Two More NYC Debt Collectors Hit with Class Actions

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A New York City-based law firm has filed class action lawsuits against Selip & Stylianou, LLP and Zwicker & Associates, P.C. over the parties’ allegedly illegal and abusive debt collection practices. The lawsuits say the defendants respectively violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by making statements in collection letters that could be misleading to the unsophisticated consumer.

The case against Selip & Stylianou, LLP alleges the collection agency unlawfully told a debtor that a forgiven debt amount of more than $600 needed to be reported to the IRS when in fact several exemptions exist in which larger debt settlements do not need to be reported to the agency. Including such language in a collection letter, the lawsuit claims, “could reasonably understood by the least sophisticated consumer to mean that IRS regulations require that the client report all forgiveness of debt” when there is no legal requirement to do so. The FDCPA, the complaint continues, outlines the use of such deceptive language as a tactic used to threaten and scare consumers.

The lawsuit filed against Zwicker & Associates, P.C. alleges the agency failed to include in a collection letter that the plaintiff’s debt was accruing interest daily. Failing to state this, the FDCPA says, could lead an individual to mistakenly believe he or she was paying a debt amount in full, unaware that the balance was not entirely paid due to the undisclosed interest accrual.