CONSUMER LAW

At Massey & Duffy, we handle a variety of legal matters. For example, we handle Fair Debt, Fair Credit, Unfair Practice, and Untruthful Lending cases. Each of these are described below in more detail.

 By “Fair Debt”, we refer to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. It was established in 1982 and was created in response to the abuse that consumers are exposed to by debt collectors. The abuse of power begins with reminders by U.S. Mail, then progresses to persistent phone calls with a threatening tone, to repossession, to referral to a collection agency, and then to being sued in court for the obligation. The Judgment then can be enforced by wage garnishment and bank account seizure, in some cases.

 When we say “Fair Credit”, we are referring to the Fair Credit Practices Act. This Act’s purpose is to encourage accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in consumer’s reporting agency files. This includes credit bureaus and specialty agencies like those that handle medical records and rental history files.

 Unfair Practices refers to the legal protection given to consumers against unfair and deceptive acts and practices. This is commonly called the Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices. Numerous Florida statutes and caselaw combine to make this a powerful law to help consumers fight wrongful conduct.

 Untruthful Lending is also called The Truth in Lending Act. This regulates a clear and detailed disclosure of the costs of consumer credit and provides the opportunity of making informed decisions, including calculated interest, and allows the consumer the knowledge of how much debt will actually be incurred.

 In conclusion, these are Acts designed, created, and implemented to protect the consumer. Before these acts, the consumer was generally taken advantage of because there were no laws there to protect the rights of people who need loans for cars, boats, houses, and other assets.