“Using the law firm’s own software, CFPB determined that the law firm lawyers typically spent less than a few minutes reviewing a complaint package and comparing it to the summary information on the spreadsheet before signing the complaint and filing it with the court. The lawyers did not review the account level documentation…”
On April 25, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) entered an enforcement order against New Jersey law firm Pressler and Pressler and its debt-buyer client, New Century Financial Services, for pursuing hundreds of thousands of debt collection lawsuits without reviewing the underlying documentation supporting the existence of a debt. The law firm agreed to pay a $1 million fine, the debt-buyer client agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine, and both agreed to extensive recordkeeping and compliance measures going forward. These recordkeeping and compliance measures include an obligation to file account information in the court file of defaulted debt-collection cases before obtaining a final judgment, and to do no prejudgment discovery of a debtor’s assets.
The sanction stemmed from the manner in which the debt-buyer client communicated with its law firm. Rather than sending account files of the purchased debts, the client would electronically send spreadsheets showing debtor information and…
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Deadly Clear 