FDCPA Case Names Alliance One Receivables Management, Capital One Bank

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From Wisconsin federal court comes a proposed class action filed against defendants Alliance One Receivables Management, Inc. and Capital One Bank USA, N.A. over alleged Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) violations. The two named plaintiffs claim the defendants sent collection notices that contained numerous FDCPA abuses.

One notice allegedly included a contradictory and confusing “non-disclaiming-disclaimer,” specifically the following asterisked statement:

“*No decision has been made to sue you yet. You’ll have an opportunity at any court hearing to raise any applicable defenses or property exemptions.”

The above language, in conjunction with another statement in the notice that said the plaintiffs’ accounts may be forwarded to a lawyer for review, could possibly be misinterpreted by the unsophisticated consumer, the suit claims. According to the complaint, it is a violation of the FDCPA for a debt collector to threaten legal action against a debtor when it has no true intent to sue.

A second notice, the complaint continues, allegedly implied that there could be interest or fees added to one of the two plaintiff’s debts, yet the end of the letter included language stating that fees were no longer being added to the account.

From here, the complaint details two more collection notices sent by or on behalf of the defendants that, among other alleged FDCPA violations, seemingly miscalculated the number of monthly payments one plaintiff would need to make to settle a debt, and imposed a false time limit on a debt settlement offer.