A class action has been filed in Florida against collection specialist, NCO Financial Services, Inc. The action is brought on behalf of all Florida residents who received a collection letter from NCO Financial which failed to include the statutorily required statement entitling consumers to challenge the validity of the alleged debt within 30 days. The action is brought under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Florida law and seeks statutory and punitive damages as well as injunctive and declaratory relief.

This action arises from what consumers allege is a an intentional attempt to defraud consumers by failing to include statutorily mandated language under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Florida law. The consumers claim that collection letters sent by NCO Financial do not include any reference to consumers' rights to dispute the validity of a debt under collection within 30 days of initial communications. Under both the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Florida law, consumers are given 30 days from the receipt of an initial collection letter to dispute the validity of the debt. If they dispute the validity of a debt under collection, the party attempting to collect the debt must provide verification of the debt, including the source and contact information for such source. Information regarding this must be included in all initial collection letters, or must be sent within 5 days of an initial collection letter. Any failure to include this information entitles consumers to statutory damages under federal law. Under Florida law, any intentional withholding of this information entitles consumers to both statutory and punitive damages. Additionally, both federal and Florida state law forbid any communication that has a misleading, unfair or coercive effect. Consumers allege that the complete absence of verification information has this effect. The consumers additionally allege that the potential class in this case is quite numerous, given NCO's status as one of the nation's leading debt collection companies.