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DISCLAIMER: This article is based on a complaint. The defendant has not responded to the complaint to present its side of the case. The claims mentioned are accusations and should be considered as such until and unless proven otherwise.
What if the original creditor was also the current creditor to whom a debt was owed? When you send a Model Validation Notice to an individual, how would you describe the creditor in that case? A plaintiff is taking issue with the way that one collection operation did it and has filed a class-action lawsuit accusing it of violating Regulation F and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by describing the creditor as the original creditor and not the current one.
A copy of the lawsuit, filed in the District Court for the Eastern District of New York, can be accessed using case number 23-cv-06096 or by clicking here.
The plaintiff is the administrator for the estate of the individual who owed the debt and passed away. The defendant sent a Model Validation Notice to the plaintiff, acknowledging that it was trying to collect a debt from the assets of the estate. The notice offered condolences on the passing of the individual, informed the recipient of the notice that she was not required to use her assets or any assets jointly owned with the individual who passed to pay the debt. The individual was being contacted only in her capacity as the estate representative or attorney for the estate.
The itemization table in the notice stated that the individual had a Verizon Wireless account and included the first four digits of the account number. It then said, Original creditor: Verizon Wireless. That, the complaint notes, does not match what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau included in its Model Validation Notice. The Model Validation Notice uses the language: North South Group is a debt collector. We are trying to collect a debt that you owe to Bank of Rockville.
The notice the plaintiff received led her to believe that the defendant was attempting to collect the debt “on behalf of some unknown assignee or purchaser” of the obligation, according to the complaint.
The complaint accuses the defendant of violating Sections 1692e, 1692e(10), and 1692g(a)(2) of the FDCPA and seeks to include anyone else who received a similar communication from the defendant.
