Feferman & Warren sues mortgage lenders and mortgage companies for:

• Misleading the consumer about the closing costs for the loan or the interest rate on the loan
• Paying bogus costs, especially construction costs sought by mobile home dealers in land/home deals, where the lender should have known the costs were bogus
• Flipping a loan (refinancing the loan repeatedly to earn extra fees without benefit to the consumer)
• Failing to fund a loan that has been through closing
• Failing to provide an explanation of disputed charges in response to a request for an explanation
• Failing to give the consumer a written notice giving the consumer the right to cancel the loan within 3 days

-top-

Feferman & Warren sues debt collectors for:

• Threatening to bring criminal charges against the debtor, have the debtor arrested, garnish the debtor's wages or foreclose on the debtor's house
• Contacting friends, neighbors or relatives about the debt
• Harassing or obnoxious conduct, such as calling multiple times per day or using racially derogatory language
• Filing a lawsuit when the suit is barred by the statute of limitations (for example, filing a lawsuit to collect on an auto loan after repossession of the auto, where the suit is filed more than 4 years after the last payment was made)
• Contacting the debtor after receipt of a letter that requests the collector cease communication with the debtor or after notice that the debtor is represented by an attorney
• Charging more than the face amount of the check (plus any posted return check fee) in connection with collection of a bounced check
• Reporting the collection on the debtor's credit report, without noting that the debtor disputes the debt.

  Congress passed a law, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which makes these activities illegal. This law applies only to third party debt collectors, not to creditors collecting debts owed to the creditor. This law gives debtors many rights, including the right to stop the debt collector from harassing the debtor. If the debt collector contacts a debtor in an attempt to collect a debt after the debt collector has received a letter that (1) identifies the alleged debt that the collector is trying to collect and (2) asks the debt collector to "cease all communication" with the debtor, the debt collector violates the FDCPA. Because debt collectors often claim that they did not receive these "cease communication" letters, it is best to send a "cease communication" letter by fax (and save the fax communication sheet) or by certified mail, return receipt requested. 

-top-

Feferman & Warren sues car dealers for defrauding consumers.

We may represent consumers when:

• You buy a vehicle that was wrecked before your purchase, but the car dealer did not tell you the vehicle was wrecked
Exhibits From Recent Undisclosed Wreck Trial
• The dealer misrepresents the mileage on the vehicle to you
• The dealer sells you a "new" vehicle that is really a "used" vehicle
• You have mechanical problems with a used vehicle purchased in New Mexico within the first 15 days of your purchase, and the dealer refuses to repair or accept return of the vehicle
• You buy a vehicle and give a cash down payment or trade in vehicle and the dealer later tells you that your financing did not go through and you must return the vehicle, but the dealer refuses to return your trade in vehicle or cash down payment
• Any other material misrepresentation or failure to tell you some material fact about the vehicle you are buying

-top-

Feferman & Warren sues mobile home dealers when they have defrauded you by misrepresenting something about the mobile home you purchased.

Examples of cases we may accept:

• If a mobile home dealer tells you that you will receive air conditioning with your mobile home and you do not receive air conditioning
• If the dealer tells you the mobile home is new and it turns out to be used
• The dealer tells you the mobile home will be delivered by a certain date but does not deliver until months later
• The dealer tells you that you will get financing at a certain annual percentage rate and the rate you receive is higher
• The dealer does not give you disclosures about the terms of financing at the time you are signing the contract to buy the mobile home
• The dealer fails to tell you some fact about the mobile home that was important in your decision to buy the home

-top-

Feferman & Warren can help with problems with your credit report.

Consumer credit is the lifeblood of the economy. Your ability to borrow money or to finance the purchase of a home, car or other items, depends on the strength of your credit. Three giant companies - Equifax, Experian and Trans Union - compile and control most of the credit information. The record of your credit is your consumer credit report. A very important law passed by Congress, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, regulates this field. We handle a wide variety of problems arising with credit, such as:

• Illegal access, where someone has illegally obtained your credit report. For example, ex-spouses sometimes use the access to credit reports that they have because of their jobs to pull a person's credit report, in order to dig up dirt on the person.
• Theft of identity, where someone has stolen your credit identity. This situation frequently arises when someone close to you - a relative or your employer - steals your identity to apply for a credit card, pretending to be you. No matter what the situation - whether your identity is stolen by insiders or by unknown thieves, you have a very serious problem. Identity theft is one of the fastest-rising crimes in America. In 2003, Congress amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act by adding the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act ("FACTA"), which expanded the protections available to persons who are the victims of identity theft.
• Mixed file, where another person's credit information is appearing on your credit report. Credit reporting agencies often mix up the credit files for two persons with similar names. This is a very serious problem that can take a lot of time and cost a lot of money to fix. The problem is made worse where the credit reporting agency fails to fix the problem after the person whose credit is being damaged notifies the credit reporting agency of the problem. Sometimes, as a result, persons are denied credit or miss opportunities to buy houses or refinance their mortgages.
• Inaccurate information from creditors, such as where someone wrongly claims that you owe them money, or that you owe more money than you do. Many times merchants submit inaccurate information to credit reporting agencies. You should send a letter to the credit reporting agency that is reporting on its credit report the inaccurate information (not the merchant that is the source of the inaccurate information), asking it to investigate the entry on your report. You should send with your letter any documentation which proves your point. Unfortunately, many times the merchant simply "verifies" the information without conducting a genuine investigation, as required by law. Worse, the credit reporting agency accepts the "verification" without paying any attention to your side of the story. In these situations, we sue both the the credit reporting agency and the merchant.
• Impermissible use, where  someone is using your credit report improperly. Credit reports are extremely private information, which can be obtained only in limited circumstances, such as for extending credit, for collecting debts and for employment screening. If someone wrongly obtains a credit report, for an impermissible purpose, they have invaded your privacy and violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
• Obsolete information must be deleted. A creditor can only report a debt for 7 years after it becomes delinquent or is charged off. A bankruptcy can appear only for ten years. Many times debt collectors "re-age" this information and submit a false date, to fool the credit reporting agency into thinking that the debt is not obsolete.

Feferman & Warren belong to a group of consumer attorneys who advocate for consumers' rights in the credit reporting arena and who actively litigate cases with national importance. This group of attorneys operates a website called myfaircredit.com.

-top-