American Corrective Counseling Services to Pay $2.55 Million In Pennsylvania Class Action

Pittsburgh, PA: California-based debt collection company American Corrective Counseling Services (ACCS) has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought against it by thousands of residents of Pennsylvania who allege that the company misinformed them in order to make money.

Specifically, the suit claimed that the ACCS sent out letters claiming to be from various district attorneys' offices, indicating that bouncing a check could lead to criminal charges. And that in order to avoid those charges the person to whom the letter was addressed would need to pay a fee.

According to a report by the Associated Press, one elderly woman who wrote a check for $27 to Kmart, which bounced, was told she would have to pay fees of $72 to clear the matter up, "plus another $170 for the accountability class."

The settlement is $2.55 million.