Forget the Facts! Robo-Sign it!

Judgments against unsuspecting consumers for defaulted loans are being churned out by debt collectors like Midland Funding, using robo-signed affidavits of debt as substitutes for properly investigated, properly documented debt.

Robo-signing is the mass-production of “sworn” affidavits used to prove outstanding debt in lawsuits against consumers. Most common among large debt collectors and debt buyers, the person signing has no personal knowledge of the facts of the debt and doesn’t make any effort to investigate when swearing under oath that the debt is valid. Thus, the signature, which is supposed to evidence proof of good faith of a claimed debt, is entirely lacking in credibility or evidentiary value. Unfortunately, debt collectors engaging in this practice when filing lawsuits against consumers, are successful in winning judgments because their practices either go unchallenged by unsuspecting consumers or have become so common as to be accepted by the court.

Until a flurry of recent class-action lawsuits, robo-signing usually flew under the radar, as the courts turned a blind eye to the rubber-stamping practice because it allowed cases to be processed through the system faster, even if it sacrificed fairness and justice. In a case against Midland Funding, LLC, for example, employees testified to signing up to 400 affidavits a day; and a lack of documentation and disregard for proper procedures resulted in consumers being victimized (aka “railroaded”) into being held accountable for debts either paid or not owed. In some cases, liens were secured against titles to homes, wages were garnished and information was sent to credit reporting bureaus, devastating credit for many Americans and their families. This in turn increased the cost of credit or caused credit applications to be denied entirely until the robo-derived judgments were satisfied.

Legal advocates have for years loudly cried foul over the absence of documentation by collectors suing consumers in small claims court and the tolerance by the courts in allowing it to continue. To understand how heinous the robo-signing method is in the real world, watch the cartoon shown in this link: Robo-signing machine.