Consumer Law

Disconnections, Metering, Payments, Telecommunications, and Assistance Programs
Delivery of electricity, gas, water, and telecommunications services are some of the biggest problem areas for consumers today. Skyrocketing prices, de-regulation, and widespread terminations all make access to utility service an area essential to a consumer law practice.

What You Need to Know in This Evolving Area

Rights to prevent disconnections and to reconnect service
Deposits, late charges, level billing plans, master metering, other metering issues
Right to utility service
Discount rates and affordability programs
Federal fuel assistance program
Weatherization and energy efficiency programs
Utility allowances in subsidized housing
Tenant strategies to maintain service despite landlord non-payment
Telephone and Telecommunications issues
Affordable water service
Manufactured homes and utility service
Using bankruptcy to restore service
Municipal and REC utility service
Oil, propane, and other deliverable fuels

Expert Guidance and Incisive Analysis on All Consumer Bankruptcy Topics
The definitive consumer bankruptcy treatise is updated with new case law, new Bankruptcy Code dollar amounts, the new initial forms, rules effective December 1, 2019, and updated means test data.

Everything you need to know about the all-new official forms, effective December 2019, including sample filled-in forms for Chapter 7 and 13 cases, with extensive annotations and instructions
The new April 1, 2019 dollar amounts updated in the chapters and the Code
Analysis of recent Supreme Court decisions on discharge injunction violations and application of FDCPA to bankruptcy claims process
Analysis and pleadings concerning the requirements for mortgage servicers submitting claims, including payment change and final cure notices under Bankruptcy Rule 3002.1
Reprints of the Bankruptcy Code, additional bankruptcy statutes, the bankruptcy rules, fee schedules, bankruptcy regulations, director's forms, and more
Automatic stay, the bankruptcy discharge, and remedies for stay and discharge violations
Discussion of means testing issues and latest means test data
Using bankruptcy to deal with a foreclosure
Exemptions, lien avoidance, and secured claims
Hidden fees and overcharges in creditor claims
Attorney fees
Litigating consumer cases in bankruptcy
Non-dischargeability actions
Creditor reaffirmation abuses
Consumers as creditors of bankrupt merchants, landlords, or lenders.
All the Practice Tools You Need:

Client questionnaire (English and Spanish)
Annotated sample completed initial forms for use in 2020
170 sample pleadings, in Word format
A date calculator to compute 24 key look-back dates
Forms and tips to obtain client tax records for use in 2020
State-by-state analysis of exemption law
Reprints of all other bankruptcy statutes (in addition to the Code)
Bankruptcy Rules in effect for 2020
Means test data
Client handouts.

The Definitive FDCPA Treatise and More
For over 40 years, Fair Debt Collection, cited multiple times by the U.S. Supreme Court, is the leading treatise on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), providing all the tools a practitioner needs to recover actual and statutory damages and attorney fees for both individual and class action cases. The treatise is fully updated, analyzing new CFPB Regulation F, effective November 30, 2021. NCLC's unique “FDCPA Case Connector” provides instant access to over 15,000 FDCPA case summaries, allowing searches by keyword, topic, court, state, or case name.

Fair Debt Collection Is as Practical as It Is Thorough:
Preparation of a debt collection harassment case and interview questionnaires
Sample pleadings and discovery
Meeting constitutional standing requirements after the Supreme Court’s Ramirez and Spokeo decisions
Consumer remedies, responding to debt collector's defenses, avoiding arbitration
Access to all relevant CFPB and FTC guidance
Not Just the FDCPA: All Other Sources of Debt Collection Law
State debt collection statutes, critical in finding creditor liability, with a 50 state, state-by-state statutory summary
Common law torts offering punitive damages
Using state UDAP statutes to enhance remedies, cover creditors, and recover for new forms of abuse
Eleven other federal statutes offering important remedies and restrictions

Comprehensive Coverage of Laws in All 50 States and Federal Protections:

Detailed analysis of Uniform Commercial Code Article 9 (the framework for repossessions law) and state variations from the model law
50-state analysis of critical state statutes offering important additional consumer protections—right to cure, right to reinstate, bans on deficiencies, limits on security interests and defaults, and more
State and federal protections regarding manufactured home seizures
Special federal rights for service members and their dependents
Federal limits on household goods security interests
Bonus Practice Tools

Sample answers, individual and class complaints, discovery, motions, jury instructions, settlements, attorney fees, and more
Credit math software
Reprints of selected UCC Articles 1, 2A, 3, and 9 provisions, with essential official comments
Sample letters dealing with forgiven debt as taxable income

Collections, Intercepts, Deferments, Discharges, Repayment Plans, and Trade School Abuses
The Bad News Millions of Americans, delinquent on their student loans, feel the full brunt of federal collection:

Tax refund intercepts, wage garnishment, and seizure of Social Security benefits
Shoddy and misleading student loan servicing
Shocking collection fees and collector harassment
Limits on bankruptcy discharge and ineligibility for new loans and grants.
The Good News Student Loan Law, updated continuously in its digital format, details all the latest rights of student loan debtors, including:

Loan forgiveness for the schools' deceptive practices
Financial hardship and other loan deferments
Affordable repayment plans, income-contingent loan consolidations, and loan rehabilitation
Rights to stop tax intercepts, wage garnishments, and seizure of Social Security benefits
Loan discharges based on school closure, fraud, failure to make owed refunds, or disability
Minimizing collection fees
Claims for proprietary school abuses and deception
Challenges to private student loan enforcement
Litigation tactics and pointers
Coverage of Multiple Types of Student Loans

Federal Direct Loans, including Consolidation and PLUS Loans
Old Guaranteed Student Loans (FFEL/Stafford)
Private student loans