In Hunstein v. Preferred Collection and Management Services, Inc., 994 F.3d 1341 (11th. Cir. 2021), the Eleventh Circuit held that a debt collector’s communication of a consumer’s personal information to a third party print vendor violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act’s prohibition on third party communications in connection with debt collection under 15 U.S.C. § 1692c(b).
Hunstein will likely require major operational changes for many loan servicers. At a minimum, loan servicers who qualify as a “debt collector” under the FDCPA should rethink how to utilize third party vendors for such basic operations as printing and higher functions such as loss mitigation. Although it is theoretically possible to continue using such vendors without communicating the personal information of the consumer, the efficiencies of using such vendors will be diminished. The short term solution to avoid exposure under Hunstein will likely entail bringing such services in house—a major shift in industry practices.
Continue Reading 11th Circuit Issues FDCPA Decision That Could Dramatically Impact Mortgage Servicers Operations
On June 20, 2020, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed House Bill 4204 into law. The bill requires lenders to defer loan payments and refrain from enforcing default remedies on certain secured obligations during the “emergency period” beginning March 8, 2020, and ending September 30, 2020, unless modified by the governor. In this update, we outline