On September 8, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it filed a complaint against a group of California-based debt collection companies and their subsidiaries. The complaint, filed in the Southern District of California, alleges the defendants violated the terms of a 2015 consent order (the Order) with the CFPB that resolved alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The Order imposed several conduct provisions that governed the defendants’ debt collection practices. The CFPB’s new complaint alleges the debt collectors failed to comply with these conduct provisions, including, for example, by collecting time-barred debts or collecting debts without adequate legal disclosures. Additionally, the complaint alleges defendants violated the CFPA, 12 U.S.C. § 5536(a) and the FDCPA, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692c and 1692e, independent of their compliance with the Order, by failing to provide account information to borrowers and by failing to disclose certain transaction fees.
The complaint seeks injunctive relief, in addition to consumer redress, disgorgement, and civil penalties.
