I got the postcard too. 2006-2014 is a LONG period of time.
It says if you file a claim and you owe money they'll forgive a portion or all of what you owe, or if you don't owe money they'll send you a check out of a much smaller amount of the settlement funds. (Bold and italics are inserted by me as emphasis):
A Class Member’s recovery depends on how much, if anything, the individual owes Defendants on their collection account with Defendants and the number of valid claims submitted. Defendants' collection accounts generally are established when Defendants purchase obligations owed to creditors. If the Class Member owes Defendants nothing on the collection account or no collection account exists, then that Class Member may be entitled to a one time pro rata share ("Individual Cash Settlement Amount") from the $2,000,000 Cash Component of the Settlement Fund after the incentive awards to be paid to Plaintiffs and any fees owed to any Special Master appointed by the Court are deducted. The Settlement Administrator will issue this payment by way of check. The funds represented by the check for the Individual Cash Settlement Amount shall not become the property of any individual Class Member unless and until the check representing those funds is cashed.
If there is an outstanding balance owed by the Class Member to Defendants on a collection account, then that Class Member may be entitled to a one-time forgiveness of the money owed to Defendants of the lesser of (1) a pro rata share of the $13,000,000 of debt forgiveness (which is calculated by dividing $13,000,000 by the number of valid Claim Forms received from Class Members who have an outstanding balance on a collection account); or (2) the balance owed on the collection account.
In the event that any portion of the Cash Component of the Settlement Fund remains unclaimed, or any check sent to any Class Member remains un-cashed for more than 180 days after issuance, then such unclaimed or un-cashed funds will, subject to approval by the Court, become part of the Settlement Fund for cy pres distribution to organizations mutually agreed upon by the parties and approved by the Court.
I got the above information from the website https://www.midlandtcpasettlement.com as indicated on the postcard. As someone who has gotten cards and letters about class action lawsuits multiple times and have actually gotten a couple checks here and there, it looks completely legitimate to my eyes or at least exactly like any of the other informational class action websites and mailed information.
