Lawsuit Challenges Portfolio Recovery Associates' Request for Consumer to Call In Debt Disputes

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A Philadelphia man alleges in a proposed class action that defendant Portfolio Recovery Associates unlawfully “overshadowed” in a collection notice his right to request validation of a debt. The plaintiff says he received a notice from the defendant in late March 2018 stemming from a debt connected to an old Capital One Bank account. The lawsuit claims that although debt disputes can only trigger a collector’s obligation to provide verification when they’re submitted in writing, Portfolio Recovery Associates supposedly prompted the plaintiff to call an 800 number if he wished to dispute his obligation.

“This instruction to telephone an 800 number if there is a dispute is confusing and overshadows the validation notice stated on the front,” the case reads. “[Portfolio Recovery Associates’] letter is deceptive because a least sophisticated debtor could reasonably believe that if he does not owe, has a question about, or is not responsible for, a debt, he can make such a dispute by phone.”