In dozens of interviews and court pleadings, borrowers describe lenders whoвЂ™ve forged documents, lied about how much they were owed, or fabricated defaults out of thin air. Not surprisingly, some lenders have abused this power. Armed with a confession, a lender can, without proof, accuse borrowers of not paying and legally seize their assets before they know whatвЂ™s happened. ItвЂ™s like an arbitration agreement, except the borrower always loses. Before borrowers get a loan, they have to sign a statement giving up their right to defend themselves if the lender takes them to court. The lendersвЂ™ weapon of choice is an arcane legal document called a confession of judgment. Not long after her agency went bankrupt, Janelle collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, vomiting bile. The loss set off a chain of events that culminated a month later in financial ruin. A few days on, $52,886.93 disappeared from one of them. The following Monday, Doug logged in at the office to discover he no longer had access to his bank accounts. What kind of legal system would allow all that to happen 1,000 miles away without notice or a hearing? They shrugged off the warning as a scam.Д«ut the caller was who he said he was, and everything he predicted came true. They checked with a lawyer he was skeptical, too. Doug dialed his contact there and was assured all was well. They had borrowed $36,762 from a company called ABC Merchant Solutions LLC, but as far as they knew they were paying the money back on schedule.

He described the lender as вЂњEXTREMLY AGGRESSIVE.вЂќ Her only hope, the man said, was to pull all her money out of the bank immediately. вЂњIвЂ™m not sure if they already froze your bank accounts, but they are RIGHT NOW moving to do just that,вЂќ heвЂ™d written in an email earlier that day.

A lender called ABC had filed a court judgment against her in the state of New York and was planning to seize her possessions. He described a bizarre legal proceeding that he said was targeting Duncan without her knowledge. The man identified himself as a debt counselor.

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