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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Unconscionable Attempt to Fake Court Procedures Blocked
2010-11-06
This is hard to believe, but from the website of the AG of Pennsylvania:
HARRISBURG - Attorney General Tom Corbett today announced that a consumer protection lawsuit has been filed against an Erie debt collection company accused of using deceptive tactics to mislead, confuse or coerce consumers - including the use of bogus "hearings" allegedly held in a company office that was decorated to look like a courtroom. "This is an unconscionable attempt to use fake court proceedings to deceive, mislead or frighten consumers into making payments or surrendering valuables to Unicredit without following lawful procedures for debt collection," Corbett said. "Consumers also allegedly received dubious 'hearing notices' and letters - often hand-delivered by individuals who appear to be Sheriff Deputies - which implied they would be taken into custody by the Sheriff if they failed to appear at the phony court for 'hearings' or 'depositions'."
Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418

#2  ...Okay - let me point a few things out here.

First - having worked in the loan industry for a few years, you learn something VERY quickly: at a minimum, about half of the people who walk in the door have no intention of ever paying back a dime, because they know that most judges will never find them liable, even if it goes to court. Even with overwhelming evidence and written statements from the debtor that they were refusing to pay even though they had the ability to do so, the judges here refused to order a judgment against the debtors about 80% of the time. Doesn't excuse what these folks pulled, but bear with me.

Now, second: the rules under which loan companies can collect loans are VERY specific - they don't leave a lot of leeway. So whatever these folks did, I guarantee they met the absolute letter of the law - so much so, that the State AG, who has some very broad powers, was unable to actually arrest anyone. And that, I might point out, was after what must have been a pretty serious effort to do so. That means that no one ever, ever said that they were anything they weren't, or at least not that the AGs office could prove. However, the debtors - often not the sharpest knives in the drawer in the first place - drew their own conclusions and behaved accordingly, especially if they believed that the system that normally never rules against them was about to do so.

Third, and really keep this one in mind: this had to have cost a lot of money to keep going as long as it did...so clearly it was bringing in enough money to pay for all of it and still make a profit. The part about 'surrendering valuables' is interesting as well, insofar as that in every state of the Union, when you sign something over as collateral, only a court can make you hand it over - but the lender has every right in the world to ASK you to turn it over...or demand to see it upon request. You don't have to if you don't want to; that's very true. OTOH, if you don't have it - and haven't replaced it in the loan agreement with an item of similar value - it's fraud. Doesn't get prosecuted very often, but nevertheless, it's there.

Smarmy and sneaky? HELL yes. Questionable? At best, and that's putting it mildly.

Legal? Almost certainly. And there's loan offices across the country right now trying to figure out where these guys went wrong so they can do it right.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2010-11-06 20:37  

#1  So the AG has sued suspects, but has arrested none. Apparently there are no laws in Penn. against impersonating court officers.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2010-11-06 14:07  

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