The Federal Trade Commission has information on its website about fair debt collection practices--
Debt Collection
File a Complaint if you are being harassed by a debt collector
The FDCPA
If your municipality has turned over your fine to a debt collection agency that then charges you exorbitant interest rates, court costs and legal fees, know that you are not alone. Unfortunately, many citizens are caught in the same situation. The injustice of this practice is galvanizing opposition against it, and calls for reform are growing louder. This is a systemic evil that keeps people trapped in poverty, not an individual failing on your part, and it requires a systemic reform through political action.
Efforts to reform municipal court debt collection practices in Missouri are already underway. For the sake of the least of these, I pray that these efforts will be successful and will set an example that the rest of the states follow.
1 comment:
Sometimes justice is not just blind, but deaf and dumb.
Hopefully these efforts to open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf... will extend to putting some common sense into the judicial process.
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