Professional Claims Bureau Inc. is the defendant in a class action lawsuit that claims the company violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by revealing debtor information.
New York resident Bashie Lowenbein filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on behalf of herself and other similarly situated consumers. Lowenbein claims that a collection letter received from Professional Claims Bureau on Oct. 18, revealed her “PCB” number through the envelope’s glassine window.
That, the lawsuit claims, is an invasion of privacy and an “unfair and unconscionable means to collect an alleged debt” because any person handling the mail would have access to a core piece of information pertaining to Lowenbein’s status as a debtor.
“The PCB number, when disclosed to the public eye, exposes the consumer’s financial quandary,” the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit cites an August 2014 case, Douglass v. Convergent Outsourcing, that decided an account number was not a meaningless string of numbers and letters, but rather a piece of information capable of identifying Douglass as a debtor.
The class consists of all people residing in the state of New York who were sent the same form letter on or about Oct. 18.
Attorney Adam J. Fishbein filed case number 1:14-cv-06733-CBA-JO on Nov. 17.