Consumer Protection

A rich set of laws provides limits on the interactions of businesses with consumers, and establish a set of statutory rights for consumers. Our consumer protection practice focuses on debt-related rights of consumers. These rights include fair debt collection rules, credit reporting standards, and lending requirements.

Unfair Debt Collection

The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) limits the activity in which a debt collector may engage. The federal act is complemented by North Carolina state laws, applying both to collection agencies (N.C.G.S. 58-70) and to other debt collection (N.C.G.S. 75-50).

Credit Reporting

Credit reports have an unfortunate tendency to be incorrect or inaccurate. When efforts to obtain correction of the report are staling, it may make sense for the consumer to explore if they have legal remedies against the agency or creditor.

Truth-in-Lending

Federal law imposes requirements for consumer disclosures in lending transactions. Misleading loan terms can make paying a debt very difficult. In certain situations, there may be effective remedies for consumers.

Post-Bankruptcy Rights

If you filed bankruptcy in the past and received a discharge, you became entitled to protections of the bankruptcy discharge injunction against further collection activity. If you feel direct or implied pressure to pay a discharged debt, there may a violation of the discharge injunction. Discharge violations can be punished by sanctions against the creditor.

Other Consumer Protections

Our firm includes a consumer protection practice because we care about making sure consumers are treated fairly in their economic transactions with businesses. If you are not sure if your consumer problem is one that we might be able to assist with, we'd be glad to talk with you, and if appropriate recommend another attorney whose practice might be well suited to assist you.