Bill Protects Vulnerable New Yorkers
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Judiciary Committee Chair Helene Weinstein and Codes Committee Chair Joseph Lentol announced the passage of the Consumer Credit Fairness Act to protect working families, domestic violence victims, seniors and low-income New Yorkers from overly aggressive debt collection practices.
“There is an epidemic of unfair debt collection lawsuits in New York State. In many instances, these actions are brought against low and moderate income New Yorkers who are not aware a lawsuit has been filed against them, leaving them with little recourse and ruining their credit for many years,” said Silver. “Unfortunately, the justice system is being abused by unscrupulous third party debt buyers and harming vulnerable New Yorkers. This bill would institute several measures to address these abusive debt collection practices and combat this menace.”
The Consumer Credit Fairness Act (A.2678/Weinstein), which passed last Monday, Apr. 22, would curb abusive debt collection lawsuits by:
– requiring notice of a pending consumer credit action to be mailed to the defendants by the clerk of the court;
– requiring court filings to include more information about the debt targeted in a lawsuit, such as identifying the debt or account and providing proof that the debt is owed to the plaintiff;
– lowering the statute of limitations for consumer credit transactions from six years to three years, and eliminating the right to collect the debt once the statute of limitations is expired; and
– terminating the ability of debt buyers to sue on expired debt.
