Jeff Horwitz at the American Banker has been doing some great reporting on abusive debt collection practices in the credit card industry. Joe Nocera's column took up the subject today. Robo-signing and other abuses have been a problem for a while with credit card debt collections, and Horwitz and Nocera do a public service by drawing attention to the problems. The situation cries out for congressional hearings and for regulatory investigation. It is great to see the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau make debt collection practices one of its top priorities.

Horwitz's articles at the American Banker include:

• A summary of the debt collection problems at JP Morgan Chase
• The story of a courageous whistleblower at JP Morgan Chase
• The facts about how credit card debt is sold with little to no documentation or supporting evidence, focusing especially on the problems at Bank of America

Maria Aspen at American Banker separately reported how the sloppy sales of delinquent credit card accounts and shoddy debt collection practices were a nightmare for one Maryland woman.