FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 8, 2020 MEDIA CONTACT:
Office of Communications
Tel: (202) 435-7170 CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU SETTLES WITH DEBT COLLECTOR FOR ENGAGING IN DECEPTIVE DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES IN THREE STATES WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) issued a consent order against RAB Performance Recoveries, LLC (RAB) for threatening to sue and suing consumers to collect debts where it did not have a legally required license to do so. Through 2012, RAB, a New Jersey company, purchased and collected consumer debts from debt brokers, and through August 2014, it used collections law firms to obtain judgments against consumers. RAB has continued to collect on those judgments against consumers as well as on a handful of payment agreements it obtained from debtors. The Bureau found that during the period that RAB was obtaining judgments against consumers, RAB threatened to sue, sued, and demanded payment from consumers in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island even though RAB did not hold the licenses that those states required to sue to collect debts. Thus, RAB was not legally entitled to take the actions that it threatened to take against consumers in those states. The Bureau found that RAB misrepresented that it had a legally enforceable right to recover payments from consumers in these states through the judicial process in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA). The consent order prohibits RAB from collecting on the judgments against, or payment agreements from, consumers it obtained in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island when RAB did not hold a required debt-collection license in those states. It also requires RAB to take all necessary steps to vacate those judgments and suspend collection of those judgments and to notify consumers with payment agreements that they have been satisfied. The consent order also requires RAB to pay a $204,000 civil money penalty. A copy of the consent order is available at: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_rab-performance-recoveries-llc_consent-order_2020-12.pdf. |
