Fed Consumer Bureau Sues Law Firm Over Debt-Collecting

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has sued an Ohio law firm that has a specialty in collecting debts. The firm Weltman, Weinberg & Reis, with 65 attorneys and more than 650 employees, is said to have sent out millions of collection letters on the firm’s letterhead, seeking payment on credit cards, mortgages, and consumer and student loans. According to the CFPB, these letters imply that the debtor’s case has been reviewed by an attorney but that is seldom the case. According to the firm, it scrupulously follows the law and it has cooperated with CFPB, including by producing thousands of pages of documents and more than one million recorded collection phone calls. The lawsuit, according to the firm, is the result of its “refusal to be strong-armed into a Consent Order.”