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Fair Debt Collection: 9.3.2.3 Compliance with the E-SIGN Act

When an electronic validation notice is sent after the initial communication (i.e., not found in the initial communication itself), then Regulation F (effective November 30, 2021) requires that the notice be sent in accordance with 15 U.S.C.

Fair Debt Collection: 9.4.4 Debt Collector’s Name and Mailing Address

Under Regulation F (effective November 30, 2021), the validation information must include “the debt collector’s name and the mailing address at which the debt collector accepts disputes and requests for original-creditor information.”205 A debt collector may disclose its trade or doing-business-as (dba) name, instead of its legal name.206 A debt collector also may disclose its vendor’s mailing address, if that is an address at which the debt collector accepts disputes and requests for origin

Fair Debt Collection: 9.4.6 Creditor’s Name and the Account Number

Under Regulation F (effective November 30, 2021), the validation information must include the name of the creditor to whom the debt currently is owed.213 The Official Interpretations to Regulation F specify that the debt collector can use the creditor’s legal name, trade name or doing-business-as (dba) name.214

Fair Debt Collection: 9.5.2.3a Model Validation Notice and State Laws

Collectors must evaluate whether use of the model validation notice conflicts with relevant state laws.347 The FDCPA does not preempt state debt collection laws that provide additional consumer protections,348 including “disclosure required by applicable State law that describes additional protections under State law.”349

Fair Debt Collection: 9.7.3 Name of Person to Whom the Debt Is Owed

The validation notice must contain the name of the current creditor to whom the debt is owed.466 As the Seventh Circuit said in Steffak v. Client Services, Inc., the FDCPA requires the debt collector to “identify the current creditor clearly, without leaving the matter to guesswork.”467 In Bryan vs.

Fair Debt Collection: 9.7.5 Verification Required If Consumer Timely Disputes Debt in Writing

A debt collector must include “a statement that if the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, the debt collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment against the consumer and a copy of such verification or judgment will be mailed to the consumer by the debt collector.”503

Fair Debt Collection: 9.8.3 Limits on Suit or Threat of Suit

Collectors may simply wait until the end of the validation period to serve a debt collection suit on the consumer to avoid overshadowing the validation notice.554 However, when collectors do serve complaints for collection lawsuits during the validation period, they may violate the FDCPA.555 Some courts have found that there is no FDCPA violation when notice accompanyi

Fair Debt Collection: 9.8.4 Limits on Credit Reporting

Similarly, the FDCPA may be violated by a threat, within the validation period, to file a credit report if payment is not sent immediately, if the threat is made strongly enough to suggest that the collector would not cease its collection efforts and validate the debt pursuant to the consumer’s request.565 Courts have found that validation notices referencing possible future credit reporting did not overshadow the validation period.

Fair Debt Collection: 9.8.5 Limits on Informing Consumer to Telephone Debt Collector

In Caprio v. Healthcare Revenue Recovery Group, L.L.C.,568 the Third Circuit found that the boldly formatted request for the consumer to call the debt collector overshadowed and contradicted the FDCPA § 1692g requirement disclosed on the back of the letter that the consumer must write to obtain verification of the debt. “We therefore conclude that the Collection Letter was deceptive because . . .

Fair Debt Collection: 9.8.6 Restrictions on Other Debt Collection Activity During Validation Period

A threat of other consequences may also overshadow the notice.578 Telecheck’s warning that “any delay” in payment “may affect your ability to use checks” may have been deceptive because it could confuse the unsophisticated consumer by failing to explain how this comports with their thirty-day right to contest the debt.579 One court has held that an initial dun that threatened dishonored-check penalties if the debt were not paid within thirty days unlawfully overshadowed the FDCPA validation

Surviving Debt: Ways to Reduce Your Utility Bills

Even if you can avoid utility shut-offs, you will be in trouble in the long run if you cannot afford your utility bills going forward. It is essential to reduce the cost of future bills as much as possible.

Changing Your Communications Services (Telephone, Internet, and TV). Today, the rapidly evolving communications marketplace provides more options for paring back services to meet your basic communications needs.

Federal Deception Law: 6.6.2.2 TCPA Disclosure Requirements

The FCC rule under the TCPA requires persons or entities making calls for telemarketing purposes to disclose the name of the individual caller, the name of the person or entity on whose behalf the call is being made, and a return telephone number, which may not be a 900-number.885 The FCC’s disclosure requirements apply to all telemarketing calls, regardless of whether the consumer is on the nationwide do-not-call list or a company-specific do-not-call list and regardless of whether t

Federal Deception Law: 7.2.4 Private Cause of Action for Failing to Provide Identification Information and Automated Opt-Out Mechanism in Prerecorded Call

The FCC’s regulation under the TCPA includes a requirement that all prerecorded calls include identifying disclosures.62 The mandate to require these disclosures is found in section 227(d) of the TCPA, which does not provide its own private right of action.63 However, the FCC rule setting out identification requirements can also be viewed as promulgated pursuant to the authorization in section 227(b) to prescribe regulations to implement the exceptions to the prerecorded call prohibition,

Federal Deception Law: 7.4.3.1 Types of Harm Caused by Unwanted Calls and Text Messages

Among the most important protections of the TCPA are its restrictions on autodialed or prerecorded calls to cell phones,299 prerecorded telemarketing calls to residential lines,300 and telemarketing calls to consumers who have registered on the nationwide do-not-call list or who have asked to be placed on a company-specific do-not-call list.301 There are very strong arguments that the types of harm that these calls cause meet the requirement of con

Federal Deception Law: 6.4.2.2 Exceptions

The TCPA exempts calls made with the called party’s prior express consent645 and calls for emergency purposes.646 It also gives the FCC authority to exempt calls that are either not for a commercial purpose647 or are for commercial purpose but will not adversely affect the privacy of the called parties and do not include unsolicited advertisements.648 The FCC has used this authority to create four add