Manassas Consumer Protection Blog

Student loans are a serious concern for many Americans. According to Forbes, more than 44 million people owe about $1.5 trillion in student loan debt in the U.S.

This debt may feel overwhelming, and you could be struggling to make student loan payments. The good news is if you are struggling with payments, you are protected against some debt collection practices through the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The FDCPA prohibits certain predatory behaviors by debt collectors. Here is what you need to know.

We represent Virginia consumers harmed by deceitful merchants, service providers or suppliers in commercial transactions. In a recent post, we talked about a lawsuit in which a merchant harmed the plaintiff financially in an interior-design services transaction. In that case, the court found that the provider had violated the Virginia Consumer Protection Act or VCPA when it billed for flawed or unauthorized furniture purchases and for price markups without permission. 

In addition to the VCPA violations, the court also held that the defendant had been in breach of contract and had engaged in the infliction of emotional distress, both claims under Virginia state law separate from the VCPA legislation. As we said, this is a good example of how an injured consumer can recover, if appropriate, under the VCPA and under other state-law claims for harm from the same transaction.

We just had an excellent result in a consumer car fraud case against Koons of Woodbridge - a fairly large, multi location car dealership!

Our client went to Koons in October 2016 and looked at a used 2016 Lincoln MKX, with only 5,000 miles on it. Koons told her that the car came with the full factory bumper to bumper warranty, which would cover everything except routine maintenance. However, unknown to the client, the car had been in an accident prior to Koons purchasing it, and sustained significant damage. The car had originally been a rental car through Enterprise, but was in a wreck. Enterprise sold it at auction, and another company purchased it for $20,000, spent $4,500 in repairs, and then sold it at auction to Koons. Koons paid $29,300 for the car. There was a dispute regarding whether the auction disclosed to Koons that the car had structural damage - Koons denied receiving any such disclosure. The NADA fair market value for the car in an undamaged condition was $37,400. Koons sold this car to our client for $42,701 - a profit of $13,401, and a sales price $5,301 over book value for an undamaged car! 

You may have been searching for that car for a long time. It is the perfect color, body style, make, model and the price is right. But buying a car can cost you much more than you ever expected. Especially if the car you are buying does not work properly. It is called a lemon or a dud.