With a few exceptions, bankruptcy law is governed by federal legislation and interpreted by federal judicial decisions. The primary purpose of bankruptcy law is to protect debtors from excessive debt collection efforts and to provide creditors with an orderly and fair method of recapturing as much of their loaned dollars as possible.
The body of law that protects consumers, by contrast, is a patchwork quilt of state and federal laws. For consumers and lawyers alike, it can be challenging to know where the protections of one area of consumer law begin and another end. Nevertheless, there is a statute that is particularly important for financially distressed consumers: the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA).
Originally passed in the early 1970s, the Texas DTPA statute gives consumers the ability to fight back if they’ve been injured by misrepresentation, deceit, or fraud in the marketplace. Importantly, these bases for complaint include financial services injuries, such as overly aggressive debt collection and material misstatements about the effect of financial maneuvers like debt consolidation.
Are your financial difficulties caused in part by a creditor who didn’t tell you the full truth about how a loan might impact you? Bankruptcy may be the right option for you to deal with these effects, but you may also have a DTPA claim, too. Find out how these two areas of the law intersect and how they may help you and your family in different ways. Talk to our professionals today by contacting the attorneys at Fears Nachawati.