On May 13, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida granted summary judgment in favor of a debt collector, holding that the FDCPA permits a debt collector to send required validation disclosures under 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a) by text message and hyperlink rather than by hard copy. The court found that the debt collector’s initial text message identified the debt collector by name, stated it was an attempt to collect a debt, named the creditor, and included a hyperlink to a readily accessible letter containing all additional information required by the statute. The court noted that the statute requires only that notice be “sent” in writing but does not specify a particular medium, and that the CFPB’s implementing rule recognizes that electronic transmission is appropriate so long as it is “reasonably expected to provide actual notice” and is in a form that the consumer may retain and continue to access. The court distinguished prior case law in which a hyperlinked notice involved a “convoluted, multistep process,” and applied the “least sophisticated consumer” standard, finding that the single-click link with a zip code password at issue here satisfied that standard.

The court also rejected claims that the debt collector’s telephone calls violated the FDCPA. The plaintiff alleged that the debt collector failed to disclose the purpose of its calls, but the court found that the caller identified herself and the debt collector by name, identified the creditor, and sought address verification before discussing the debt. The court reasoned that “a debtor cannot hang up on a debt collector who is behaving properly and then fault the debt collector for not disclosing information it would have disclosed if given a chance.” The court further held that because the debt collector satisfied § 1692g(a) through its initial text and hyperlink, its subsequent report of the debt to credit bureaus was not improper. And the court noted that the debt collector ceased all collection efforts immediately upon learning the debt was disputed.