MEMORANDUM ORDER

MILTON I. SHADUR, Senior District Judge.

This Court has just received delivery of a courtesy copy of the July 1, 2016 Complaint brought by Victoria Infante ("Infante") against Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC ("Portfolio"), in which Infante charges Portfolio with an asserted violation of a provision of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (the "Act").1 Because a review of the Complaint poses a serious question as to its viability, this memorandum order is issued sua sponte to address that subject. For a full understanding of the potential problem posed by the Complaint and to make this memorandum order self-contained in that respect, copies of two of the Complaint's exhibits — Ex. C, a copy of a short June 23, 2015 letter from Infante to Portfolio, and Ex. D, a copy of Portfolio's July 2, 2015 response — are attached.

As for Infante's letter, it is clearly a response to a debt collection effort by Portfolio (this Court of course credits Infante's self-characterization as a "consumer" under the Act and the Complaint's characterization of Portfolio as a "debt collector" under the Act. But it is equally plain that Portfolio's responsive communication was solely in response to one of the matters that Infante's letter asserted.

In that respect Complaint ¶ 14 refers accurately to Infante having "disputed the alleged debt" — but having done so, her counsel ascribes no significance to what Complaint ¶ 17 accurately reports as the further content of Infante's communication:

Note then the nature and content of Portfolio's response. It is devoted entirely to an inquiry as to just what was the nature of Infante's dispute as to the accuracy of Portfolio's earlier communication regarding the account that it had purchased from Synchrony Bank (the entity with which Infante had dealt directly). And there is frankly no way in which that inquiry could be considered by anyone — even the "unsophisticated consumer" referred to in the caselaw — as an effort to collect the debt. Just look at the three parts of the Portfolio response that confirm what has just been said (as shown here, the last quoted portion is entirely in boldface and the word "NOT" is entirely in capital letters):

This Court has reviewed Section 1692c(c), sought to be invoked by Infante, and it appears that the Complaint is a real stretch of its provisions. In addition to Portfolio's emphatic and unequivocal statement that it was NOT attempting to collect the claimed debt, it had stated earlier in its letter that the absence of any responsive communication by Infante could result in Portfolio's termination of its investigation — something that looked to the potential for a communication that would fit directly within Section 1692c(c)(1).

This should not be misunderstood as an order dismissing the Complaint or this action. But although this Court is contemporaneously issuing its customary initial scheduling order, it expects Infante's counsel to be prepared at that time to address the concern voiced here.

Thank you,

Victoria Infante

The following information is being provided in response to your recent communication concerning the account referenced above. Account Number 6019180393628298 and its proceeds were sold, assigned and transferred by the Seller to PRA, LLC on 08/19/2014. At the time of the sale, the Seller provided an electronic file of its business records concerning this account. According to the Seller's records, there was due and payable from VICTORIA INFANTE to the Seller in the sum of $2,474.48 with respect to the account, as of 08/19/2014, there being no known un-credited payments, counterclaims, or offsets against this account at the date of its sale.

Here is a summary of additional information listed in the electronic file for this account:

Please contact us if you would like to receive a payment history of payments that have posted to this account since our company purchased this account.

Contact us toll-free at 1-800-772-1413 to discuss this account Hours of Operation (EST): 8 AM to 11 PM Mon.-Fri., 8 AM to 5 PM Sat, 2 PM to 9 PM Sun.

If you wish to dispute this account, please send written documentation describing the nature of your dispute and any information or materials that may be helpful to our investigation so this dispute may be investigated in a timely manner. Please send all documentation related to disputes to the following address: PRA, LLC Disputes Department, 140 Corporate Blvd., Norfolk, VA 23502.

If you wish to provide additional information regarding this account, please send written documentation. Please note that if we receive no information or documentation describing the details of your dispute by July 22, 2015, we may then terminate the investigation related to this account due to lack of clarification of the nature of the dispute.

This is a communication from a debt collector. This communication is made for the limited purpose of responding to your dispute and is NOT an attempt to collect at debt.

Notice: See Reverse Side for Important information

COMPANY ADDRESS: Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, 120 Corporate Boulevard, Norfolk, VA 23502

DISPUTES CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS: Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, Disputes Department, 140 Corporate Boulevard, Norfolk, VA 23502 DISPUTES DEPARTMENT E-MAIL ADDRESS: PRA_Disputes@portfoliorecovery.com

QUALITY SERVICE SPECIALISTS AVAILABLE Mon.-Fri. 8 AM to 5 PM (EST) Not happy with the way you were treated? Our company strives to provide professional and courteous service to all our customers. Contact one of our staff to discuss issues related to our quality of service to you by phone at (866) 925-7109 or by e-matf at qualityservice@portfoliorecovery.com.

PRIVACY NOTICE: We collect certain personal information about you from the following sources: (a) information we received from you; (b) information about your transactions with our affiliates, others, or us; (c) information we receive from consumer reporting agencies. We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our customers or former customers to anyone, except as permitted by law. We restrict access to nonpublic information about you to those employees and entities that need to know that information in order to collect your account. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information.

NOTICE: We are required under state law to notify consumers of the following rights. This list does not include a complete list of rights consumers have under state and federal laws:

COLORADO: Office located at 4600 South Syracuse Street, Suite 938, Denver, CO 80237. Telephone 1-866-508-4751.

MAINE: Telephone number at licensed location is (800) 772-1413. Hours of operation at licensed location are 8 AM to 11 PM Mon.-Fri., 8 AM to 5 PM Sat., 2 PM to 9 PM Sun. (EST).

MASSACHUSETTS: Office located 49 Winter St., Weymouth, MA 02188. Telephone (800) 772-1413. Hours of operation are 9 AM to 6 PM EST Monday through Thursday. NOTICE OF IMPORTANT RIGHTS: YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE A WRITTEN OR ORAL REQUEST THAT TELEPHONE CALLS REGARDING YOUR DEBT NOT BE MADE TO YOU AT YOUR PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT. ANY SUCH ORAL REQUEST WILL BE VALID FOR ONLY TEN DAYS UNLESS YOU PROVIDE WRITTEN CONFIRMATION OF THE REQUEST POSTMARKED OR DELIVERED WITHIN SEVEN DAYS OF SUCH REQUEST. YOU MAY TERMINATE THIS REQUEST BY WRITING TO THE DEBT COLLECTOR.

NEW YORK CITY: City of New York License Numbers 1096994, 1394695, 1394697, 1394696, 1394698, 1394700, 1394699, 1394694.

NORTH CAROLINA: Collection Agency Permit No. 4132.

TENNESSEE: This collection agency is licensed by the Tennessee Collection Service Board of the Department of Commerce and Insurance. (#00000770).