investigators

Maybe start by paying your bills...

if the debt collectors hadn't been breaking the law in the first place. It shouldn't be that hard to avoid calling someone names and threating them, yet they kept doing so. He wouldn't have had anything to sue about if the collectors hadn't given it to him.

but always took the cash. Get a job and pay off your debt. Next thing the Strib will write about Troy's inability to get a mortgage reduction from Obama.

Just... wow. He sounds proud to collect money from collectors while not paying his bills. Collectors may be 'abusive' here, but not paying your bills, continuously, and suing when someone calls you out on it? That's just shameful.

You say collectors shouldn't swear at him or call him names. I agree. However, the law (which some argue isn't sufficient) doesn't take into effect career debtors like this who "goad" collectors into these actions. Obviously, collectors should be smarter. However, everyone let's their emotions run at times and say things that are inappropriate. This law - allows folks like this, effectively legal criminals (they steal for a living), to swear, insult and otherwise draw in the collectors by any means. Then, they sue for being poorly treated. What about the way they treat the collectors? There should be an offset in the law that those debtors who harrass and demean the collector are not entitled to the harrassment protections of the FDCPA. That would put an end to folks like Scheffler.

Thank you Troy. If it wasn't for people like you who don't pay their bills the rest of might not have the privilege of paying extra fees and higher interest rates to make up for the unrecoverables from deadbeats like you. You might have $20,000 but that isn't worth the loss of one's manhood in my opinion.

and you'll see he likes lawsuit side of things. http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/opinion/editorial/article_08dcd45a-2ed2-11df-8b35-001cc4c002e0.html

What's next: legally shafting the elderly?

That's called Medicare Part D. Thank Bush and the pharmaceutical industry for that.

Troy is following the spirit of the Fair Debt COllection Practices Act of 1977 (FDCPA). The FDCPA is a "private attorney general" act, i.e. it is meant to be enforced by private individuals bringing lawsuits. Their incentive is the up to $1,000 statutory damages offered under the act as well as costs and attorney if the debtor prevails. The $1,000 statutory damages has not been raised and has been hit by 30 years of inflation. This $1,000 limit should be raised - write your Congress person! Public prosecutors regularly "entrap" people by sending out decoys to set people up. It's perfectly legal and accepted by the Courts. "Entrapment" is hardly ever a successful defense! Troy is just doing the same things as County Attorneys and the federal District Attorneys. He's doing the Lord's work!