Consumer Rights Talk - Northeast Law Group, LLC*

On the show today is Mike Landis, the litigation director of U.S. PIRG the Public Interest Research Group. What makes Mike particularly special is the diversity of his experience and depth of his resume at such a young age. Considering the fact that Mike is in his mid 30’s the list is impressive and includes two years volunteering in Honduras with the Peace Corps, a dual JD and Masters degree in international political economy and development, a state appellate court clerkship, a federal district court clerkship, two and a half years as a litigation associate at a large New Jersey law firm, and then of course, his current role as litigation director of PIRG. At PIRG, Mike’s job involves taking a macro view of issues facing the general public, most often from a consumer perspective. While most consumer rights attorneys are focusing individual client cases and relationships, Mike is looking for broad patterns where impact litigation can be achieved. PIRG pursues its own cases, but also provides a lot of support to a network of non-profit organizations across the country that are pursuing consumer protection cases. The story shows that anyone can move between the non-profit and private law sectors and that doing so can make you a more impactful and valuable asset to the consumer rights world.

Jeremy Golden left the cold of Minnesota to study law in the sunshine of California. Originally the plan was to practice intellectual property law, but a job opportunity after law school lead Jeremy to discover the world of consumer law. Fifteen years later, he has a successful law firm outside of San Diego focused on debt defense, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and Fair Credit Reporting Act cases. Jeremy and I discuss small firm management, identity theft cases and the growing need for lawyers to take on student loan cases.

Michael Fuller, the Underdog Lawyer is a consumer rights attorney in Portland Oregon. He discusses his background, passion for representing the underserved and how to use media to achieve goals.

Josh Cohen is one of the foremost experts in student loan law. He is taking on the growing crises by expanding his own litigation practice to train other attorneys in multi-day seminars. Additionally, Josh has created a software program that helps borrowers and their attorneys assess the best repayment options for borrowers of federal loans. More information about Josh can be found at www.thestudentloanlawer.com and information about his seminars can be obtained at www.studentloanlawworkshop.net

Ron Burdge is a trailblazer.  Ron started his legal career doing trial work at a small Ohio firm.  Early in his career the partners of his law firm handed Ron an auto fraud case.  The chance circumstance gave rise to a career that saw the rise of lemon laws and consumer rights in the auto industry.  A key to Ron’s success is his love of story telling and a gift for connecting with juries. In addition to excelling at litigation, Ron has a gift for marketing. As an early adopter of the internet, Ron acquired key domain names including www.ohiolemonlaw.com. He began posting videos on the internet early on and it helped to drive clients and business to his firm. Aside from influencing the growth of auto fraud litigation, Ron is the founder of the United States Consumer Law Attorney Fee Survey. The survey is hosted at www.attorneyfeestudy.com and gives a detailed assessment of hourly rates billed by attorneys broken down by years of practice, size of firm and geography. The survey is a key tool for consumer rights attorneys that work with fee shifting statutes. Cited in Federal Courts across the country, the survey has been critical to lawyers extending access to justice in an affordable way. Ron can be reached on twitter @ronburdge

In less than ten years of practice as an attorney, Carla Sanchez-Adams has earned a well-deserved reputation as an attorney focused on creating change in communities impacted by poverty. Carla’s role as a lawyer often walks the line from advocate to social worker. We discuss Carla’s background, the challenges of public service law, and how consumer rights law differs when there are issues of domestic abuse and immigration concerns added to the picture.

Starting out the new series we have a special guest who is at the center of the consumer advocate universe. Ira Rheingold began representing consumers in the greater Washington D.C. area in the early 1980’s and went on to influence an overhaul of lending practices and foreclosure law in Chicago. Thereafter, he became the Executive Director of NACA, the National Association of Consumer Advocates. NACA is a trade organization of more than 1,500 attorneys committed to the representation of consumers victimized by fraudulent, abusive and predatory business practices. In our discussion, Ira talks about how his time as a litigator influenced the leadership he now strives to provide, we hear about ongoing projects and goals for NACA and discuss a vision of consumer rights for the future.

In March 2019 the Consumer Rights Talk is back with a new format. Host Adam Deutsch will interview a different consumer rights attorney in each episode. Guests will call in from across the country to discuss their practice, tips for other attorneys and what consumers should look out for to protect themselves.

On July 19, 2018 Adam Deutsch, Esq. is presenting a free seminar in Springfield Massachusetts to teach consumers how to avoid common credit reporting problems, how credit scores are calculated, how to improve your score, how to fight debt collectors, and more.

The Federal Government estimates 25% of all credit reports contain an error. These errors can negatively impact your ability to buy a home, car, finance college, or obtain employment. The errors can also cause the cost of borrowing money to go up. A common error is the mixed file, where someone else's information appears on your credit file. In this episode of the Consumer Rights Talk, Adam discusses three common mixed file causes, how to fix the problem and how to proactively spot such problems.

Defaults on federal student loans are up 14 percent compared to the end of 2015. This is a problem for many reasons. In this episode Adam Deutsch discusses how we got to this point and talks about steps that can be taken to make student debt more manageable.

The third party debt collection industry is a large sector of the economy. The collectors tend not to ask question before agreeing to take on a file. This leads to errors. In episode 11 Adam explains how a third party debt collector began seeking to collect on a non-existent debt from Adam's Grandmother. The podcast then goes over five basic tips anyone can follow when they need to combat debt collection.

According to the latest report by the Federal Bank of New York analyzing the fourth quarter of 2016, consumer borrowing is trending up.  New auto borrowing increased at a faster pace than credit card and mortgage borrowing.  The money spigot is opening so fast that subprime lending is also growing rapidly.   In America, we need and love our cars, but we don't always love the process of buying them.  Listen to this episode of the Consumer Rights Talk to learn more about common frauds to look out for and what you can do about it.

Northeast Law Group attorney Adam Deutsch discusses the latest monthly CFPB report on trends among consumer complaints. This month the CFPB focused on mortgage related complaints. The podcast discusses three common complaints to the CFPB and provides consumers with methods for dealing with these scenarios.

At the end of 2016 HAMP expired. Now it is more difficult for homeowners to get financial relief from their mortgage company. By using the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA") homeowners can obtain crucial information, level the playing field, increase their bargaining power and make sure they are treated fairly.

There is a new sheriff in town and the Presidency of Donald J. Trump is projected to bring sweeping deregulation and privatization of government. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and presumptive Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin have openly advocated to privatize the collection of unpaid federal income taxes. There are major risk to taxpayers in deregulation of this task. Specifically, if collection of tax debt is privatized, the debt collectors may be immune from liability under the Fair Debt Collection Practices. This means there could be a rise in collection abuses and consumers will have little to no protections.

There is a major disparity in courts. Approximately 95% of all parties filing lawsuits have an attorney, while figures show that fewer than 25% of people being sued in foreclosure or for the collection of a medical, auto, or credit card debt retain an attorney. Collectors know they are likely not going to face someone who is represented and they count on it. Retaining an attorney is more affordable than people think, and it could be free. Adam Deutsch, Esq. of Northeast Law Group explains that collectors frequently add fees they are not entitled to collect. When this happens, the person being sued can get the collection case dismissed and file a lawsuit of their own in which the collector has to pay damages and attorney fees.

In January 2017 the Pew Research Center released a new report analyzing disparity in home ownership and interest rates on first mortgage loans when viewed among racial lines. Sadly, the numbers show a clear difference in both ownership rates and the cost of financing charged to different racial groups in America. The cause could have more to do with pure economics than racial discrimination but the fact that the disparity exists means that America remains divided. The possibility of racial discrimination in lending remains a problem and consumers can take action if they have been victimized based on race. Listen to find out what can be done when a consumer's loan is effected by their race.

Physicians are making more errors in billing practices as they struggle to adapt to changes in the insurance industry. Patients are suffering as a result. Episode 3 discusses a scenario where a patient is subjected to inappropriate debt collection efforts caused by the physician's billing error. Listen to find out what happens if a physician seeks to collect money that is supposed to be billed to the insurance company rather than the patient. You may be surprised to find out that the patient can get the harassment to stop, be compensated for the harassment and have all of their attorney fees and court costs paid for by the physician and debt collectors.

On December 27 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its monthly report on complaint statistics. The report offers a special focus on debt collection. Looking at the numbers it appears that complaints are trending upward. Compared to the same time period in 2015, complaints about student loan servicing errors are up more than 100%, complaints about credit card collections and servicing are up 36%, and complaints about debt collection are up 10%. Either more people are filing complaints with the CFPB because the government is doing a better job of educating the public about reporting options, or complaints are up because debt collectors, financial institutions and the like are making more errors and injuring more consumers. Either way, the numbers are troubling. Complaints in Massachusetts and New Jersey are both up compared to a year ago.

Introduction episode of the Consumer Rights Talk. This show is intended to educate and empower both consumers and consumer rights attorneys. Topics of discussion will focus on consumer protection laws and issues including debt collection, foreclosure, fraud, student loans and more.