Class Action Accuses Wakefield Associates of Illegal Debt Collection Practices

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that Wakefield Associates, Inc., a debt collection agency, used misleading and abusive means to collect a debt.

The plaintiff acquired his debt through medical services received at Baptist Medical Center East Emergency, the case explains. The defendant, who was contracted by the hospital, allegedly added a $4.95 “service fee” to payments made by the plaintiff. This service fee was not authorized by the hospital when they contracted the defendant, the case says. The suit argues that the plaintiff  is entitled to compensation as he was harmed and misled by the defendant’s actions:

“The Plaintiff was harmed by being asked to pay more money than he actually owed, by being asked to pay more money than the Defendant could legally receive, by being subjected to abusive collection practices from which he had a substantive right to be free, and by having his options to pay his debt made more expensive and difficult by the Defendant tacking on an additional, illegal and entirely arbitrary $4.95 service fee simply for making a credit card payment.”