There are two types of bounty hunters: mortgage debt collectors and state bounty hunters. Mortgage debt collectors, third party bounty hunters for a fee, are the ones responsible for your banking and the trustee of the commercial fund to which your mortgage loan was sold. State bounty hunters are bail bondsman and limited warranty agent or skip tracking to catch fugitives.
If you are late on your bills, or if creditor records show that you are mistakenly behind, a debt collector or their attorney may contact you.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which prohibits debt collectors from using abusive, unfair, or deceptive practices to collect from you. Among these prohibited behaviors are the following: Reporting false information on consumer credit reports or threaten to do so in the collection process as a service provider and investor would do for a mortgage and/or bond against an FDCPA.
under FDCPA, 15 USC §1692-1692pA debt collector is a person who regularly collects debts owed to others creating legal protection from abusive debt collection practices.
This includes collection agencies, attorneys who collect debts on a regular basis, companies that buy overdue debts and then try to collect them, or a bank that claims interest in a mortgage loan as the service provider in order to collect the trustee’s monthly payments. From the Trust that collects payments from the Service Provider to give to Investors who have purchased Share Certificates in many denominations in the Trust where your Mortgage and Notes reside.
The law covers personal, family, and household debts, including money you owe on a personal credit card account, car loan, medical bill, utility bill, or your mortgage loan. The FDCPA does not cover debts incurred by running a business.
If a debt collector files a lawsuit or mortgage default against you for collecting a debt, respond to the lawsuit within 20 days maximum in most states, either in person or through your attorney, on the date specified in the court papers to keep your rights under Preservation of Rights, UCC Article 3, §3-103.6.
There is no difference between mortgage debt collectors and bounty hunters looking for fugitives.
In Florida, for example, it is illegal to refer to yourself as a bounty hunter. In fact, the only two legal descriptions of bail enforcement agents in Florida are limited warranty agent and professional bail bondsman.
Florida agents, like all bounty hunters, make their arrests according to the common law principle appropriately known as the right to arrest, a tradition that makes fugitives from the law vulnerable to arrest through a number of legal methods. Proper arrest by a licensed bounty hunter is one acceptable means by which justice is ultimately served. Too bad we can’t arrest mortgage bankers and bring them to justice for their fraudulent actions in foreclosures cases, right?
Affected consumers can also file a private lawsuit in the form of a quiet title action in state court to collect damages (actual, statutory, attorneys’ fees, and court costs) from third-party debt collectors such as mortgage servants or trustees of a business trust that is illegally attempting to foreclose on your home or commercial property.