Ballard

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Plaintiff and class representative Gary Ballard brings this action on behalf of himself and others who are similarly situated against defendant Equifax Check Services, Inc. (“ECS”) for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692 et seq., and the California Unfair Business Practices Act (“CUBPA”), CáLBus. & Prof.Code §§ 17200 et seq. This matter is before the court on plaintiffs motion for partial class-wide summary judgment. For the reasons set forth below, the motion is GRANTED.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Defendant ECS is in the check authorization and warranty business. ECS enters into subscriber agreements with retail merchants who accept checks from their customers. Under the terms of these subscriber agreements, when a customer presents a check to the merchant, the merchant contacts ECS for authorization. ECS then consults its computer files to see if it has any pertinent information on the checkwriter and advises the merchant to either accept or decline the check. When a check authorized by ECS is dishonored, ECS purchases the check for full value, up to a certain dollar amount and initiates collection efforts on its own…