Bankruptcy

What a Nasty Letter for a $16.96 Debt!

By J. Michael McBride

Nationwide Collections, Inc. of Fort Pierce, Fla., will be sued next week for a collection letter it sent out to a customer of Columbia House for a music account in October 2007. What makes this collection letter worthy of litigation? The letter was addressed to "Dear S--- " in an envelope addressed to "S--- Face" (spelled out in the letter and on the envelope). The old debt was only for $16.96. The customer's attorney, Kenneth Hiller, stated he had "never seen anything quite so brazen". Under U.S. law, collectors are not allowed to use profanity nor threaten litigation for such a small collection amount.

The president of Nationwide stated that the account was opened using that name and the collection letter was generated from that information along with the other 350,000 accounts it purchased from Columbia House. Hiller's client has signed an affidavit stating he never opened the account using that name, but the mistake could be construed as an honest one.

The entire article is located at:
http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/other/features/1120/02-01-2008/20080201212015_26.html

http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/other/features/1120/02-01-2008/20080201212015_26.html

Chandra

Full post as published by Texas Lawyer Blog on February 05, 2008 (boomark / email).