Consumer attorneys are seizing upon the fact that validation notices sent to consumers no longer need to have the date the letter was mailed on it, and are suing collectors for violating Regulation F and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, alleging that the validation date provided in those notices is not accurate. The latest lawsuit accuses a collector of just that, claiming that the company “shortened the requisite validation period.”
A copy of the complaint in the case of Morrone v. I.C. System can be accessed by clicking here.
The case was originally filed in state court in New York, but the defendant has had it removed to federal court. The plaintiff received a letter from the defendant, stating that she owed a debt to a wireless carrier. The letter stated that the plaintiff needed to “Call or write to us by March 30, 2022, to dispute all or part of the debt. If you do not, we will assume that our information is correct.” The letter itself was not dated. That makes it “unclear” as to when it was sent, the plaintiff alleged in her complaint. Complicating matters was the fact that the mail was forwarded to another address, meaning she did not receive it until “much later.”
The complaint accuses the defendant of not providing the full 30 days required under the FDCPA and overshadows the plaintiff’s rights. Along with violating state law in New York, the complaint accuses the defendant of violating Sections 1692c, 1692e, 1692f, and 1692g of the FDCPA.
I’ll be interested to see how this turns out since the model validation notice is supposed to provide safe harbor, according to the CFPB, if it follows the format set by the CFPB, which does not include a date.