Consumer Protection, Debt Buyers Act, No Actual Damages Required, 1, 2
The California Debt Buyers Act (Civ. Code 1788.50-1788.66) requires buyers of charged-off consumer debt to have the following before writing to the consumer to collect the debt: sufficient records of the debt, the consumer’s liability for that debt, and the debt buyer’s entitlement to collect instead of the original creditor. Under Civ. Code 1788.62(a) a consumer may sue for violation of this requirement and recover the sum of actual damages and statutory damages of between $100 and $1000. This decision holds that the statute does not require the consumer to prove any actual damage to have standing to sue and to collect the statutory damages (or bring a class action if the debt buyer engages in a pattern and practice of violating the statute).