Boom in Debt Buying Fuels Another Boom—in Lawsuits

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By JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG

Glynis Martin, a 56-year-old New York social worker, started struggling to keep up with her credit-card bills about five years ago as the mortgage on her Bronx apartment ate up most of her paycheck.

Debt collectors are turning to the courts to re-coup bad debts. WSJ's Jessica Silver-Greenberg talks with Kelsey Hubbard about how the new tactics affect consumers and the new burden for the courts.

Pretty soon debt-collection calls became routine for her, and in January, Midland Funding LLC sued Ms. Martin in Bronx County Civil Court for $4,524.84.

"I just couldn't make ends meet and pay off those cards," she says. "I would have paid them what I could. It seems like they just went straight to court."

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