Mountain State Justice represents the victims of abusive and illegal debt collection techniques that increase the risk of foreclosure and/or repossession.  Debt collectors or mortgage servicers engage in a variety of illegal debt collection techniques, often with impunity, including harassing and repeated calls, disclosure of a borrower’s debt information to others who have not been authorized to receive this private information, inclusion of excessive unauthorized fees to a borrower’s account, and failure to properly credit payments to an account including returning valid checks.  MSJ remedies these violations through class action litigation and individual lawsuits under state and federal law. 

MSJ also defends borrowers who are the victims of an unjust lawsuit lodged against them by a debt collector.

Signs of Abusive Debt Collection Practices

• The debt collector calls you incessantly, even when you refer calls to an attorney.
• The debt collector is abusive, rude, or lies to you.
• The debt collector reveals your personal information to your family members, neighbors, or community.
• The debt collector threatens to make you pay for their legal fees.
• The debt collector charges you late fees for months that you’ve paid on time, or charges you late fees of more than $15 or more than your contract allows.

Debt Collection Cases

Lucas, et al. v. Fairbanks, et al., No. 03-C-2: MSJ filed this class action on behalf of individuals whose home mortgages were being abusively serviced by Fairbanks Capital Corporation and others.  The case involved thousands of dollars in illegal fees added to class members’ mortgages, Fairbanks’ failure to appropriately apply payments, and resulting foreclosure or threats of foreclosure for class members.  Prior to settlement, the judge enjoined all foreclosures on class members’ homes.  Settlement of this case resulted in a significant cash award to class members.

Chandler v. Nuvell Financial Servs., Inc., No. 2:07-CV-0619: MSJ settled this case on behalf of an individual who was the victim of abusive servicing of an automobile loan, including repeated contacts after the debt collector knew that the borrower was represented by counsel.  The settlement resulted in cancellation of the debt, a cash award, and credit repair for the plaintiff.