Link: Larkin v. FINANCE SYSTEM OF GREEN BAY INC. (E.D. Wisc. Nov. 8 2018).
Plaintiff filed an FDCPA 1692e claim based on a collection letter that contained the following:
You do not want to lose our confidence. You want to be worthy of the faith put in you by your creditor; yet the above past due account remains unpaid, possibly through an oversight on your part.
Please contact your creditor or our office to make arrangements for payment on the above account. We are interested in you preserving a good credit rating with the above creditor.
The Court Disagreed:
Larkin alleges that the unsophisticated consumer would be misled by the letter to believe that FSGB “has confidence” in her and that the creditor, Green Bay Radiology, “has faith” in her that she would lose if she did not pay her debt. But these statements are obviously true. Unless a radiologist is providing services for free, he or she no doubt trusts, i.e., has faith, that the person served will pay. Likewise, debt collectors likely have some confidence that many people, when provided notice of an outstanding debt, will pay if they are able. Otherwise, why make the effort? Larkin’s assertion that these innocuous statements imply that nonpayment will harm the physician-patient relationship is bizarre and idiosyncratic.