| Volume 108 Number 7 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Are over-eager salespeople still calling you? Maybe you signed up for the National Do Not Call List, but did you know that Texas has it's own Do Not Call List? Click here for a link that can take you to both lists and hopefully cut down on those calls. Click here for more.
Facebook Faces Class Action
A US District Court Judge has ruled that Facebook must face a US class action case seeking to force it to provide refunds when children spent their parent's money on the service without their parent’s permission. The service which allowed this, Facebook Credits, was discontinued in 2013, but people whose children made unauthorized purchases before that time may see relief. Click here for more.
Your Money
While many are aware of shady debt collection practices, most would be shocked to discover that some governments are employing debt collectors to recover money owed the government. Even worse, in some cases these debt collectors abuse the powers given them by these governments. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Online payments must be credited the day the consumer authorizes them. The seventh Circuit looked at whether a payment made directly through the creditor must be credited at the time of the consumer’s authorization or when received. The court noted that, “When a consumer interacts directly with a mortgage servicer (such as by delivering a check, personally paying by telephone, or filling out an electronic authorization form on a servicer’s website), it is the servicer that decides how quickly to collect that payment through the banking system. The servicer is in control of the timing, and without the directive to credit the payment instrument when it reaches the servicer, the servicer could decide to collect payment through a slower method in order to rack up late fees.” The court held that that an electronic authorization for a mortgage payment entered on the mortgage servicer’s website is a “payment instrument or other means of payment,” and TILA requires mortgage services to credit these authorizations when they “reach the mortgage servicer.” Fridman v. NYCB Mortgage Co. LLC, No. 14-2220 (7th Cir. 2015) Click here for more.