Read JALA’s backgrounder for more details
Jacksonville Feb. 28, 2025 — Jacksonville Area Legal Aid President & CEO Jim Kowalski is urging Florida legislators to oppose SB 232, which would limit the application of the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA) to debt collectors, leaving the door open for those who commit consumer fraud.
“This legislation would gut our ability to combat scammers and fraudsters,” Kowalski said. “We use the FCCPA extensively in our cases involving scammers and fraudsters, specifically those involved in door-to-door scams involving the elderly, as well as unscrupulous landlords who target many of our lower-income clients.”
Such entities are not covered by the federal consumer protection law that is a counterpart to the FCCPA.
Kowalski cites the example of a local senior who was the victim of a door-to-door home renovation scam, where the fraudsters installed tinfoil in her attic along with a tiny fan, and charged her more than $6,000 after telling her it would be free due to tax credits. The scammer then sued her to foreclose on a lien.
“Fortunately, our client saved all the original documents, so we could show the court the contract filed by the fraudster was not a copy of the original,” Kowalski said.
Because the FCCPA covered the installer, JALA was able to protect the senior citizen from the scam. If SB 232 were to pass, the client would have likely lost the case.
Seniors are the group most vulnerable to such scams, with nearly 2,800 Northeast Florida residents aged 60 and over reporting losses to fraud in just the first nine months of 2024, according to data JALA collected as part of the Federal Trade Commission Consumer Sentinel Network. And Florida is ground zero for consumer complaints—fact sheets developed by the Student Borrower Protection Center, Americans for Financial Reform and the Consumer Federation of America showed Floridians filed 1 million complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), dwarfing California (844,781) and Texas (909,672) in the total number of consumer complaints.
Already Jacksonville residents are in a precarious position. A recently released WalletHub survey listing the cities with the most financially distressed citizens ranked Jacksonville third in the country. Other Florida cities also made the top ten: Orlando at six, Tampa at eight and Miami at nine.
“This is the wrong time to help those who prey upon our seniors and other vulnerable citizens,” Kowalski said.
About Jacksonville Area Legal Aid
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid is a nonprofit law firm focused on delivering economic, social and housing justice to low-income and at-risk individuals and families on the First Coast.
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