Has the Legal Collection Strategy Gone Too Far?

http://www.insidearm.com/news/00018949-has-the-legal-collection-strategy-gone-to/

Legal collections have long been an effective strategy to collect money from consumers. Now, it appears that it is becoming a central strategy.

Last October at the FTC debt collection workshop, much of the consumer representatives’ time was spent railing against the ARM industry’s growing love affair with legal collection strategies. It’s become common for all of the publicly-traded debt purchasers/collectors to extensively discuss their legal collections in quarterly earnings calls.

Now, one collection attorney in Oregon has gotten into trouble for his actions in cases filed against consumers ("Oregon Collection Lawyer in Hot Water Over Suits," Feb. 12). Apparently, he sued a lot of consumers.

So is this just a case of consumer advocates latching on to an effective strategy? Or has the industry become too reliant on “non-traditional” collection techniques?