According to consumers, Nationwide Collections has utilized unfair, deceptive and misleading tactics to collect debts for third parties. Particularly, consumers claim that Nationwide's initial collection letters contain language that overshadows and renders ineffective the validity notice required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Under the Act, those attempting to collect a debt for a third party must inform those from whom they are attempting to collect of their right to dispute the validity of the alleged debt within 30 days. Generally, this notice is provided as part of an initial communication. However, it must be provided no later than five days after the initial communication. Under the Act, any other language that has the effect of overshadowing this notice is strictly forbidden. The consumers allege that the letter sent by Nationwide contained language that clearly overshadowed the statutory notice. The consumers assert that the letters warned them that payment would be required within seven days to avoid litigation. The consumers further claim that the letter warned them that unless immediate payment was made, negative information would be reported about them to national credit reporting services. In contrast, the statutory warning was allegedly in a much smaller print and font and was placed at the end of the letter, as an afterthought, according to consumers.