I didn't know GERB was a debt collector

[MarineVietVet]

My son received a letter today from GERB saying they had purchased his delinquent PayPal account.

I certainly was not aware that GERB (at least part of it) was a CA.

[Juan123]

so wait... they purchased their own debt?!?!?!?

[pizzadude]

Maybe it's the in~house collections dept, trying to ramp up the pressure to pay ??

[MarineVietVet]

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@Juan123 wrote:

so wait... they purchased their own debt?!?!?!?

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That's what it sounds like.

[MarineVietVet]

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@pizzadude wrote:

Maybe it's the in~house collections dept, trying to ramp up the pressure to pay ??

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That makes some sense. I was just surprised for some reason to see the GERB name on a dunning letter.

[LS2982]

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@MarineVietVet wrote:

My son received a letter today from GERB saying they had purchased his delinquent PayPal account.

I certainly was not aware that GERB (at least part of it) was a CA.

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Maybe they're trying to cut costs

[haulingthescoreup]

Wait, GERB or GEMB? All confused here.

[MarineVietVet]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

Wait, GERB or GEMB? All confused here.

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It was definitely GERB. GE Retail Bank.

[OhioCPA]

While GERB manages the PayPal card, it is possible that PayPal "owns" the risk associated with their cards.

I have wondered if this wasn't the case with most if not all of the cards that GE manages. This would possibly explain why some lines such as WalMart, and for me Sam's Club are not as generous as others. If GE doesn't maintain the risk from the TL then the determination of the credit lines rest with the issuer.

I applied for and received two new GERB cards in November, Sam's Club Discover and the Brooks Brothers card. My Sam's Club card was issued with a $1100 CL and the Brooks Brothers card came with a $1400 CL. Shortly after my fourth statement cut on both cards the CL was auto increased on the Brooks Brothers card to $2,400. A few days later I applied for a CLI and was declined on my Sam's Club card. Since I had used my Sam's Club card more than the Brooks Brothers card I came to the conclusion that Sam's Club had a say in the credit limit associated with its cards. This would explain some of the inconsistency across the GE managed cards.

[RobertEG]

OhioCPA's observations would seem to explain why they might, in some circumstances, be  involved in the collection of debts owed to another, and thus be generally considered as collecting debts formerly owed to another.

However, I doubt that GERB would consider themselves a debt collector within the meaning of the FDCPA, and thus subject to its regulation.

FDCPA defines the term "debt collector," at section 803(6), to be

"any person who uses any instrumentality of interstate commerce or the mails in any business the principal purpose of which is the collection of any debt, or who regularly collects or attempts to collect, directly or indirectly, debt owed or due to another."

An original creditor can only become a debt collector subject to the FDCPA should they, in the process of collecting a debt, use "any name other than his own which would indicate that  third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts."

Has anyone ever received a dunning notice from them, indicating that they respect any obligation under the FDCPA?

Similarly, if one wished to test the waters, they might send them a DV and see how they respond..........