Maryland's Court of Appeals on Wednesday approved changes to the state's Rules of Procedure that will force companies that buy past-due consumer debts - and try to collect by suing - to present sufficient evidence to support their claims, according to Jonathan F. Harris, an attorney with the Public Justice Center, a Baltimore-based legal advocacy group.
A court committee recommended the new rules in June at the urging of the Maryland Attorney General's Office and the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.
When debt buyers purchase defaulted accounts from credit-card firms and other creditors, they pay a cut-rate price for what usually amounts to "only minimal information regarding each debt and debtor," the rules committee concluded.
The companies then swear in affidavits that the information is accurate, though they frequently don't pay to acquire documents — such as signed agreements or a list of purchases — to verify the details in the databases they have purchased, the attorney general's office added.
