The banks are doing it again, collection through intimidation, now they are trying to deny you your right to professional representation.

Aha, the credit card industry, leasing companies and some banks have found a new way to abuse borrowers in default. It’s a  very formidable issue as strategies to thwart this abuse are cumbersome and difficult and often prove ineffective..

Here it is.

Knowing that the borrower is easier to intimidate into submission and into making payments they cannot afford, they staunchly refuse to talk to third party representatives saying they will only talk to the borrower.

This is patently absurd. Every borrower is entitled to representation, this is a basic inalienable right. Every borrower is entitled to appoint anyone with a power of attorney with the authority to deal with the bank. Denying  the borrowers right to a duly appointed representative is a breach of their rights and a flagrant abuse of their own fiduciary responsibility to the borrower. It is done only to remove professional representation from the borrower which the bank believes will then result in a better collection process for he bank or credit card company.

That is ridiculous.

You are absolutely entitled to professional representation and any effort to remove this option is done for the sole purpose of intimidation and removing your best opportunity for a responsible result. The bank or credit card company strategy being to block professional representation and unfairly take advantage of you.

I have retained counsel to produce a legal memorandum on the subject which we will use to remove this barrier from us when it pops up. It is a small minority of offenders but I see it growing as it works for them, so they think.

The next problem is the huge bureaucracy of the companies we deal with. Frequently they are so large it is extremely difficult to reach the appropriate decision maker and since this is ‘policy’ created at high levels, no one is authorized to make changes… another silly excuse for bad behavior. They have them all.

I recommend to my clients that when the bank calls them after you have given power of attorney to a representative they simply state they are being represented and please talk to our representative. This will eventually work, although it is still cumbersome as the chain of command is very long and stubborn, they frankly do not care if you end in default and then go to the workout department . They are there to intimidate you into doing what you cannot  and should not do.

The Workout Dept. tends to be closer to the law firms as it is aprt of their strategy also, to use the legal war club to collect,  so this strategy will work out sooner then later with them as they will seek legal opinion and they tend to capitulate and consent to represntation.

It is indeed unfortunate that the creditors feel that it remains in their best interest to rely on intimidation tactics rather then quality representation for a productive conclusion. They still do not get it, that this type of predator action is contrary to everyone’s best interest and may have short term positive results for their collections but long term negative results for all concerned as all that will happen is an ill conceived momentary spike in collections and a faster burn out with a poorerlong term  resolution. It will simply force people to bankruptcy as opposed to workout as their only alternative which is far more expensive and will yield far less then a legitimate workout.

When will they understand that cooperation with their clients will only result in better conclusions. If we all work together imeasurable ammounts of success will be achieved…for all involved.  When will they probably figure this out… probably never.

Advertisement