On September 8, the CFPB filed a complaint against the largest U.S. debt collector and debt buyer and its subsidiaries (collectively, “defendants”) for allegedly violating the terms of a 2015 consent order related to their debt collection practices. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the defendants allegedly engaged in robo-signing, sued (or threatened to sue) on stale debt, made inaccurate statements to consumers, and engaged in other illegal collection practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), FDCPA, and FCRA. According to the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, the defendants have collected more than $300 million from consumers using practices that did not comply with the 2015 consent order. Among other things, the complaint alleges that the defendants violated the terms of the consent order—and again violated the FDCPA and CFPA—by (i) filing lawsuits without possessing certain original account-level documentation (OALD) or first providing required disclosures; (ii) failing to provide consumers with OALD within 30 days of the consumer’s request; (iii) filing lawsuits to collect on time-barred debt; and (iv) failing to disclose that consumers may incur international-transaction fees when making payments to foreign countries, which “effectively den[ied] consumers the opportunity to make informed choices of their preferred payment methods.” The Bureau seeks injunctive relief, damages, consumer redress, disgorgement, and civil money penalties. In addition, the Bureau asks the court to permanently enjoin the defendants from committing future violations of the CFPA or FDCPA.

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Case link:

https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_encore-capital-group-et-al_complaint_2020-08.pdf