FDCPA Class Action Filed Against Viking Client Services

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Viking Client Services, Inc. is the defendant in a proposed class action filed by a New Jersey woman who claims the company violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The plaintiff alleges the defendant sent consumers collection notices for obligations owed to PNC bank that falsely claimed the Internal Revenue Service requires debt forgiveness of amounts $600 or higher to be reported to the agency. This is untrue and deceptive and may serve to unlawfully confuse the consumer, the lawsuit alleges:

“The FDCPA does not require that tax consequences be identified in collection letters sent to consumers; but where a debt collector has chosen to threaten the debtor with tax consequences, and has done so inaccurately, the false representation causes detrimental harm to the consumer since it concretely thwarts the consumer’s ability to freely navigate a course of action in response to the collection notice,” the case argues. “The risk in this type of harm is the detrimental impact to the consumer. And such harm is precisely the kind of infringement of the consumer’s best interests that the FDCPA seeks to combat. Such a statement in a collection letter also suggests to the least sophisticated consumer that failure to pay will get the consumer into trouble with the IRS.”