| Volume 130 Number 9 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
After 7 years, most debts become obsolete and are no longer reported on your credit report. A debt cannot be “re-age” and placed back on your credit report even if it is sold to a new collector. The threat to put something “back on your report,” also violates federal law. Know your rights when it comes to dealing with a debt collector. Click here for more.
Volkswagen to Pay Additional $1 Billion for Emissions Scandal
Volkswagen agreed on Tuesday to buy back or fix the remaining diesel cars involved in its emissions scandal, at an estimated cost of about $1 billion, in what has become one of the United States’ largest consumer class-action settlements ever. The settlement involves vehicles that were not included in Volkswagen’s June settlement involving 475,000 of its vehicles. Last year Volkswagen admitted it had fitted 11 million cars with illegal software that made the vehicles capable of defeating pollution tests. Click here for more.
Your Money
Big name stores have rolled out special deferred interest financing offers to encourage shoppers to buy expensive home electronics, appliances or other big-ticket items. But be careful of what no interest actually means. Miss a payment, make a late payment or have an unpaid balance — no matter how small — at the end of the promotional period, and you'll get hit with retroactive finance charges back to the original purchase date for the entire purchase price — even what's been paid off. It's as if the zero percent interest rate promotion never existed. And that deferred interest rate is usually sky high at an average interest rate of 24 percent, but can go as high as 29.99 percent. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Eighteen phone calls did not violate FDCPA. The U.S. District Court of New Jersey ruled that 18 telephone calls to a consumer over a two-week period – of which 17 were unanswered, and the last where the consumer hung up – did not violate the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The Court found that the debt collector’s calls were neither excessive nor harassing, as the calls were limited to no more than three times in one day, between regular business hours, only one call resulted in actual contact, the representative was polite, and the debt collector immediately ceased communications once requested. Chisholm v. AFNI, Inc. (D.N.J 2016). Click here for more.