Christine Wade, F/k/a Christine Snow v. Regional Credit Association, a California Corporation
Opinion
Opinion
Wright, J.
We must decide whether a collection agency attempting to collect a debt without obtaining a required state debt collection permit violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692 -1692o. We find that in this case the agency’s unlicensed collection activity does not violate the Act. We affirm in part and remand in part.
BACKGROUND:
This ease originally involved a relatively low dollar figure. An attorney attempted to collect $446.00 from Christine Wade for services in her divorce case in California. He referred the debt to Regional Credit Association (RCA), a Sacramento collection agency. RCA sent two collection notices to Wade at her Sacramento address and another to her subsequent address in Citrus Heights, California. She did not respond to any of these notices.
RCA learned that she had a new address in Eagle, Idaho. It did not have a permit to collect debts in Idaho, as required by Idaho law. See I.C. § 26-2223. It called Wade once and sent one notice to her Idaho address reading:
The notice also read: “[t]his has been sent to you by a collection agency and is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.”