An op-ed in the Daily News on May 7, 2014 highlights MFY’s defense of a victim of unscrupulous debt collectors and applauds Chief Judge Lippman’s efforts to rein in abusive debt collectors.

MFY Legal Services is urging state legislators to support the Consumer Credit Fairness Act, which will help protect consumers against abusive debt collection practices. Listen to Supervising Attorney Carolyn Coffey’s speak about the bill on WCNY.

In comments today to proposed rules on debt collection, MFY urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to adopt strong rules and robust enforcement mechanisms to protect consumers from abusive debt collection practices.

MFY submitted comments strongly opposing the Office of Court Administration’s (OCA) proposal to create statewide forms for debt collectors to use when seeking default judgments in consumer credit actions. Although MFY recognizes OCA’s initiative in addressing the meager amount of proof required to obtain default judgments in these cases, the proposed forms actually serve to …

MFY, along with New Economy Project and DC37 filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the state’s efforts to protect New Yorkers from payday lenders whose practices violate the state’s usury laws and are illegal.

MFY Legal Services is representing a Queens man who filed suit on October 4 in federal court, charging the New York Motor Group tricked and coerced him into signing documents he was not permitted to first read, which doubled the agreed-upon purchase price. When the buyer and others who had been similarly swindled carried out …

In October 2013, MFY submitted comments regarding debt collection rules proposed by the NYS Department of Financial Services.  Overall, MFY supports the implementation of rules and believes they will help alleviate some of the debt collection problems faced by our clients, but raises concerns about the length and content of the rules and offers suggestions …

The New York Times’ article on federal efforts to crack down on abusive debt collection practices by banks and retailers features comments by an MFY client who was the victim of such practices and by Carolyn Coffey, supervising attorney of MFY’s Consumer Rights Project.  MFY has taken a leadership role in advocating for stronger policies …

MFY, on behalf of 19 consumer organizations, filed an amicus motion in the 2nd Circuit, urging the Court to reverse a District Court decision that invalidated a city law requiring debt collection law firms to be licensed and regulated by the Department of Consumer Affairs as debt collectors because their actions are no different than …

Fox News reports on cases challenging abusive debt collection practices, including MFY’s objections to a Midland Funding settlement and class action lawsuit, Sykes v. Mel S. Harris.