Debt Collector Accused of Breaching Texas Code on Phone Solicitations

Defendant Mercantile Adjustment Bureau, a debt collection agency, removed to U.S. District Court for Northern Texas in Dallas (docket 3:22-cv-2737) Wednesday a Sage Telecom complaint filed Nov. 7 in a Dallas County court alleging Mercantile engaged in “continuous and repetitive” telephone solicitations to low-income households that subscribe to Sage’s wireless and broadband services. The complaint alleges Mercantile violated the Texas Business and Commercial Code when it made the solicitations without procuring a certificate of registration from the Texas secretary of state. To get the certificate, telemarketers must submit a registration application, pay a filing fee and post a $10,000 security bond, it said. Mercantile sent telephone solicitations at least 187 times in the past two years to customer phones that Sage “managed and provided,” it said. Sage is entitled to $5,000 for each “knowing violation” of the Texas Business and Commercial Code, it said. Mercantile didn’t comment. Its notice of removal said it “reserves the right to raise all defenses or objections.”