AboutJason Shear, Esq. Expertise I can answer questions relating to consumer debt defense/collection agency defense, specifically pertaining to consumers being sued or harassed by collection agencies or NY collection attorneys. If you live in New York and have been contacted or sued by firms such as: Mel Harris & Associates, Forster & Garbus, Rubin & Rothman, Mann Braken, Lacy Katzen, Malen & Associates, Solomon & Solomon, Thomas Law Office, Cohen & Slamowitz, Bronson & Migliaccio, Pressler & Pressler or others; give me a call at (716) 566-8988.
Experience I have successfully defended consumers who were sued by collection agencies/debt purchasers in the New York State courts.
Education/Credentials BA/BS, Accounting & Political Science, Hunter College.
Juris Doctor, Univ. at Buffalo Law School.
LLM (Criminal Law), University at Buffalo.
I recently discovered that I have a default judgment against me in the New York courts. I never received any notification of the case until my bank account was frozen by Forster and Garbus. The debt concerns a credit card my wife had before we were divorced, but I was just an authorized user. I thought an authorized user is not responsible. What can I do and am I responsible? Thanks for your help. I live in NYS.
Answer Mike:
Good question. No, you are not responsible. The Federal Reserve Board's official staff commentary concerning this regulation indicates that only the account holder and not authorized users have any liability for unauthorized use. In general, state law follows this federal rule and limits authorized users' liability, holding that an authorized user, without more, is not liable for debts incurred by the account holder or others.
The collector has the burden of proving that an agreement exists by which an authorized user consents to be liable for the charges of others on the account. If there is such an agreement, any ambiguity is construed against the creditor.
Typically, there will be no provision making an authorized user liable for the debts of others and some standard contracts explicitly provide that the authorized user is liable only for that user's own charges, but not for charges incurred by the account holder or others.
In regards to the default judgment, if you never received proper notification of this action, we should be able to get the default judgment vacated.
Hope this answers your question. If you require further assistance, please call me directly.
Jason A. Shear, Esq.
Attorney at Law
Admitted in NY & NJ
4160 Harlem Rd.
Buffalo, New York 14226
Phone: (716) 566-8988
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