Client Services Hit with Class Action Over ‘Contradictory’ Collection Letters

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A proposed class action lawsuit against Client Services Inc. claims the debt collector sent contradictory collection letters that misled a Wisconsin consumer regarding the amount of her alleged debt.

On November 29, 2017, the plaintiff allegedly received a collection letter regarding a debt purportedly owed to Citibank, N.A. that was associated with a Home Depot-branded credit card. The letter, according to the lawsuit, listed a “New Balance” of $343.18 and a “Minimum Payment Due” of $191 in the header but went on to note in the body of the notice that the “balance due is $343.18.” Adding to the confusion, the plaintiff supposedly received an account statement a few days earlier that stated the “Minimum Payment Due” as $191. The suit argues that the November 29 collection letter was misleading in that it seemingly specified two different amounts as “due.”

The lawsuit takes further issue with another collection letter supposedly mailed to the plaintiff on January 3, 2018, for the same account. The second letter offered to settle the debt for $193, the case says, but also stated a “minimum payment due” of $238. According to the complaint, the letter was “facially contradictory” in that the minimum payment was greater than the settlement offer. The case argues that the plaintiff, upon paying either amount, would be unsure as to whether the debt collector would consider the debt settled or continue its collection efforts:

“The unsophisticated consumer would be confused and mislead [sic] as to the amount CSI was attempting to collect, and whether CSI was attempting to collect the entire balance or just a portion thereof.”