Firstmark Services Facing Class Action Over Alleged Non-Disclosure of Consumers’ Electronic Funds Transfer Rights

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Alleged violations of both California’s Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (RFDCPA) and the federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) are at the center of a proposed class action case filed against Firstmark Services. 

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff authorized non-party Great Lakes Education Loan Services, Inc. to automatically withdraw payments from her bank account each month. The defendant supposedly obtained for collection the plaintiff’s account from Great Lakes sometime prior to late May 2018. 

The plaintiff says that despite never communicating with the defendant nor having any prior business relationship with the company—nor providing anything resembling authorization—Firstmark mailed a notice in June 2018 informing her it would now be servicing her account. This notice, the lawsuit attests, failed to provide the plaintiff essential information on certain rights pertaining to electronic funds transfers as required by the EFTA. 

With the alleged non-disclosures in mind, the plaintiff argues “any and all electronic fund transfers” conducted by Firstmark Services were in violation of the EFTA and RFDCPA in that she never provided the company with “written or oral preauthorization” to withdraw funds from her account.

“At no point did [the plaintiff] provide [her] consent to [the defendant] to allow [the defendant] to unilaterally debit money from [the plaintiff’s] account,” the suit charges.