All terms

Bona fide error defense

Bona fide error defense — The bona fide error defense relieves a debt collector of FDCPA liability if it proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the violation was unintentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid such error.

The defense lives at 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(c) and has three independent elements — unintentional, bona fide, and procedures reasonably adapted — all of which the collector bears the burden of proving. In Jerman v. Carlisle, McNellie, Rini, Kramer & Ulrich LPA, decided April 21, 2010, the Supreme Court held the defense does not reach a violation resulting from a debt collector's mistaken interpretation of the FDCPA's legal requirements. That holding is why the defense is, in practice, a clerical-error and systems-failure defense: it protects the firm whose letter vendor merged the wrong balance, not the firm whose counsel read § 1692g wrong.

See also

• UDAAPUDAAP is the CFPB's authority to prohibit unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices, and it reaches collections conduct that violates no specific FDCPA or Regulation F provision.
• ExaminationAn examination is a supervisory review conducted by a prudential regulator or the CFPB to assess compliance with federal consumer financial law, obtain information about an entity's activities and compliance systems, and detect risks to consumers and markets.
• AttestationAn attestation is a formal assertion about the design or operation of controls — either a management certification or an independent practitioner's report such as a SOC report — relied on by a bank in lieu of, or alongside, its own testing of a third party.

Where this appears

• What Is the FDCPA (15 U.S.C. 1692), and Who Does It Actually Cover?

Last reviewed 2026-07-29

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