CFPB Takes Action Against Debt Collector And Its Owner For Falsely Threatening Consumers with Legal Action

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today issued a consent order against a debt collector and its owner for harassing thousands of consumers, falsely threatening them with legal action. The CFPB found that Yorba Capital Management, LLC (Yorba) and its former owner, Daniel Portilla, Jr., violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA) and that Yorba violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The consent order permanently bans both Yorba and Portilla from the debt collection business, and orders restitution and penalties.

“Debt collectors often run afoul of consumer law when they coerce consumers to pay them by exaggerating the consequences of not paying,” said CFPB Acting Director David Uejio. “Today’s action is a reminder that debt collectors must stick to the truth when communicating with consumers.”

This is the CFPB’s latest action against collectors that have used false threats to collect debts. In 2019, the CFPB – in partnership with the New York Attorney General – filed a consent judgment that barred Douglas MacKinnon, Mark Gray and their companies Northern Resolution Group LLC and Delray Capital LLC from the collections industry. The CFPB and New York Attorney General sued these defendants for numerous collections violations, including falsely threatening consumers with legal action that the collectors had no intention of taking, falsely accusing consumers of committing crimes, and falsely claiming that consumers would be arrested to pressure them to pay debts. In 2018, the CFPB also entered a consent order against National Credit Adjusters, LLC and its former CEO, Bradley Hochstein. The Bureau found that NCA and Hochstein used a network of debt collection companies to collect consumer debt on NCA’s behalf, and that some of those companies engaged in frequent unlawful debt collection acts and practices that harmed consumers, including threatening consumers and their family members with lawsuits, visits from process servers, and arrest, without authority or intent to take those actions. The order permanently restrains Hochstein from acting as an officer, director, employee, agent or advisor to any individual or business that collects, buys, or sells consumer debt.

Read the consent order .

This press release was revised to correct the description of the CFPB’s enforcement action against National Credit Adjusters, LLC.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. For more information, visit www.consumerfinance.gov.