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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.
Disputes can come in all different types of formats, using all different types of language, and at all different times in the process. One collector is facing a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act suit for not acknowledging a dispute that was raised as an affirmative defense to a collection lawsuit.
The Background: The plaintiff incurred a debt and stopped being able to make payments. The debt — a credit card — went into default and was either allegedly purchased by the defendant or placed with the defendant for collection, according to the complaint.
- The defendant filed a collection lawsuit in Kansas state court to recover the balance.
- At this point, the plaintiff met with an attorney to discuss her options. The attorney filed a response to the lawsuit in January, and included a number of affirmative defenses. Among the options was an assertion, “Defendant disputes this debt.”
- In late February, the plaintiff checked a copy of her credit report and saw that the defendant was continuing to report the debt but had failed to note that the debt was disputed.
- This led the plaintiff to ask her attorney to send another letter to the plaintiff, reminding the defendant that the debt was being disputed.
- The defendant’s actions “materially lowered” the plaintiff’s credit score, according to the complaint.
The Claims: The complaint accuses the defendant of violating Section 1692e(8) of the FDCPA by failing to communicate the dispute to the credit bureaus when it communicated other information about the debt.
- The complaint also accuses the defendant of violating Section 1692f by using unfair or unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect a debt.
