California Call Recording Lawsuit Takes on Educational Credit Management Corp.

Educational Credit Management Corporation is facing a new class action California call recording lawsuit from a California resident who alleges the company violated state privacy laws by recording customers without their consent. This woman is filing this class action California call recording lawsuit on behalf of herself and other consumers who allegedly were not told that they may be recorded.

Plaintiff Beheshta Mahboob is bringing this class action California call recording lawsuit against Educational Credit Management Corporation claiming various state privacy law violations due to the defendant not asking for permission before recording calls.

According to Mahboob’s complaint, Educational Credit Management Corporation is a student loan servicer that has many accounts in California and regularly makes debt collection calls to mobile phones. In addition, Educational Credit Management Corporation allegedly records all of its phone conversations as part of its business practices.

However, this information is not common knowledge to consumers and does not change the fact that California call recording laws still apply. According to the class action California call recording lawsuit, Mahboob had received a call from the debt collector on her cellphone on March 27, 2015.

The lawsuit states the conversation that took place between Mahboob and the company’s representative pertained to personal financial matters that Mahboob did not openly discuss with others. The lawsuit further states that Mahboob’s conversation was recorded without her knowledge or consent, which directly violates California privacy laws.

Mahboob alleges that she did not hear any intermittent beeping sounds during the call which may have indicated she had been recorded. In addition, Mahboob claims she did not experience any hold time after she made a phone call to Educational Credit Management Corporation and was directly connected with an agent.

Mahboob claims she was not aware that her calls were allegedly recorded until June 14, 2017, and she opted to file legal action soon after discovery.

Overview of California Call Recording Policies

Even though Educational Credit Management Corporation had a policy of recording calls, the company was still required to disclose this fact to consumers before recording calls.

Under California recording laws, businesses must disclose potential call recording to customers and then ask for consent before doing so. Businesses often give this disclosure at the beginning of calls and then direct them to press a button on their dial tone or other action to express consent. It is important to note that by staying on the line, the consumer gives implied consent.

Companies often have designated customer service lines to accept inbound calls and make outbound calls, with these calls often recorded for customer service training purposes. While this is commonplace in the industry, companies still must ask for permission before using these recorded calls.

Mahboob claims that even though Educational Credit Management Corporation was aware of these state privacy laws, the company still allegedly failed to warn the plaintiff and other consumers of potential call recording.

Mahboob is proposing to bring her class action California call recording lawsuit on behalf of all California consumers who received a call from Educational Credit between Aug. 2, 2014 to March 31, 2015, and is seeking $5,000 per instance.

This class action California Call Recording Lawsuit is Beheshta Mahboob v. Educational Credit Management Corporation, Case No. 2:18-cv-02221-JAK-GJS, in the U.S. District Court of Central California, Western Division.