Fairbanks Capital acquired 12,800 mostly delinquent mortgages from a mortgage company, including a mortgage owned by the Schlossers.
Identifying itself as a debt collector, Fairbanks sent the Schlossers a letter asserting that their mortgage was in default. In fact, the Schlossers were not in default and sued Fairbanks for failure to notify the debtors of their right to contest the debt as required by the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). The district court held that since the Schlossers were not in default, there was no debt to collect, so the FDCPA did not apply. The Schlossers appealed. Do they have a case? [Schlosser v. Fairbanks Capital, 323 F.3d 534, 7th Cir. (2003)]