Debt Collector Ray Klein Settles Class Action for $2 Million

Ray Klein Inc. has agreed to pay $2 million to settle claims brought by Oregon residents that they were charged illegal garnishment fees by the debt collection agency, a federal court said.

The US District Court for the District of Oregon’s tentative approval of the settlement caps a three-year legal dispute over a $45 fee that Ray Klein collected from consumers whose wages were garnished to pay their debts. The company said the charge covered its attorneys’ fees.

But Oregon residents Nicholas Russell and Michael McKibben alleged in their 2019 lawsuit that Ray Klein never incurred those fees because it ...