The Attorney General’s Office has filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction against Champion Funding, Inc., Champion Funding LLC, Judgment Acquisitions Unlimited, Inc., Andrew Metcalf, d/b/a Judgment Acquisitions Unlimited, Inc., and Andrew Metcalf, individually, to halt harmful debt collection practices. Metcalf is the owner of the above-named corporate entities, both of which are debt collection agencies.
In February, the Attorney General’s Office filed a complaint alleging that under the direction of Metcalf, Champion Funding, Inc. and Judgment Acquisitions Unlimited, Inc. purchased old judgements and defaulted consumer debt, and then use aggressive methods to collect those debts. These collection methods include placing telephone calls, sending letters, text messages, and emails, filing litigation, garnishing wages, recording liens on real property, and seizing personal property.
The Commonwealth further alleges that one of the Defendants’ debt collection tactics is to seize consumers’ cars to coerce payments from them. According to the Commonwealth, they do so even when the debtor’s car is worth so little that it is exempt from seizure by law. This practice can cause significant harm to individuals, potentially causing them to miss work, lose wages, file for bankruptcy, and spend money on alternative transportation.
The AGO’s memorandum in support of its motion describes the behavior by Metcalf and his companies as demonstrating an “utter refusal and inability to comply with debt collection laws.”
Among other relief, the Preliminary Injunction sought by the Commonwealth would immediately prohibit Metcalf, his companies, or associates from selling any car seized from a Massachusetts consumer, seizing any additional cars from Massachusetts consumers, and filing or appearing in any legal proceeding without an attorney. Additionally, the Preliminary Injunction is seeking an order that Metcalf and his companies return every previously seized car to its owner within 10 days of entry of the Preliminary Injunction.
This matter is being handled by Consumer Protection Division Assistant Attorneys General Colin Harnsgate and Jane Alexandra Sugarman, Investigator Anthony Crespi, and Paralegal Adrian Butterton.
Original source can be found here.