Two federal judges in New York have reached the same conclusion in unrelated cases that having consumers’ account numbers visible on the outside of envelopes containing letters from debt collection agencies does not, by itself, violate the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Both Southern District Judge Colleen McMahon and Western District Judge John Curtin wrote that they would not follow a 2014 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that has caused dismay among some in the debt collection industry by saying the appearance of an account number with the addressee’s name on a collection envelope did violate the debt collection act.
