Edelman, Combs, Latturner & Goodwin, LLC
120 South LaSalle Street, 18th Floor
Chicago, IL 60603
Unfair Collection Practices Lawyers
Consumer protection and class action lawyers at the law firm of Edelman, Combs, Latturner & Goodwin, LLC, welcome inquiries by phone or email from consumers and investors whose rights have been violated through illegal predatory lending, interest overcharges, "junk fees" on mortgages, wrongful foreclosure of mortgages, inaccurate credit reports, breach of warranty involving automobiles, and discrimination involving fair housing.
Potential Claims You May Have
Many individuals do not realize they have valid consumer law claims. If any of these consumer matters apply to you, please call or send us copies of any documentation you have received. We may be able to help you recover substantial sums of money.
Most unsolicited fax advertisements are illegal. About 25% are worth suing over. We will need a copy of the fax to evaluate your case. Please see our list of pending junk fax cases. We also handle cases in which individuals have received pre-recorded telemarketing calls on residential phones or telemarketing calls or text message advertisements on cell phones (with charges paid by the recipient.) All such calls violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. You may recover $500-$1500 per violation.
Bank Charges
Many banks impose charges on non-customers who use their ATMs without clearly and prominently posting a notice on the outside of the ATM that such charges will be imposed. This notice must be in addition to a notice appearing on the screen. The failure to provide such notices may entitle you to statutory damages of $100-$1000 per violation.
Collection Letters and Practices
Please send us copies of any collection letters that you receive. Many debt collectors and collection lawyers routinely violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This is a federal law gives consumers certain rights and prohibits certain methods of attempting to collect debts. This may entitle you to recover up to $1000 plus actual damages. Typical violations include the following:
- Contacting neighbors and employers when unnecessary to locate debtor. This is an increasingly common and illegal practice
- Notices of privacy rights / information practices that state that your information can be disclosed to subprime lenders and other third parties for marketing purposes
- Lawsuits filed in Illinois by bad debt buyers
- Please contact us if a bad debt buyer is suing or threatening to sue you on a cell phone debt or auto deficiency in Illinois
- Changing the default date used to compute the seven-year period a bad debt can remain on your credit report. (A collection agency or bad debt buyer is required to use the same date as the original creditor. Often, they use a newer date, which allows the entry to remain on your credit report longer.)
- Adding unauthorized collection charges
- Threatening to report a debtor to the Internal Revenue Service if payment is not forthcoming
- Threatening criminal prosecution (mainly on dishonored checks)
- Initial demand letters which insist on payment within less than 30 days or don't clearly state the exact amount of the debt or suggest that the debt is increasing and that payment of some unspecified increased amount is required
- Sending large numbers of letters purporting to come from attorneys or collection agencies when that is not the case. (Form letters from out of state attorneys are suspect.)
- Demands for attorney's fees prior to suit when contracts provide for fees only if suit is filed
Any type of inaccurate information on your credit report, whether resulting from identity theft, commingling of files, inaccurate reports by creditors, retention of obsolete information, etc.
Our firm is looking for cases where a mortgage company forced placed insurance during the first year of a loan when the HUD-1 shows that insurance was purchased at the closing or that proof of insurance was presented at the closing.
We may be able to help if, in the process of the sale of real estate that you purchased, the seller's lender charged a fee for recording the release of the mortgage, shown on the payoff statement. (The title company also charges a fee for recording the release of the mortgage, shown on the HUD-1. One of the fees is fictitious, probably that charged by the lender.)
Please contact us for a free case evaluation if any of the following is true in your situation:
- You are paying a higher private mortgage insurance premium than initially quoted
- You have an adjustable rate mortgage (Rate adjustments are often erroneous. You are particularly likely to have adjustment errors if you were involved in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy or not current when an adjustment was required to be made.)
- Your loan was transferred from one company to another and the new company began allocating more of your payment to interest if it was received within the grace period but after the first payment
- Your mortgage company failed to post a payment the same day it was received, and imposed a late charge
- Your lender attempted to charge prepayment penalties or monthly late charges after they placed your loan in foreclosure (This is generally not permissible.)
- Your mortgage company did not respond to a complaint or a request for an explanation related to activity on your account. (This failure may entitle you to $1000.)
- You are paying excessive interest (10% or more) or high fees and points (3% or more) -- (Although high interest is not illegal in and of itself, various special requirements apply, and often are not complied with.)
- You were charged recording fees in excess of the amounts disbursed to the Recorder, or overnight delivery fees of $50-60
- You were charged excessive amounts for title insurance obtained from an affiliate of the lender or broker
- You have a loan serviced by Ocwen
Cars
Contact Edelman, Combs, Latturner & Goodwin, LLC, to request a free consultation if any of the following applies to you:
- An insurance premium was added to your balance because the bank claimed you didn't have insurance
- You were charged for "VSI Insurance" or "Vendor's Single Interest" insurance on your car loan
- You were sold window etching on a car
- You signed a motor vehicle retail installment contract with a wage assignment
- A car dealer decided to extend credit to fewer than all persons that applied for it, and failed to give a written notice of credit denial (This often occurs when a car dealer first requests a cosigner on a transaction and then decides to extend credit only to the consigner.)
- You were assessed late charges on an auto lease.
Credit Cards
Our attorneys handle cases in which a credit card issuer attempted to transfer an account to a relative upon death or bankruptcy of the debtor, without consent of that relative.
Medical Bills
Contact us if either of the following situations apply to you and your family:
- You were uninsured and were billed by a hospital at a rate higher than that charged to insured patients
- You are being dunned for a balance allegedly remaining after an insurer or benefit plan paid the entire "reasonable and customary" charge (and the bill is for more than a deductible or co-payment amount)
Landlord-Tenant
The consumer protection attorneys of Edelman, Combs, Latturner & Goodwin, LLC, have experience helping tenants who encountered the following illegal landlord-tenant situations:
- Interest not being paid or credited every year on security deposits. This is required by Illinois Statutes, Chicago Residential Landlord-Tenant Ordinances, and the City of Evanston Ordinances.
- Security deposits not returned promptly with interest
- Utilities billed without individual metering, in violation of Illinois law
- Security deposits for properties placed in the same accounts as rent money.
- Landlord not maintaining building in proper condition
Click Here for more information about tenant rights.
Fax documents such as collection letters and loan documents to 312-419-0379 or contact us at 1-800-644-4673 or by email to schedule a consultation.
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The consumer protection and class action lawyers of Edelman, Combs, Latturner & Goodwin, LLC, represent clients throughout Illinois, and in Federal Courts in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan, and will consider substantial cases in other jurisdictions.
