Debt Collection Lawsuit Filed by N.Y. Woman

A New York plaintiff has filed a proposed class action debt collection lawsuit against Portfolio Recovery Associates claiming they violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Plaintiff Chaya K. of New York claims that defendant Portfolio Recovery Associates, a debt collection agency, sent her a letter to collect a debt on Sept. 9, 2016.

This letter made it clear, according to this debt collection lawsuit, that disputes of the debt could only be made in writing. For disputes, the letter stated, correspondence must be emailed or sent to an address provided on the letter.

There is a telephone number listed on the letter, but that number is only for payments, not disputes, the plaintiff claims.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA, states that a debtor may dispute a debt. If a debt collection agency like Portfolio Recovery Associates provides language in a letter to customers that attempts to “overshadow” the customers’ right to dispute a debt, this is in violation of the law, the debt collection lawsuit asserts.

The FDCPA was passed as a federal law in 1978 in order to protect customers for unfair debt collection practices that many debt collection agencies employed to procure payment. Generally, it is legal for debt collectors to collect payment, but there are some practices that have been deemed illegal by the FDCPA.

Debtors are able to challenge creditors and dispute debts if they believe they have been charged wrongly. Additionally, the law prohibits debt collectors from engaging in threatening tactics to obtain a collected debt.

Chaya’s debt collection lawsuit states, “This language overshadowed and contradicted the validation notice stated above it in the letter, and was misleading, since it leaves the consumer debtor with the false notion that disputing an alleged debt requires a written communication to be sent to the above mentioned address. An unsophisticated consumer would think that all disputes can only be done in writing.”

She believes the letter she received from Portfolio Recovery Associates violates the FDCPA by misrepresenting her right to dispute the debt. She also claims that she “suffered injury in fact by being subjected to unfair and abusive practices of the defendant,” and that she “suffered actual harm by being the target of [the] defendant’s misleading debt collection communications.”

In essence, this debt collection lawsuit claims that the plaintiff suffered fear, stress, mental anguish, emotional stress and acute embarrassment and is concerned that other customers have suffered the same.

She believes that the practices of Portfolio Recovery Associates has not only affected her, but an entire class of customers as well.

In her debt collection lawsuit, Chaya is bringing this action on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated. This proposed class includes those who were sent the same form collection letter by Portfolio Recovery Associates that Chaya was sent.

Because this letter, the plaintiff believes, violates the FDCPA, she and the members of this proposed class are entitled to damages in accordance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

This Debt Collection Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-05238-RJD-RER in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.