Debt Collector Lawsuit: Suing Over Harassing Collection Calls Under the FDCPA

Debt collection lawsuits are brought by consumers against the companies trying to collect from them. The complaints fall into a few categories:

• Call volume and timing. Dozens of calls a week, calls at night, calls at work.
• Threats and lies. Saying you will be arrested, that a lawsuit is coming when none will be filed, or misstating how much you owe.
• Old or unproven debts. Suing on debts past the state deadline, or suing without the documents needed to prove the debt.
• Third-party contact. Telling your family, neighbors, or boss about your debt.
• Robocalls. Prerecorded calls to your cell phone without consent, often to people who never owed the debt.

Debt collection is a large source of consumer complaints. In 2024, complaints about debt collection, credit cards, and checking or savings accounts together made up 12% of the roughly 3.19 million complaints the CFPB received.

Portfolio Recovery Associates

Portfolio Recovery Associates, based in Norfolk, Virginia, is one of the largest debt buyers in the country. In September 2015 the CFPB ordered it to pay more than $27 million in refunds and penalties after finding it collected on debts it could not substantiate, filed misleading court affidavits, and misrepresented its rights on debts past the statute of limitations. On March 23, 2023, the CFPB filed a proposed order requiring Portfolio Recovery Associates to pay more than $12 million to harmed consumers and a $12 million penalty for violating the 2015 order. The CFPB said the company kept collecting on unsubstantiated debts, sued without required documents, and sued on time-barred debt. The court entered that order on April 13, 2023. Because Portfolio Recovery is a debt buyer, the FDCPA applies directly to it, and people who dealt with it can bring their own claims for recent violations.

Credit One Bank

Credit One is a credit card lender, so the federal FDCPA usually does not apply to its own collection calls. State law can. In February 2026, Credit One agreed to pay $10.2 million to resolve a case brought by the California Debt Collection Task Force, a group of county district attorneys, over unreasonably frequent and harassing collection calls to California consumers. That money goes to the state as penalties and costs; it is not a class settlement that pays individuals.

Be careful with social media claims about a "$14 million Credit One TCPA settlement." In June 2025, a TCPA defense lawyer who tracks these cases reported that several websites were describing such a settlement, including claim instructions, but that he could not find any court record of it. We have not found one either. Never give personal information to a site that is not the court-approved settlement website.

Synchrony Bank

Synchrony issues store credit cards for many retailers. Like Credit One, it is an original creditor, so claims over its calls usually rely on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (for prerecorded or autodialed calls to cell phones without consent) or on state collection laws. As of September 2026 we are not aware of an open class settlement over Synchrony collection calls. People who got repeated prerecorded calls about an account that was not theirs may have a TCPA claim; see our page on wrong number robocall lawsuits.

There is no single class action for "debt collection harassment" to join. Most cases are individual lawsuits in federal or state court, and some are class actions over a form letter or a single practice that affected many people. Government actions like the CFPB orders and the California task force judgments set the standards but usually pay penalties to the government rather than checks to consumers.

Two points matter for anyone thinking about a claim in 2026:

• Regulation F is in force. The CFPB's debt collection rule took effect on November 30, 2021, and turned vague "harassment" into a numeric call limit.
• The FDCPA clock does not wait for discovery. In Rotkiske v. Klemm (2019), the Supreme Court held that the 1-year deadline generally runs from the date of the violation, not the date you learned of it.

Your situation may support a claim if:

1. The caller is a debt collector. The FDCPA covers collection agencies, debt buyers, and law firms that regularly collect consumer debts. It generally does not cover the original lender collecting its own debt.
2. The debt is a consumer debt. Credit cards, medical bills, car loans, and personal loans count. Business debts do not.
3. The conduct broke a specific rule. Too many calls, calls at barred times, threats, false statements, contacting third parties, or ignoring a written stop request.
4. It happened within the deadline. One year for FDCPA claims.

Who probably does not qualify: people who simply owe the debt and are receiving a reasonable number of calls within allowed hours, people whose only complaint is being asked to pay, and business borrowers. Owing the money does not stop you from suing, though; the law regulates how collectors behave, not whether you owe.

If the calls come from the original lender, you may still have claims under the TCPA or state law. California's Rosenthal Act, for example, extends collection rules to creditors collecting their own debts.

One more hurdle to check: many credit card agreements, including those for store cards and subprime cards, contain an arbitration clause and a class action waiver. Those clauses can force a claim against the lender into individual arbitration instead of court. They usually do not bind a separate debt buyer or collection agency unless the debt was assigned with the clause, and some agreements let you opt for small claims court. An attorney can read your card agreement and tell you which path applies.

Law	Individual recovery	Class recovery
FDCPA	Actual damages plus up to $1,000 statutory damages, plus fees	Statutory damages capped at the lesser of $500,000 or 1% of the collector's net worth
TCPA (robocalls)	$500 per unlawful call, up to $1,500 if willful	Same per call, which can add up across a class

Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692k, an individual can recover up to $1,000 in statutory damages per lawsuit, not per call, plus actual damages and attorney's fees. Actual damages can include emotional distress, lost wages, and phone costs. The fee-shifting rule is why many consumer lawyers take FDCPA cases without charging the client up front.

TCPA damages are per call, which is why robocall cases against lenders can be worth more than FDCPA cases. Read more in how much you can get from a TCPA lawsuit.

Keep expectations realistic. Class settlements over a collection letter often pay small amounts per person because of the class cap. Individual cases with documented, repeated violations are where meaningful recoveries tend to happen.

• Time and place (15 U.S.C. § 1692c). A collector may not call you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. your local time unless you agree, may not call you at work if it knows your employer prohibits it, and must stop most contact if you tell it in writing to stop or that you refuse to pay.
• Harassment (§ 1692d). No threats of violence, no obscene language, and no calling repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy or harass.
• Call frequency (12 C.F.R. § 1006.14). Regulation F presumes a violation if a collector calls more than 7 times within 7 days about a particular debt, or within 7 days after a phone conversation about it.
• False statements (§ 1692e). No lying about the amount owed, the collector's identity, or legal consequences such as arrest.
• Validation (§ 1692g). The collector must send a notice describing the debt and your right to dispute it, and must pause collection if you dispute in writing within the validation period.

For a full explanation, read the FDCPA explained.

Deadlines differ by law, so identify which one applies:

• FDCPA: 1 year from the date of the violation (15 U.S.C. § 1692k(d)). Each call or letter can be its own violation.
• TCPA: 4 years under the federal catch-all statute of limitations.
• State laws: vary. California's Rosenthal Act, for example, has its own 1-year period.

Because the FDCPA deadline is only 1 year and runs from the violation itself, a call log from last spring may already be partly out of time. If collectors are calling now, the newest calls are the ones to document first.

Separately, your state sets how long a creditor can sue you on the debt itself. A collector that sues or threatens to sue on a debt past that deadline may be breaking the FDCPA.

1. Screenshot your call log every week. Phone logs roll off. A screenshot with dates and times is simple, strong evidence.
2. Save voicemails off your phone. Email them to yourself or save them to a computer.
3. Send a written dispute or stop letter. Mail it with tracking. A written request triggers legal duties that a phone request may not.
4. Do not ignore a lawsuit. If you are served, respond by the court's deadline. Many collection suits end in default judgments because no one answered.
5. Do not pay a "settlement" to a site or caller you cannot verify. Scammers pose as collectors. Ask for the validation notice in writing first.
6. Talk to an attorney. Independent consumer attorneys who handle FDCPA and TCPA cases can review your log and letters, usually at no up-front cost.

The conduct described in pending cases and government complaints consists of allegations unless a court has ruled or the company agreed to an order. If you are dealing with repeated calls, threats, or a lawsuit on an old debt, a free case review takes about two minutes. You can also see how collection data errors can spill onto your report on our credit report error lawsuits page.