Lawsuit Claims Mercantile Adjustment Bureau Misled About ‘Original Creditor’

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A Wisconsin consumer alleges in a proposed class action lawsuit that defendant Mercantile Adjustment Bureau, LLC sent her a collection notice in which it misleadingly identified the woman’s “current creditor” as Capital One, N.A. and her “original creditor” as Kohl’s Department Stores, Inc. The lawsuit alleges referring to Kohl’s as the plaintiff’s original creditor is unlawfully misleading because the term “original creditor,” for collection purposes, is defined as the creditor when the account was open. When a different entity is described in a collection notice as the “current creditor,” the lawsuit argues, an unsophisticated consumer may mistakenly believe his or her original creditor had sold the debt to a third party. 

The complaint goes on to claim the plaintiff’s counsel has determined that, since 2011, Capital One is the issuer and holder of Kohl’s store credit accounts.

“Since Kohl’s credit cards became a private label, bank-issued card, prior to 2011 (i.e. at a minimum, before Chase began issuing Kohl’s credit accounts), Kohl’s has had no involvement in holding or servicing Kohl’s-branded credit accounts,” the lawsuit asserts.