A trio of law professors have published a paper in the Illinois Law Review calling the economic stimulus being offered through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act a “gimmick” that will not do enough and calling on Congress to “fix its mistakes” by, among other things, initiating a moratorium on debt collection.
A copy of the article, “CARES Act Gimmicks,” which was written by Pamela Foohey, an Associate Professor at Indiana University, Dalie Jimenez, a professor at University of California, Irvine, and Christopher Odinet, an associate professor at Oklahoma University, can be accessed by clicking here. Astute observers may recognize Jiminez’s name; she testified before the House Financial Services Committee last year during a hearing that was held on “Examining Legislation to Protect Consumers and Small Business Owners from Abusive Debt Collection Practices.”
Referencing some of the steps that have been enacted by the Attorney General of Massachusetts to regulate debt collection during the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors equate any collection attempt during the crisis to “an unfair practice in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Act, and many state consumer protection statutes.”
“Despite debt collectors’ arguments to the contrary, these are not essential processes or businesses,” the authors write. “People need food, medicine, trash pickup, and mail delivery. No one needs to be called by a debt collector, to be evicted for their home, or to have their car repossessed right now. And this is not just a matter of the harm these events could bring to the individuals called, evicted, and forced to live without a car. These actions undoubtedly will affect the lives of unrelated individuals.”
The comments in this article echo others that have been made by Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-Mass.], and Sen. Sherrod Brown [D-Ohio], who published comments of their own
