Sixth Circuit Broadens FDCPA Verification Requirements for Debt Collectors

Last week, in Haddad v. Alexander, Zelmanski, Danner & Fioritto, PLLC, — F. 3d — Cir. 2014), 2014 WL 3440174 (6th Cir. Mich. 2014), 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 13498, the Sixth Circuit expanded the requirement for how a debt collector must respond to a debtor’s request for verification of a debt under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq. (“FDCPA”), creating the most consumer-friendly verification standard ever.

Under § 1692g(b), if a consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within thirty days of receiving the § 1692g(a) notice that he disputes the debt or any portion of it, the debt collector must stop collecting the debt, or the disputed portion of the debt, and obtain verification of it and mail that verification to the consumer. The Haddad Court confronted the meaning of “verification” under § 1692g(b), because that term is not defined in the FDCPA.