Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the FDCPA does not apply to debt purchasers collecting on its own debt. The decision was regarding Santander Consumer USA Inc. who was collecting on acquired defaulted loans from CitiFinancial Auto. The Court ruled that because the debt purchaser was not collecting on a debt “owed… another,” they were not subject to the FDCPA.
For our clients: Licensing is a state issue, and we will continue to monitor the state’s responses and notify our clients of any changes that would result in an impact to state licensing. There are many state-specific collection practices acts that will continue to apply to debt buyers. Please note this decision changes nothing for third party collectors.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us.