OLYMPIA — Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a consumer protection lawsuit against the national debt collection corporation Convergent Outsourcing for pushing consumers into “settlements” to resolve old debts that were past the statute of limitations for a collection lawsuit.
Ferguson’s lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, asserts that Convergent violated the Consumer Protection Act and the Collection Agency Act when it sent 75,466 deceptive “settlement offer” letters to Washington consumers.
The AGO maintains that from January 2013 to February 2015, Convergent sent letters to consumers offering to “settle” old debts within a limited amount of time, even though the debt was past the statute of limitations.
This language conveyed an implied threat that consumers could be sued if they did not pay, even though it was not legally possible for Convergent to file debt collection lawsuits over these old debts.
Ferguson’s lawsuit asks the court to order Convergent to return to consumers, in Washington and nationwide, all revenue it collected on time-barred debts after sending the “settlement offer” collection letters.
