California Consumer Rights

Some of my friends ask me this question: “Bill, how can you sleep at night, representing all those…well….you know,  people in debt….deadbeats…. really – helping them to avoid their moral obligations?”

….But not my close friends.

My answer usually goes something like this:

“I won’t lie to you. I’ve represented a deadbeat or two in my time, but I’ve been cutting way back lately. Some day I’ll quit for good”

Truth be told: Most of my clients want to pay off their legitimate debts on a reasonable repayment plan – one that suits the reality of their current circumstance – but were prevented from doing so by the absurd rigidity of the debt collectors who refuse to deal with them, demanding 24 gazillion dollars  in a lump sum by Friday – or some such ridiculous number which, with late fees and over limit fees attaching well beyond the date the consumer actually called it quits on the credit card, bears little resemblance to the amount actually owed.

Oh sure, sure”" my  friends say – but not my close ones, ” so these welchers whine and moan about paying their debts, while they flip channels on the two HDTV’s in each room they charged up, and laze around all day on the $10,000 tempurpedic mattress purchased on plastic that conforms to their fat butts, so they can sleep without shame.”

“Nice image, but not exactly,” I say. ” While some of my clients may have over-consumed their way into debt,  most did so anticipating a continuing paycheck and, you may not believe this, were not solely responsible for the economic meltdown that took their jobs. Others had the moral failing of an illness which required an extended hospital stay not entirely, if at all, covered by their health insurance; while still others simply got slammed in divorce”

Not to mention those whose fault was being victimized by identity thieves and, despite the deafness of debt collectors to their plight, owe nothing.

So, here’s about where I come down: Life ain’t always easy, and lately for some, it ain’t never easy. Times are tough. And I haven ‘t seen too many consumers “livin’ large” on the credit card companies or the debt buyers who want full payment on debts they bought for pennies on the dollar…Profit, it seems, rather than trickling down, seems to flow up-hill.

SO, how do I represent these…..human beings going through tough times?

Very aggressively. And mindful of the 30% interest banks have been collecting ever since they re-wrote the usury laws.

Hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m not against banks. Banks are people too. And everybody’s got to make a living.

It’s just that there ’s plenty of blame to go around for the fix we’re in. Some for my clients, some for those geniuses of finance who encouraged them to borrow beyond their means, some for the theives of our identities, and, according to my not so close friends, some for me too.

Plenty of blame, if you’re looking for it.