American Recovery Service Class Action Says Debt Letters Violate FDCPA

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A class action lawsuit claims American Recovery Service Inc. engages in debt collection practices that violate the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Plaintiff Donald Gentile alleges American Recovery Service has been sending debt collection letters that fail to conform to FDCPA standards.

He also calls the company out for attempting to collect consumer debt in Florida without a proper Florida debt collector’s license.

Gentile says he received a letter from American Recovery Service sent in May 2016, attempting to collect a debt he owed to American Express Centurion Bank. He quotes the letter as identifying the creditor only as “American Express.”

He claims the debt in question originated in an American Express Centurion Bank credit card account and was “incurred primarily for personal, household or family use.” The debt had already been adjudicated in Florida state court, he says, resulting in a judgment in the bank’s favor in August 2010.

Gentile alleges the letter he received failed to properly identify the creditor to whom the debt was owed, as required by the FDCPA. He says the actual creditor is American Express Receivables Financing Corporation III LLC.

“Defendant falsely and misleadingly identifies ‘American Express’ as the creditor to whom the debt is owed,” he claims. He argues that there are many other entities that identify themselves as “American Express,” none of whom Gentile admits owing any debt to.

He also claims American Recovery Service has no proper license to collect consumer debt in Florida, as required by state statute.

The plaintiff says that on the second page of the letter he received, the collection agency identifies its New York City Department of Consumer Affairs License Number and its North Carolina Agency Board permit number. Both these numbers are registered to American Recovery Service Inc.

But American Recovery Service Inc. does not have a proper Florida consumer debt collection license, Gentile claims. An entity named American Recovery Service Incorporated of California is licensed to collect consumer debt in Florida, he says.

However, Gentile alleges that entity’s name appears nowhere on the debt collection letter he received, which was allegedly written under the letterhead of American Recovery Service Inc.

Gentile is proposing to represent a plaintiff Class consisting of all persons with Florida addresses to whom American Recovery Service sent letters on behalf of American Express Centurion Bank in an attempt to collect a debt incurred for personal, family or household purposes – letters that identified the creditor as “American Express” and the debt collector as “American Recovery Service Incorporated,” and that were sent within one year prior to the filing of this class action lawsuit.

He seeks an award of statutory damages for himself and the proposed Class Members, plus court costs, attorneys’ fees, and interest.

Gentile is represented by attorneys Leo W. Desmond and Sovathary K. Jacobson of Desmond Law Firm PC.

The American Recovery Service FDCPA Class Action Lawsuit is Gentile v. American Recovery Service Inc., Case No. 9:16-cv-81649, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.