First Circuit Affirms Collection Agency Assigned Rights of Credit Issuer
- Written by Steel Rose
A federal court order compelling arbitration in a lawsuit against Midland Credit Management and law firm Schreiber/Cohen LLC over allegedly unlawful debt collection practices stands, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit concluded Wednesday that debt buyer Midland Funding holds all the same rights that Barclays held under its “Cardmember Agreement” with the plaintiff-debtor.
When Midland Funding purchased bundled debt from Barlcays that included plaintiff Jackeline Barbosa’s delinquent account, the bank assigned all of its rights and interests, including the right to invoke the cardmember agreement’s arbitration provision, Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson wrote for the court.
Barbosa argued that Midland Funding couldn’t be “both Barclays’ assignee and standing in for Barclays itself,” but offered no basis for deviating from the “long-standing given in contract law” that “an assignee stands in the shoes of the assignor,” Thompson said.
Just like the arbitration provision extended to Barclays’ agents, it extends to Midland Funding’s agents, MCM and Schreiber/Cohen.To read more click here