Law Offices of Brandon A. Block

In Gonzales v. Arrow Financial Services, LLC, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal confirmed that a debt collector’s letter suggesting that debts might be reported to credit reporting agencies violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, if the debts are too old to legally be reported. In Gonzales, Arrow purchased a portfolio of debts owed [...]

A statute of limitations is the time period during which someone can be sued for a legal violation. In California, the statute of limitations for being sued for a breach of contract (the most common claim in debt collection) generally is four years. If the debt is older than four years from the date of [...]

If a debt collector does not have the prior consent of the consumer or the express permission of a court, or the communication is not reasonably necessary to collect on a judgment, a debt collector cannot communicate with the consumer’s friends or family more than one time, for the very limited purpose of obtaining the consumer’s [...]

I was recently interviewed by Gerri Detweiler for an article on credit.com regarding collection calls for someone else. I hope you enjoy the article, which I believe is informative and timely in light of the continued increase in automation of debt collection communications and bulk sales of consumer debts. Please feel free to contact us [...]

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal has affirmed the rights of consumers to sue law firms for violations of the fair debt collection laws and other claims when the law firm sues a consumer on a debt even though it is aware of a potential statute of limitations issue. The Court of Appeal held that [...]

The answer is, yes, but there are several critical limitations on a debt collector’s right to contact your employer: 1. A collector may contact your employer only: (a) to verify your employment; (b) to locate you; (c) to garnish your wages (assuming there is a right to do so); or (d) to discover the existence [...]