The Challenge
Jimmy Bundy had medical bills from several providers that, after years of health problems, he could not pay all at once. In January 2022 he agreed with Revco Solutions, Inc., a debt collector, to settle two of those accounts through monthly payments of $100 toward a combined balance of $3,006.69. According to the complaint, he made every payment on time.
In March 2024, with the plan nearly finished, he asked Revco for a statement showing how his payments had been applied. Revco's statement of March 18, 2024, the complaint alleges, stretched the plan more than a year beyond what he had agreed to and called for over $1,700 more than the agreed amount. It also listed an account with a July 2022 service date, which could not have been part of an agreement made in January 2022. Revco, the complaint alleges, had been applying his payments to other accounts it was collecting.
On April 4, 2024, he called Revco with the details of a new debit card that replaced one that had expired. Revco told him that card payments would now carry a $5.99 processing fee, the complaint says. The agreement included no such fee, and he never agreed to one.
The same day, the complaint alleges, Revco called his daughter, Michelle Bundy, four times, three of them within sixty seconds, even though it had his own phone number. She had been asleep and, fearing a family emergency, answered the fourth call. Revco demanded to speak with her father, made her identify herself and, when she asked it to stop, hung up.
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Our Strategy
Jeffrey S. Hyslip filed the case for both Jimmy and Michelle Bundy on May 29, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Case No. 1:24-cv-304). The complaint brought twelve counts under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act (OCSPA).
The fee and the payments. The FDCPA bars a collector from collecting any amount, including a fee, unless the agreement creating the debt expressly authorizes it or the law permits it (15 U.S.C. § 1692f(1)), and from using false, deceptive or misleading representations (§ 1692e). The complaint alleged that the $5.99 fee and the inflated statement broke both rules, and that Revco's debt validation notices broke the validation rules (§ 1692g).
The calls to Michelle. A collector generally may not communicate with other people, such as a consumer's relatives, in connection with collecting the consumer's debt without the consumer's consent (§ 1692c(b)). It also may not make a phone ring repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse or harass anyone at the number called (§ 1692d(5)). Michelle brought her own harassment claims alongside her father's.
Policy, not a one-off mistake. The complaint alleged that Revco's policies encouraged employees to push consumers into accepting added fees, and that Revco followed its policies and procedures in handling Jimmy's accounts.
Ohio law. The OCSPA forbids a supplier to commit an unfair or deceptive act or practice in connection with a consumer transaction (Ohio Rev. Code § 1345.02(A)). Under the FDCPA the complaint asked for actual damages, statutory damages, costs and attorney's fees; under the OCSPA, for treble, actual, non-economic and punitive damages, fees and costs.
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The Result
Resolved by settlement. Revco answered the complaint on July 16, 2024. The parties notified the court of a settlement on September 9, 2024, and filed a stipulation of dismissal on October 28, 2024, which closed the case. The court never decided the claims: the parties resolved them by agreement, without a trial.
What the case shows. A payment plan is an agreement, and the FDCPA bars a collector from collecting a fee that neither the agreement nor the law allows, and from harassing your family by phone. A collector that breaks the FDCPA can be liable for your actual damages, additional damages of up to $1,000 in an individual action, and, if the case succeeds, court costs and a reasonable attorney's fee (15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a)). The complaint here relied on Revco's own statement and notices and a record of the calls, so keep every statement and letter a collector sends you, and a log of its calls.
If a collector is changing the terms of your payment plan or calling your family, start an FDCPA case review.
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its facts.
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