a Credit Card Charge Off?
By: Robert J. Nahoum THE PROBLEM: You’ve come home to find legal papers taped to your door. A closer look reveals that the legal papers are a debt collection summons and complaint – you are being sued you for an old debt.  You are terribly confused because you know this debt has been charged off by the bank years before. […]
How to Tell the Legitimate Debt Collectors from the Frauds
By: Robert J. Nahoum Anyone who has ever dealt with a debt collectors knows how invasive and annoying they can be. The phone rings incessantly and the letters in the mail never seem to stop. Sometimes debt collectors cross the line between aggressive debt collection and harassment. When they do cross that line, Federal consumer protection laws step in to […]
What is the New York Exempt Income Protection Act?
By: Robert J. Nahoum A debt collector with a New York state court judgment has a powerful tool at its disposal to enforce the judgment and collect money from the judgment debtor called a restraining notice. A restraining notice is a judgment enforcement device that restrains anyone holding property of the judgment debtor from releasing that property. The most common […]
City of Yonkers Adopts New Debt Collection Requirements
By: Robert J. Nahoum The City of Yonkers has amended its Consumer Protection Code by adding new protections for consumers from whom a debt is being collected from a debt collection agency. The new rules expand the definition of the term “debt collection agency†to specifically include active and passive buyers of delinquent debts.  However, the definition also expressly excludes […]
Debt You Thought You Paid Off Through Debt Settlement
By: Robert J. Nahoum THE PROBLEM: I have written before about debt settlement and how it works. To be clear, I am no fan of debt settlement and think that it is generally a bad idea for any consumer. In my opinion, the better mechanism for dealing with debt is usually a chapter 7 bankruptcy. A common problem we see […]
NY Attorney General Settles with Debt Buyer Asta Funding, Parent Co. of Palisades Collection
By: Robert J. Nahoum New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that his office reached a settlement with Asta Funding, Inc., one of the nation’s largest debt buyers and the parent company of Palisades Collection, LLC and Palisades Acquisition XVI, LLC. Under the terms of the settlement, Asta will vacate $1.7 million in judgments and pay a $100,000 in […]
Are Debt Settlement Companies Against The Law In New York?
By: Robert J. Nahoum THE PROBLEM: Being overwhelmed by debt is an all too common occurrence. You lost your job, your hours got cut or maybe you just got behind on bills, whatever led you to this point, your debt has become more than you can handle. These days we are inundated with advertisements for debt settlement – we hear […]
What Does it Mean to be “Sent to Collections”?
By: Robert J. Nahoum I have often heard consumers tell me that they have been “sent to collections†or that a creditor has threatened that if a payment is not made, he or she will be “sent to collectionsâ€?  I think at one time or another we’ve all heard this threat but what exactly does it mean? What happens at […]
Bock v. Pressler & Pressler – 4 Seconds is Not Meaningful Attorney Review
By: Robert J. Nahoum Federal debt collection laws known as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA for short) protects consumers from unscrupulous debt collectors. The FDCPA establishes a general prohibition against the use of “false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt.” The various subsections of the FDCPA, sixteen in total, provide […]