| Volume 131 Number 8 |
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Forward this news alert to your family and friends
Helpful Links
Texas Consumer Complaint Center
Credit Reports and Identity Theft
Your Guide to Small Claims Court
Contact Us
1-713-743-2168
The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
If you're a Netflix customer, watch out for the latest email scam that compromises your personal information. There's an email going around that looks to be from Netflix, but it is not from Netflix. This email asks subscribers to update their information, including credit card and social security numbers. Click here for more.
Cruise Line Settles Claim for Illegally Using Robocalls to Sell Vacation Packages
Caribbean Cruise Line and its two co-defendants, Vacation Ownership Marketing Tours and The Berkeley Group, have agreed to pay up to $76 million to settle a class action lawsuit that claimed they made millions of unwanted and illegal robocalls between August 2011 and August 2012. The companies allegedly used telemarketing robocalls to offer free cruises for taking a short survey. The survey was just a smokescreen for a sales pitch in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. More than a million people may be eligible for $500 per each call they received. Anyone who can prove they received a phone call has until February 1st to file a claim in order to be included in the settlement. Click here for more.
Your Money
When you're living paycheck to paycheck, the idea of building an emergency fund might seems impossible. After all, experts recommend having three to six month's worth of living expenses in a savings account. The key to kicking off your savings strategy is to simply automate the deposits into a savings account, no matter how small. Funding a $750 savings account doesn't just fortify your financial safety net, it teaches you the skills needed to fully fund an emergency savings account, save for long-term financial goals and meet other money milestones. Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Sending 1099-A form does not violate Bankruptcy Discharge injunction. The First Circuit recently affirmed a bankruptcy court’s ruling that a mortgagee did not violate the discharge injunction in 11 U.S.C. § 524(a) by sending IRS 1099-A forms to borrowers after their discharge. The court found that the IRS forms were not objectively coercive attempts to collect a debt. Bates v. CitiMortgage, Inc (1st Cir. 2016). Click here for more.