Trend?

[LeslieR]

I have noticed in the past couple of weeks what seems like an increase in posts related to lawsuits brought by collection agencies and creditors. Do you think there is an upswing in lawsuits given the credit crunch? Or is this just a coincidence, or am I just imagining things?

Just curious!

[Moneedshelp]

I'm sure there is some type of correlation. With so many defaulting, it is certain that collections efforts will become more aggressive.

[flacorps]

Collectors make a push around the time that tax refund checks typically arrive because they know debtors have an "easy-come-easy-go" mentality about their refund checks.

But it also may be that more debtors go to the internet, and with these boards having been around a few years and now being thoroughly indexed by the search engines, keyword searches now lead them right to boards like this. The cycle is self-perpetuating as new users add more keywords, and I have read extensive kvetches on collector's boards about how dunning now leads to getting a lot of DVs, and lawsuits lead to people showing up and fighting, often successfully. One collector moaned how he had "lost big" on his last batch of purchased debt.

I couldn't find the emoticon that plays the violin for that last collector's lament...

[NYMatt]

I started researching the forums for my personal situation and now try to help other newbies that come to this forum.I sometimes post at other forums like creditboards.com but stay mainly here , where the atmosphere is more friendly.

[trueq]

Consumers, banks, etc have built an unsustainable house of cards.

You hear about all the problems in the financial sector and you can bet the news was slow getting out. Defaults are on the rise!

In the past banks could sustain a certain level of defaults and still increase profits!

But now! Banks are starting to lose money from the increadible amount of write-downs.

So lawsuits will naturally increase as a result.

I hope consumers learn how to fight. If the FED can dig out Bear Sterns from their alleged reckless behavior, why not the rest of us?

[admin]

I started researching the forums for my personal situation and now try to help other newbies that come to this forum.I sometimes post at other forums like creditboards.com but stay mainly here , where the atmosphere is more friendly.

I'm glad to hear you think it's more friendly...

[merrybucks]

I think you see more aggressive actions by JDB's because these companies are now traded on Wall Street. They are responsible to their investors to make as much money as they possibly can. Their also more collection lawyers willing to take cases on a contingency basis.

[flacorps]

Bear Sterns got foreclosed on ... there was little to nothing left for shareholders.

Credit Default Swaps are going to be the next mess, because many banks won't be capitalized enough to make good on the ones they sold. "Counterparty risk" is the new buzzword. Nobody knows who else pigged out on the financial junk food and is going to get a bad case of the runs because all these deals were unregulated and off the normal balance sheets.

In many cases the taxpayers will wind up stuck with the bill, one way or another (state funds of various sorts got sold a lot of toxic paper, and even where states didn't buy it, when the "nordic solution" is implemented, many of the banks that get taken over will have negative equity that can only be absorbed by governments before the banks can be refloated to new investors).

Consumers are at risk mainly four ways: inflation, the job market (lost jobs, stagnant wages), the credit market (increasing interest rates or flat-out unavailability of credit for various purposes), and increases in the tax burden.

Other than that we're all in pretty good shape. Hey, Apollo 13 got home didn't it?