EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is part of a series that is sponsored by WebRecon. WebRecon identifies serial plaintiffs lurking in your database BEFORE you contact them and expose yourself to a likely lawsuit. Protect your company from as many as one in three new consumer lawsuits by scrubbing your consumers through WebRecon first. Want to learn more? Call (855) WEB-RECON or email admin@webrecon.net today! Thanks to WebRecon for sponsoring this series.
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.
A collector is being accused of violating Regulation F and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and sending the plaintiff to therapy because it replied to a dispute letter indicating that the only convenient time and method of contact was via email between 9am and 12pm PT on weekdays with a letter that allegedly embarrassed the plaintiff in front of his family and friends.
The Background: The plaintiff checked his credit report in March and noted two items that were being reported by the defendant. The plaintiff sent two dispute letters to the defendant via traditional mail. In the letters, the plaintiff expressed disagreement with the balance that was being reported and “conveyed his perception that the current economic conditions present significant challenges and questioned the fairness of the Defendant’s demand for the full amount to be paid,” according to the complaint.
- The plaintiff also stated in his letters “I will not pay this debt.”
- Finally, the plaintiff informed the defendant that his preferred method of communication was via email exclusively during the hours of 9am and 12pm on weekdays.
- The defendant sent a letter back to the plaintiff, verifying the amount of the debt and providing the identity of the original creditor. The defendant also informed the plaintiff that it would inform the credit reporting agencies that the debt was being disputed.
- Because it chose to send a letter back to the plaintiff rather than communicate via email as the plaintiff requested, the plaintiff sought therapy. During his two therapy sessions, the plaintiff conveyed that the defendant’s actions “exacerbated his anxiety and severely disrupted his eating and sleeping patterns.”
The Claims: The lawsuit accuses the defendant of violating Section 1692c(a)(1) of the FDCPA by communicating with a consumer via a time or place which was known to be inconvenient and violating Regulation F by communicating with a person via a medium after the individual has requested the collector not use that medium to communicate with the borrower.
