Todd Murray featured in Sunday’s front page Star Tribune story about deceased collections
September 22, 2010 by Todd Murray · Leave a Comment
The latest installment of the Star Tribune’s “Hounded” series, which appeared in last Sunday’s paper, focuses on the sub-industry of deceased collections. The story included a few quotes from me about my very brief stint attempting to collect deceased debts and how the experience convinced me to ditch the collection business once and for all and start my consumer law practice.
The article also includes a great deal of information about the somewhat mysterious deceased collection industry and reviews some of the questionable tactics that they use to try to collect debts from recently deceased consumers. The moral of the story: when you die, the assets from your estate are used to pay creditors. If your estate has no assets, then the creditors are out of luck. And family members have no personal obligation to pay the debts of the deceased.
If you’ve recently lost a loved one and are being harassed by creditors for payment, I strongly recommend that you contact an attorney that is knowledgeable about the probate process. And if the harassment is especially egregious, consider talking to a consumer rights attorney.
UPDATE: The StarTrib has removed the “Premium” pay wall.
Death won’t stop these debt collectors (PDF link here)| Star Tribune | September 19, 2010
Todd Murray quoted in Minnesota Lawyer article about the increased need for consumer lawyers
April 15, 2009 by Todd Murray · Leave a Comment
Minnesota Lawyer recently published an article about the increased need for consumer lawyers in the current economic climate. The article discussed the rise in debt collection lawsuits being initiated and some of the problems this has caused for consumers.
I was quoted several times in the article, which also featured quotes from fellow consumer lawyers Nick Slade and Sam Glover:
Minneapolis consumer attorney Todd Murray is fielding a lot of calls as well, many relating to issues surrounding garnishment. “There are a lot of people out there who the economy has hit pretty hard and who are having problems with debt collection.”
According to Murray, garnishment statutes tend to favor creditors, particularly the statutes involving exemptions. “A lot of times exempt funds are seized…and the process to resolve it is sort of this ping-pong process,” he said. “This often can take weeks to resolve and meanwhile the account is frozen and overdraft fees pile up.”
Murray added that while creditors are pushing hard to keep the arbitration process in place, many consumer advocate groups have targeted mandatory arbitration as “No. 1″ on their list of things to change.
If you’re in Minnesota and have been sued or garnished by a debt collector and need help defending yourself, please contact me.
Michelle Lore, Consumer lawyers keep busy as creditors push for payment, Minnesota Lawyer, April 13, 2009, at 3.
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