By: Derek Hawkins//August 3, 2015//
Civil
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Officials: POSNER, RIPPLE, and KANNE, Circuit Judges.
Debt Collection – FDCPA
No. 12-2834 Grant Bentrud v. Bowman ,Heintz, Boscia & Vician, P.C.
Appellant fails to raise triable issue in attempts to use FDCPA to enforce arbitration provision of credit card agreement.
“The FDCPA is not an enforcement mechanism for matters governed elsewhere by state and federal law. Beler, 480 F.3d at 474. But that is what Bentrud is attempting to do here; he seeks to transform the FDCPA into an enforcement mechanism for the arbitration provision in his credit card agreement. In Beler, we rejected such a use of § 1692f. There, the appellant theorized that it was “‘unfair’ or ‘unconscionable’ for a debt collector to violate … rule[s] of positive law.” Id. at 473. Specifically, the appellant faulted a debt collector law firm (like the one here) for allegedly violating federal and state laws exempting Social Security benefits from execution or attachment. Id. at 473-74. We denied the claim, noting that both the federal and state laws implicated provided remedies for violations.”
Affirmed.