Most states’ debt collection laws either mirror the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or largely consist of licensing laws. Texas is one notable exception. The state has fair debt collection laws that are tough on debt collectors, and the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, is putting those laws to work.
Attorney General Abbott recently announced that he has charged American Home Mortgaging Service (AHMS) with violations of the Texas Debt Collection Act and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act for allegedly using “aggressive and unlawful tactics to collect payments from Texas homeowners who had difficulty meeting their payment obligations.” The case also alleges that AHMS didn’t credit some who made payments on time, and falsely claimed that others didn’t make payments in order to charge late fees. This sometimes led to foreclosure proceedings.
BANK of America even returned mortgage checks to Home owners and then calculaed “Late payments, late fees and late interest accumulation much later, and expect the home owner to come up with these inflated fees originated by Bank of America or get foreclosed.
Those case should also be reviewed by the Tx AG
Comment by Rex — September 7, 2010 @ 6:42 am