• Consumer Protection Law and Advocacy — Chicago, IL

Recognizing Our Military And Protecting Service Members

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Military Consumer Month kicks off this July at the Federal Trade Commission:

“Empowering servicemembers, veterans, and their families is a top priority,” Chairman Joe Simons said. “During Military Consumer Month, we will highlight the agency’s resources to help the military community avoid imposter scams – but our work on behalf of those who serve continues throughout the year.”

Service members and their dependents have special rights relating to consumer debt issues.  The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act should ease financial burdens during military service and covers full-time active duty members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.  The Act also covers reservists on federal active duty and National Guard members under orders for more than 30 days.  Servicemembers lawfully absent from duty are also protected.

The Act’s benefits include:

  • A 6% interest cap on debt owed before joining the military (credit card, auto loan or mortgage)
  • Protection against entry of default judgments by creditors
  • No repossessions without a court order
  • Extra options for lease terminations

To learn more about the Act, visit the Department of Justice’s website at https://www.justice.gov/servicemembers/servicemembers-veterans-and-military-family-members.

National Consumer Law Center - Bardo Law PC

Consumer Rights Litigation Conference

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Stacy Bardo will speak at NCLC’s annual Consumer Rights Litigation Conference.  This year, Stacy is honored to present with attorneys Anna Prakash of Nichols Kaster, PLLP and Vildan Teske of Teske Katz Kitzer &  Rochel, PLLP to discuss discovery issues commonly facing litigators.  In 2015, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended to add proportionality requirements and new sanctions remedies but how have those amendments played out in practice?  Stacy looks forward to a spirited discussion of the challenges facing consumer plaintiffs in the discovery process.

Practising Law Institute – Representing the Consumer

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Stacy Bardo will be in San Francisco to help train other attorneys on representing consumer clients.

Why You Should Attend
Volunteer lawyers are needed to help the many low income clients facing a wide assortment of consumer law matters who are unrepresented.  Attend this program to learn the basics of consumer law so that you can competently represent a client in need and learn new advocacy skills. 

What You Will Learn
• Introduction to Fair Credit Reporting Act
• Overview of State and Federal Restraints on Debt Collection
• A Primer on Automobile Fraud
• Representing the Unsecured Debtor
• Mortgage Servicer Litigation
• Assisting Student Loan Borrowers
• Developing a Working Relationship with Legal Services Organizations

 

 

Do I have rights as a homeowner - Chicago Law - Bardo Law PC

Banks Continue Abusing Homeowners In Foreclosure

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Ten years after the foreclosure crisis, banks continue to abuse homeowners in foreclosure.  During foreclosure, homeowners and rightful tenants may legally occupy foreclosed property.  Many times, the homeowner has requested a loan modification or is actively defending a foreclosure proceeding.  In fact, Illinois law requires banks  to tell consumers how much time they have to live in a home before they may have to move.  Back in 2015, the Illinois Attorney General took action (http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/pressroom/2015_06/20150603.html) but the same violations continue three years later.

Bardo Law continues to receive calls from consumers illegally displaced from their homes.  Using a provision in the mortgage contract, banks claim they have the right to “protect” vacant or abandoned homes.

But often, the banks are prematurely evicting homeowners — changing locks, turning off water, and beginning demolition work.  Some of our clients come home from work to find they can’t enter their homes.  In some cases, their personal belongings are missing or damaged.

The firm has successfully brought multiple cases against several banks and their property contractors for this illegal conduct.

Most recently, Bardo Law secured victory on two separate motions to dismiss filed by defendants in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.  If you have been victimized by wrongful conduct while you are in foreclosure and would like to pursue legal action, call us for an intake appointment.

 

 

PLI’s 23rd Annual Consumer Financial Services Institute

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Cutting-Edge Updates From the Consumer Financial Services Trenches

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently celebrated its sixth anniversary and the consumer financial services industry is working to keep pace with the CFPB’s extraordinary number of regulatory and enforcement initiatives. At the same time, other federal and state regulators and attorneys general are ramping up their activity and threatening to fill any void if the successor to CFPB Director Cordray is less aggressive in pursuing enforcement. Also, the volume of private litigation, including class actions, remains high.

 2018 will mark the 23rd year of this exceptional program. This year, we will focus on a broad array of recent regulatory, enforcement and litigation issues relating to mortgages; auto finance; credit, debit and prepaid cards; marketplace lending and Fintech; deposit accounts; student loans; and other products and services. We will also focus on new developments pertaining to fair lending, and the TCPA, FDCPA, FCRA, Military Lending Act and SCRA. Join us and our esteemed faculty for an insightful review of this dynamic area of legal practice.

 All professionals involved in consumer financial services, including lawyers, legal and compliance professionals, bankers, lenders, debt collectors, credit bureaus, consumer advocates and professors, will gain many practical takeaways from this program.

On Day 2 of the Conference, Stacy Bardo will present on two panels:

Representing Consumers in a Trump World: Plaintiffs’ Perspective

  • Challenging arbitration clauses after repeal of the CFPB rule
  • Tribal payday lending litigation update
  • Student lending: regulatory and litigation update
  • State court litigation trends in light of Spokeo and BMS

Speakers: Stacy M. Bardo, F. Paul Bland, Jr., Deepak Gupta

 What’s Trending Now:  Cutting Edge Consumer Financial Services Updates

  • Supreme Court decisions and trends
  • Choosing where to sue or settle in the wake of Bristol Myers Squibb
  • Using injunctive relief to create change; the impact of Davidson v. Kimberly-Clark
  • Litigation and settlement trends in data breach and TCPA litigation

Speakers: Stacy M. Bardo, F. Paul Bland, Jr., Deepak Gupta

Tax Scams Continue to Harm Consumers

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Tax scams continue as this year’s tax filing deadline looms.  Just today, the Illinois Attorney General announced a lawsuit against a Chicago-area tax preparation service for fraud.  Costly fees were deducted from consumers’ anticipated tax refunds without their knowledge, as set forth in the office’s press release describing the tax scams:

http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/pressroom/2018_02/20180227.html

“To disguise the undisclosed fees that the company takes from consumers’ tax refunds, Madigan alleges Su Familia gave customers fake tax returns showing a lesser tax refund amount. When consumers have discovered this inconsistency and confronted Su Familia, the company has threatened to initiate legal action against the consumers. As a result, customers, many of whom are low-income, do not receive their full tax refund.”

So, what can you watch out for to avoid falling for a tax scam?

(1) Beware of immediate refunds because those often end up being high cost loans.

(2) Ask for upfront disclosure of all fees.

(3) Don’t sign an arbitration agreement.  Before you agree to hire the tax preparer, explain you want to opt out of arbitration so you don’t give up your right to sue.

(4) Be careful of online contractual provisions.  Don’t sign an agreement electronically until you’ve seen the full contract printed out and given to you in a form you can keep.

There are helpful resources online for consumers.  The Center for Economic Progress (http://www.economicprogress.org/) has some tax preparation tips and provides free tax help for certain qualifying individuals and families.

Don’t rush this process to ensure a quick refund.  More than likely, a quick refund means you’re losing money you would otherwise be potentially able to obtain.

FDCPA Conference Training for Litigators

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Debt Collectors’ Defensive Strategies Part 2 –
This session will look at the following legal arguments debt collectors may raise in response to
FDCPA lawsuits: standing (Spokeo), materiality, Rooker-Feldman, claim and issue preclusion.
Stacy Bardo (Bardo Law, P.C.) and Brian Bromberg (Bromberg Law Office, P.C.) are the panelists.

Debt Collector Calls - Bardo Law PC

Beware of Phantom Debt Collectors

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Phantom debt collectors — they’re scam artists who make up debts to gain access to your bank account information.  They’ll call often, and may even tell you that someone is trying to serve you with court papers.  They may call from what appears to be a local number so you are more likely to pick up the phone.  The collector may have personal information about you, such as your spouse’s name, your address or your employer.  You’re scared, so what do you do?

First, write down the number calling you.  Ask what company the collector is calling from.  If the collector won’t identify him or herself, hang up.  If the collector does provide information, ask that the agency send you a letter describing the debt.

All legitimate collection agencies attempting to collect “consumer” debts (those incurred for personal, family or household purchases) must provide you with a letter describing the amount of the debt and where it is from.

Next, file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”).  The CFPB has an online complaint portal, available at https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/.  You can also call (855) 411-2372 for more information.  While the CFPB may not be able to locate the phantom debt collectors, lodging a complaint may help others avoid problems.  That’s because the CFPB will:

  • Forward your complaint to the appropriate company for a response
  • Share complaint data with other state and federal agencies
  • File a case if there are enough complaints against a particular company
  • Make complaints available to the public as a resource guide to avoid scammers (without personally identifying you)

You can search the CFPB’s Consumer Complaint Database at https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/consumer-complaints/.  Check to see if the company calling you is listed.

Finally, end the call and don’t provide any additional information about yourself.  If the collector is legitimate, the agency will send a letter in the mail describing the debt you owe.  You can also contact your local Clerk of Court to confirm that no case has been filed against you.

If you need more help and want to contact an attorney, keep a list of the calls you’ve received.  The attorney should be able to help determine if the call was legitimate.

Roundtable Moderator – FDCPA Developments

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Stacy Bardo, along with a panel of other experienced FDCPA practitioners, will host a roundtable discussion at the annual Consumer Rights Litigation Conference.  This year, the Conference will proudly welcome plenary speakers Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia).

Robocalls Continue To Harass Consumers

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Robocalls continue at record rates. Between January and August of this year alone, the Federal Trade Commission received over 3.5 million consumer complaints about these disruptive (and often, deceptive) calls.  This is more than the 3.4 million complaints registered for all of 2016.

Robocalls impact everyone, even those registered for the Do Not Call list. In June, a federal judge approved a $280 million dollar penalty against Dish Network for its calling practices but this hasn’t stopped industry from doubling down:

Illegal robocalls are more than just a frustrating invasion of consumers’ privacy, according to the testimony, as callers frequently use fraud and deception to pitch their goods and services, leading to significant economic harm. Such robocalls also are often used by criminal imposters posing as trusted officials or companies.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/10/ftc-testifies-us-senate-special-committee-aging-continuing-fight.

Worse, many consumers report that the calls they receive look to be from a local number. They answer the call, thinking it must be a family member or friend. But instead, the call is from a scammer or marketer, using a practice called “spoofing.” Even following the recent hurricanes, fraudsters have used using caller ID spoofing and robocall technology to target residents of areas hit by the storms with scam calls about flood insurance.

So what can you do? First, never give out personal information over the phone or agree to any payment until you have independently verified the call is legitimate, reviewed online information about the company calling or requested confirmation in writing be mailed to you BEFORE you agree to sign up for any service or payment.

Next, keep track of the numbers that call you. Take screenshots or write down the dates and times of each call. Keep your incoming call logs that may appear on your monthly phone bills because, if you eventually want to take legal action, you will need evidence of call frequency.

And finally, remember you have the right to opt-out of future calls. Tell the caller to remove you from the company list, respond to unsolicited text messages with a “STOP,” and limit the places to which you provide your phone number in the first place.