I hope someone will tell me I'm dreaming, but it seems that if a creditor's in-house collection dept. is calling a relative (not used as reference or connected in any way to account) repeatedly (and you know how often they can call) for a couple of months now, that there is room for the judge to slap them with a $1,000 per call violation. And I'm wondering if that would even apply to voicemails such as: "We're calling about Jill Fallen's credit card account..." Seems to me when they continue even after they've been told that Ms. Fallen doesn't live there and this household is on no way connected to the account, that it the violations are willful (past the first one where they've been told they have the wrong place-party).
Many in house collectors believe that they are exempt from the FDCPA because they are the OC. If the primary purpose for the depts. existance is the collection of delinquent accounts they are NOT exempt. Find out all you can about this department. Who is the OC?
From the FDCPA rule 603: (6) The term "debt collector" means any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debts, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another. Notwithstanding the exclusion provided by clause (F) of the last sentence of this paragraph, the term includes any creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts, uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts. For the purpose of section 808(6), such term also includes any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the enforcement of security interests. The term does not include -- (A) any officer or employee of a creditor while, in the name of the creditor, collecting debts for such creditor; (B) any person while acting as a debt collector for another person, both of whom are related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control, if the person acting as a debt collector does so only for persons to whom it is so related or affiliated and if the principal business of such person is not the collection of debts; (C) any officer or employee of the United States or any State to the extent that collecting or attempting to collect any debt is in the performance of his official duties; (D) any person while serving or attempting to serve legal process on any other person in connection with the judicial enforcement of any debt; (E) any nonprofit organization which, at the request of consumers, performs bona fide consumer credit counseling and assists consumers in the liquidation of their debts by receiving payments from such consumers and distributing such amounts to creditors; and (F) any person collecting or attempting to collect any debt owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another to the extent such activity (i) is incidental to a bona fide fiduciary obligation or a bona fide escrow arrangement; (ii) concerns a debt which was originated by such person; (iii) concerns a debt which was not in default at the time it was obtained by such person; or (iv) concerns a debt obtained by such person as a secured party in a commercial credit transaction involving the creditor.
The OC is USAA Savings Bank. I've seen a number of posts that say suing under the FDCPA is $1,000 per action, not per violation. Any more guidance on that? Thanks, Butch.
It's $1000 per action not per validation. This case speaks directly to that fact: 932 F. Supp. 1153, *; 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14356, ** ROBERT BARBER and DAWN BARBER, Plaintiffs, v. NATIONAL REVENUE CORPORATION, a foreign corporation, Defendant. 95-C-0731-S UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN 932 F. Supp. 1153; 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14356 March 7, 1996, Decided March 8, 1996, FILED DISPOSITION: [**1] Defendant's motion for summary judgment GRANTED. CASE SUMMARY PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff debtors filed an action against defendant collection agency for violations of the Fair ...Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C.S. § 1692 et seq. The collection agency filed a motion for summary judgment on the issue of the amount of damages allowed under the FDCPA. OVERVIEW: The debtors brought an action against the collection agency for violations of the FDCPA, 15 U.S.C.S. § 1692 et seq. The debtors asserted that 15 U.S.C.S. § 1692k entitled a successful plaintiff to recover up to $ 1,000 per violation of the FDCPA as statutory damages. The collection agency filed a motion for summary judgment and asserted that the FDCPA limited the award of statutory damages to $ 1,000 for each proceeding. The court granted the motion. The court held that the statutory language of § 1692k clearly implied that statutory damages were limited for an individual plaintiff to $ 1,000 for each proceeding. The court further stated that a review of the existing case law revealed that the FDCPA limited the statutory damages available to a successful plaintiff to $ 1,000 for each proceeding. OUTCOME: The court granted the collection agency's motion for summary judgment on the issue of the award of statutory damages available to the debtors in their action brought under the FDCPA. Hope this answers your question.
It has come to my attention that some state statutes say per episode and NOT per action. I believe in Texas this is the case. Someone sent me a complaint they were filing and it quoted state law and sure enough..it was there as plain as day. I don't recall for sure it was Texas, but I think it was Texas or California or somewhere out there. L
likely Texas... they have some GREAT state laws that are much better and stricter than the Fed ones... add that to the no state income tax and you've got a great place to live...
I'm here in California and the laws say the same thing. It's PER VIOLATION, very plain(although there IS a huge gap, it does go up to $5000). I'll leave my personal remarks out of it-for now. B) Punitive damages of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation as the court deems proper; Make sure that you are not suing them only for violations of the FDCPA. When they report it isn't violations of the FCRA as well. Make sure you dig for your state laws. Then you can get $2000 for the FDCPA and FCRA violations, damages and then more for whatever your state law mandates.
