An Avon debt buyer that seized people’s cars to force them to pay old debts is now permanently barred from collecting any debt in Massachusetts, under a consent judgment announced by Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell. According to the Attorney General, the settlement means more than 6,000 Massachusetts consumers will no longer be pursued on roughly $52 million in alleged debts.
The companies are Judgment Acquisitions Unlimited and Champion Funding, Inc., and their owner, Andrew Metcalf. If either name appears on a letter, a court paper or a phone call about a debt you supposedly owe, here is what the settlement means, and the Massachusetts law on seizing a car that sits at the center of the case.
What the Attorney General alleged
According to the Attorney General’s office, Metcalf and his companies bought debts and collected on them from Avon. The office alleged they:
- Seized consumers’ cars “as a way to coerce payments from them,” including cars “worth so little that it was exempt from seizure by law” and that was the consumer’s only way to get to work.
- Took cars that were “completely unrelated to any car loan the consumer may have had.” These were not repossessions by a lender. They were seizures to collect on unrelated debts.
The Attorney General sued in February 2024 under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, G.L. c. 93A, and won two preliminary injunctions before the settlement. These are the Attorney General’s allegations; the announcement does not say the defendants admitted them.
What the settlement does
According to the Attorney General’s September 14, 2026 announcement, the consent judgment:
- Prohibits the defendants from buying, selling, transferring, assigning or collecting on debts allegedly owed by Massachusetts consumers. The office describes that as effectively relieving more than 6,000 consumers of about $52 million in alleged debt.
- Permanently bars them from seeking a Massachusetts debt collector license.
- Bars any collection activity from or within Massachusetts, even on debts owed by people in other states.
- Sets a $650,000 suspended penalty that becomes payable if they violate the settlement or if their claimed inability to pay turns out to be untrue.
Because the defendants cannot transfer or sell the debts, the practical effect is that no one should be collecting those specific accounts from Massachusetts consumers going forward.
The law on seizing a car for a debt
When a creditor wins a court judgment, it can get an execution, a court order allowing a sheriff or constable to seize certain property to satisfy the judgment. Massachusetts law protects some property from that. The list is in G.L. c. 235, § 34, and the sixteenth item is the one that matters here:
“An automobile necessary for the debtor’s personal transportation or to secure or maintain employment, not exceeding $7,500 of wholesale resale value; provided, however, that the equitable value of a vehicle owned or substantially used by debtor who is either a handicapped person or a person 60 years of age or older shall be exempt up to $15,000 in wholesale resale value.”
In plain terms:
- A car you need to get around or to work is protected up to $7,500 of wholesale value.
- If you are 60 or older, or disabled, the protection doubles to $15,000.
- The measure is wholesale resale value, which is typically lower than retail. An older car is often fully protected.
The same section protects other property from execution, including a portion of wages and “the full amount owing or paid to a person as public assistance.”
If a collector takes, or threatens to take, your car
- Ask for the paperwork. A seizure to collect a debt, as opposed to a repossession by your car lender, generally requires a court judgment and an execution. Ask for copies of both.
- Know the value. Look up the wholesale value of your car. If it is under $7,500, or $15,000 if you are 60 or older or disabled, and you need it for transportation or work, the exemption applies.
- Raise the exemption in court. The exemption is a legal protection, but you may need to assert it, for example in the court that issued the judgment.
- If Judgment Acquisitions Unlimited or Champion Funding contacts you, the consent judgment bars them from collecting from Massachusetts consumers. Report it to the Attorney General’s office.
Frequently asked questions
Can a debt collector take my car in Massachusetts?
Only with a court judgment and an execution, and even then a car necessary for personal transportation or work is exempt up to $7,500 of wholesale resale value, or $15,000 for a person 60 or older or with a disability, under G.L. c. 235, section 34. A repossession by the lender on your car loan is a different process.
What companies did the Attorney General ban?
Judgment Acquisitions Unlimited, Champion Funding, Inc., and owner Andrew Metcalf, based in Avon. A consent judgment announced September 14, 2026 permanently bars them from debt collection in Massachusetts.
Do I still owe a debt Judgment Acquisitions Unlimited or Champion Funding claimed?
The consent judgment prohibits them from buying, selling, transferring or collecting debts allegedly owed by Massachusetts consumers. The Attorney General describes that as relief for more than 6,000 consumers on about $52 million in alleged debt.
How much of my wages can be taken for a debt in Massachusetts?
G.L. c. 235, section 34 exempts wages equal to the greater of 85 percent of gross wages or 50 times the greater of the federal or Massachusetts hourly minimum wage for each week. Public assistance is fully exempt.
Sources: Office of the Attorney General press release announcing the consent judgment with Judgment Acquisitions Unlimited, Champion Funding, Inc. and Andrew Metcalf, September 14, 2026, read at mass.gov. The consent judgment itself is a scanned document and was not reviewed in full. Statutory text of G.L. c. 235, section 34 read at malegislature.gov. General information about Massachusetts law, not legal advice.