WI Consumers Sue Consumer Portfolio Services, Statewide Recovery Specialists Over Car Repossession

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Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc. (CPS) and Statewide Recovery Specialists, LLC (SRS) are the defendants in a proposed class action filed by a married Wisconsin couple who claim the companies are responsible in part for the repossession of their car in the middle of the night between June 6 and 7, 2018.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs defaulted on a financing loan for their 2004 Kia Sorrento sometime prior to October 13, 2017. Around that date, the individuals received a billing notice from CPS, the suit says, that stated they owed a principal balance of $9,433.50, a “Regular Monthly Payment” of $293.73, and an “Amount Past Due” of $631.19. The plaintiffs say they received another billing notice—Exhibit B—the following month stating the same principal balance and regular monthly payments owed and a new Amount Past Due of $942.92.

“After the receipt if [sic] Exhibit B,” the lawsuit says, “[the plaintiffs] received no further documents from CPS or any other party regarding the automobile loan at issue in this action.”

The lawsuit then says CPS contracted with co-defendant SRS to repossess the plaintiffs’ vehicle. The repossession, the plaintiffs argue, violated both Wisconsin law and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in that state statutes generally prohibit creditors from “engaging in self-help repossession without the creditor following a specific, multi-step statutory notice procedure” or obtaining a judgment of replevin. Per the FDCPA charge, the suit says the law disallows debt collectors from “taking or threatening to take any nonjudicial action to effect dispossession or disablement of property” absent certain restrictions.