In Smith v. NCO Financial Systems, Inc. 2009 WL 1675078 (E.D.Pa. 2009), Judge Rufe addressed whether a debtor stated claim under the FDCPA arising out of a debt collector’s use of a “Privacy Notice”, which stated:
Information We Collect: We collect non-public personal information about you from the following sources: From you on applications or other forms, over the telephone, in face-to-face meetings and via the Internet. Examples of information we receive from you include your name and address, telephone number, social security number, employment in-formation, credit history and other financial information. … ¶ From employers and others to verify information you have given to us. Disclosure and Confidentiality: We do not disclose the information we collect about you to anyone, except as permitted by law. We restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those employees who need to know that information to provide products or services to you.
Judge Rufe held that the debtor had properly pleaded an FDCPA claim, explaining:
The FDCPA does not allow debt collectors to contact persons besides the consumer, except in an effort to obtain location information about the consumer. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants did improperly contact persons other than the consumer for purposes not allowed under the FDCPA. Moreover, the least sophisticated debtor, assuming that Plaintiff’s allegations are true, could believe that Defendants could and would contact employers and other third parties to verify non-public personal information be-yond the scope of location information. Thus, Plaintiff has stated claims upon which relief can be granted for violations of Sections 1692c(b), 1692e and 1692e(5) of the FDCPA. Hence, Defendants are not entitled to judgment as a matter of law and the Court will deny their Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings.