Portfolio Recovery Associates Hit with FDCPA Lawsuit

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A proposed class action filed in New York claims defendant Portfolio Recovery Associates, L.L.C. violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The lawsuit alleges the defendant sent a collection notice for a defaulted consumer debt to the plaintiff that provided an inaccurate telephone number the man could purportedly call to dispute his debt. In truth, the lawsuit says, the telephone number provided by the defendant refers only to payments, not disputes.

According to the lawsuit, the inclusion of a telephone number that leads the debtor to payments and not disputes, when the language in the notice indicates said number should be called to dispute the debt, is misleading and deceptive because it could “lead the unsophisticated consumer to conclude that his option to dispute the debt could only be in writing.” Requiring the plaintiff to dispute a debt in writing only, the case claims, is a violation of the FDCPA.