How to Beat Professional Finance Company

Dena Standley | October 19, 2022

Beating Professional Finance Company feels like ^^

Summary: Is Professional Finance Company suing you for a debt? SoloSuit can help you take a stand and win in court.

Professional Finance Company is a debt collector that works with a variety of original creditors, such as healthcare providers, government agencies, consumer retail lenders, and financial services organizations.

Though debt collection companies are often unpopular, Professional Finance Company has a startling 1.6 out 5 star rating from 192 Google reviews. Most of the negative reviews center around the rudeness of the customer service representatives, lack of knowledge, and allegations that they refuse to honor previously established payment plans.

A collection account on your credit report can harm your credit for up to seven years, even if it's paid. If Professional Finance Company contacts you regarding an old unpaid debt, it is crucial that you know your rights when dealing with their professional debt collectors.

Is Professional Finance Company legitimate?

Professional Finance Company is a legitimate third-party collection service. The company is headquartered at 5754 W. 11^th St. Ste. 100 Greeley, CO., and claims to have been in business for over 100 years.

You can use the following contact information if you're trying to reach Professional Finance Company:

Mailing address: P.O. Box 1686, Greely, CO 80632-1686
Phone number: 800-864-4391

The company claims that their recovery specialists are "true consumer advocates" and that the team Is trained to treat consumers professionally, with courtesy and understanding to resolve debts. However, their 1.1-star rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) makes their claims questionable. Let's take a closer look at real feedback from consumers on Professional Finance Company.

Professional Finance Company has received many complaints

As of 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) received 220 complaints against Professional Finance Company in a three-year period.

As with Google Reviews, the complaints seem to have a central theme of incompetence, unprofessional practices, and rudeness. Allegations include:

Failing to give consumer's 30 days to dispute a debt before reporting it to a credit reporting agency.
Ignoring requests for proof of debt.
Failure to respond.
Attempts to charge interest without providing proof of debt.

Let's take a look at a real complaint against Professional Finance Company from the CFPB complaint database.

One consumer, we'll call him John, received a notification on his credit report of a bill connected to Professional Finance Company. When he investigated the bill, John knew immediately that the debt was not his. He called the company to let them know the bill was an error, and then he made a dispute with one of the credit reporting bureaus. He was told that the mark would not be removed from his credit report because the Professional Finance Company had proved the debt. John then called the original creditors to confirm that he did not have any outstanding debts. The original creditors sent proof that the balance was paid off in full, but Professional Finance Company is still fraudulently reporting I have a debt of $7,900.00.

Understanding your rights as a consumer offers you the best protection against unfair and abusive debt collectors. Keep reading to learn more about your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Know your rights under the FDCPA

Federal legislation known as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a consumer's strongest defense against harassment and abusive behavior from debt collectors. The FDCPA forbids certain actions in the attempt to collect a debt. These forbidden actions include:

Contacting a customer before 8:00 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
Contacting a customer's family, employer, or friends regarding the debt.
Contacting a consumer at work or at any other time the consumer has notified the company is inconvenient.
Using abusive language.
Misrepresenting information about the debt.
Threatening legal action that they cannot or will not take.

If you encounter any of the above when contacted by Professional Finance Company, terminate the conversation and file a complaint with the FDCPA.

Force Professional Finance Company to validate the debt

When contacted by a debt collection agency, your first step is to demand a debt validation to ensure the information they have about your debt is correct and that the debt belongs to you. Do not enter into negotiations or provide any information about the debt until you send a debt validation letter.

It is important to note that the creditor can legally assume the debt is valid unless the consumer sends the debt validation letter within 30 days of initial contact. To your benefit, the creditor only has five days to provide you with:

The name of the collection agency
The name of the original creditor
The exact amount of the debt
A notice that informs you of your right to dispute the debt
Mailed proof of the debt

Should they fail to provide you with this information, they are in violation of the FDCPA, and you may be able to sue them. Even if you miss the thirty-day window, you should still send a Debt Validation Letter. It may not carry the same power, but it is still a valuable tool to ensure the debt is valid and belongs to you.

File a dispute with a credit reporting agency

Request a copy of your credit report to ensure any information reported is accurate. The debt collection process is far from perfect, and it is not uncommon for inaccurate information to end up on your credit report. Check for inaccuracies in:

The balance owed
The account number
The payment status on the account
The date the account was opened or closed
Any other information that is inaccurate

If you find incorrect information reported by Professional Finance Company, file a dispute with the credit reporting bureau asking that the account be removed. Inaccurate information makes it more difficult for the credit agency to verify the accuracy of the collection account and can result in removing the collection from your credit report.

Respond to a debt lawsuit against Professional Finance Company

The first step to winning a debt lawsuit is to respond in court. You should respond by filing a written Answer with the court. If Professional Finance Company is representing a debt collector who is suing you for a debt, follow these three steps to respond to the lawsuit.

Answer each claim listed in the Complaint. Your Answer document should focus primarily on responding to the specific claims, or allegations, listed in the Complaint document that notified you of the case. In response to each allegation, you can admit, deny, or deny due to lack of knowledge. Most attorneys recommend denying as many claims as possible, because this will force Professional Finance Company to do more work to prove their side of the case. If they don't have the proper documentation for proof, their case won't stand.
Assert your affirmative defenses. An affirmative defense is any legal reason that Professional Finance Company should not win the case. For example, the statute of limitations is a common affirmative defense to include in an Answer. There are dozens of other defenses you can use to strengthen your side of the case.
File the Answer with the court, and send a copy to Professional Finance Company. This is the last and most important step. Keep in mind that you have 14-35 days to file your Answer, depending on which state you live in. Make sure to send a copy of the Answer to Professional Finance Company via certified mail with a return receipt requested.

To learn more about these three steps, check out this video:

Key takeaways for dealing with professional finance company

Even when a debt is legitimate, debt collectors are still bound by the FDCPA in how they can treat consumers. Do not let them get away with violating your rights regardless of the status of the debt owed.

The collection agency is a third party that may have purchased your debt from the original creditor. In those transactions, information is often lost or mishandled, which can work to your benefit. The collection agency is responsible for providing accurate information to you and the credit reporting agencies. When they fail to do so, you can take action to have the debt removed from your credit report.

If you decide that paying the debt is the right course of action, you should still send a debt validation letter and ensure all information reported to the credit bureaus is accurate. You should also be aware that, in some circumstances, paying the debt will not help your credit score and could even harm it.

Most debts can only remain on your credit report for seven years. If your debt is nearing the end of that time frame, entering into a payment agreement with Professional Finance Company could extend the amount of time the negative mark stays on your credit report.

If you are being harassed by a collection agency or sued for a debt, SoloSuit can help.

What is SoloSuit?

SoloSuit makes it easy to fight debt collectors.

You can use SoloSuit to respond to a debt lawsuit, to send letters to collectors, and even to settle a debt.

SoloSuit's Answer service is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your Answer. Upon completion, we'll have an attorney review your document and we'll file it for you.

Respond with SoloSuit

"First time getting sued by a debt collector and I was searching all over YouTube and ran across SoloSuit, so I decided to buy their services with their attorney reviewed documentation which cost extra but it was well worth it! SoloSuit sent the documentation to the parties and to the court which saved me time from having to go to court and in a few weeks the case got dismissed!" – James

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