Merchants & Medical Credit Corp. Accused of Sending Misleading, Contradictory Collection Letters

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A proposed class action filed against Merchants & Medical Credit Corporation, Inc. accuses the debt collector of sending two Wisconsin consumers misleading collection letters. The suit centers around the defendant’s validation notice that allegedly instructed the recipients to contact both “this office” and “the debt collector or collection agency” in the event of a debt dispute. The case notes that the letters’ seemingly contradictory representations could have caused the plaintiffs to believe they should send written disputes to another debt collector that sent them a previous collection letter or the “original creditor” listed in the letters.

One plaintiff’s letter identified Capital One, N.A. as both the “original creditor” and “creditor,” the suit notes, and informed her that she should contact “this office” to obtain “the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor.” The case argues that these statements could mislead the plaintiff into thinking she should not send any disputes to “this office” because the original creditor and current creditor were the same entity.

The complaint takes further issue with the defendant’s practice of adding “52” to the end of consumers’ account numbers for debts associated with Kohl’s, arguing that the plaintiffs and others would be confused as to why their account numbers had changed.

“The language in Merchants’ letters is false, misleading, and confusing to the unsophisticated consumer, in that the language contained in the validation notice refers to the debt collector in terms that would lead the unsophisticated consumer to be uncertain as to what party to contact to dispute or seek verification of the debt,” the complaint concludes.