Debt Recovery

• Are you interested in hiring an easy to use collection agency with extensive experience in recovering dues for credit unions of all sizes?

• A collection agency that adheres to the same stringent data security standards required by banks and credit unions (GLBA compliance), ensuring your customer data remains secure and your organization stays compliant with all federal and state laws.

• Have you implemented a consistent and effective collection process? We understand how to maximize recovery, and in case you are short staffed we can perform low cost fixed fee service by sending low-cost reminder notices to your customers on your behalf.

A collection agency for credit unions can help you significantly improve your collection results while at the same time reducing the overall cost of collections.

It is essential to hire a collection agency that understands the importance of the delicate relationship with your customers. The collection process needs to use amicable strategies to preserve your reputation, while delivering outstanding recovery rates. 

Serving Credit Unions Nationwide Need a Collection Agency? Contact Us High Recovery rate. Referrals of existing Credit Union clients can be provided if requested.

Third-Party Relationships (and importance of customer’s data security):

Regulators are focusing on relationships with vendors, service providers, and fintech partners. Credit unions will be held accountable for any breaches of data or non-compliance with consumer protection laws by these third parties. Therefore your collection agency should be GLBA Compliant, means it should follow same security standards which financial institutions and credit unions must follow.

Credit unions are known for innovative products and friendly staff. Unlike big banks with a nationwide presence, credit unions cater to a limited region and usually have less than 5-10 branches. Debt recovery is a very tricky situation for credit unions in particular. They can get upset if they apply too much pressure on customers to recover the money. Having bad reviews in the form of word of mouth or online reviews on platforms like Google may do instant damage to the credibility of a credit union.

Implementing these strategies can help credit unions reduce their outstanding loan defaults:

1. Strict Loan Issuance Policies: Implement stricter policies when issuing loans. Conduct thorough credit checks and only extend loans to individuals with a strong credit history.
2. Loan Monitoring: Regularly monitor the status of loans. If a member is late on a payment, follow up with them promptly. Timely intervention can prevent a small issue from becoming a large problem.
3. Early Intervention: Initiate the collection process as soon as a loan goes into default. The earlier you start the collection process, the better your chances of recovering the money.
4. Offer Flexible Payment Plans: If a member is having difficulty repaying their loan, consider offering a flexible payment plan. This could involve reducing the monthly payment amount and extending the loan term.
5. Education and Communication: Provide education for members about the importance of timely loan repayments and the potential consequences of defaulting on a loan.
6. Incentives for Early Repayment: Offer incentives for early repayment of loans. This could be a reduction in interest or other rewards.
7. Collection Agencies: For loans that are significantly overdue, consider turning to a collection agency. This should be a last resort as it can damage your relationship with the member.
8. Loan Loss Provisions: While this won’t reduce the amount of outstanding loans, setting aside money to cover potential loan losses (a loan loss provision) can help protect your credit union’s financial health.
9. Regular Audits: Conduct regular audits of your loan portfolio to identify potential issues and develop strategies to address them.

Their comprehensive collection process combines flat fee reminders with contingency collections, efficiently sending your members the right messages at the right time. A collection agency can reduce delinquency rates without resorting to expensive collection actions that offend your members, along with automating your processes by sending low-cost payment reminders that boost recovery. Their services should be in 100% compliance with the new banking laws.

Credit Unions issue various loans. These include auto loans, student loans, mortgage debt, small business loans and credit card loans. They are also entitled to overdraft fees when withdrawal from a bank account exceeds the available balance. However, many customers cannot return the outstanding amount and the accrued interest to the credit union. Even those customers who fail to pay the overdraft fee often dispute it. Unfortunately, accounts receivable is an ongoing problem for Credit Unions nationwide.

Nearly all credit unions have an internal team that follows up with customers running behind their payment obligations and attempts to recover money from them. Depending on the type of loan and internal financial policies, an account is considered delinquent after it is more than 60 to 180 days past due. However, many of these accounts are tough to recover and often become too risky. Such delinquent accounts are forwarded to a third-party collection agency. A good collection agency should offer both pre-collection and standard collection services.

A collection agency’s efficient recovery process helps credit unions maximize their profit by reducing charge-offs while maintaining positive customer relations.

Hiring a collection agency takes the pressure away from credit unions since demands are made in the name of the agency. Equipped with advanced collection techniques and tools, the staff of collection agencies uses a diplomatic approach to recover money from debtors. According to the federal debt collection laws, debt collectors are prohibited from using abusive, unfair or deceptive practices to collect debts. Debt Collectors work with debtors by maintaining a respectable approach yet very effective. Debtors who cannot pay the entire amount are offered to make payments in installments.

Calls originating from Collection Agencies are impactful and effective. Collection agents are seasoned professionals recovering money for their clients all day long. They are well-trained on handling debtor excuses, and their mild pressure tactics are adequate to collect money from those hard-to-handle debtors. A collection agency for Credit unions is also required to follow specific security standards to ensure the safety of client data.

A credit union collection agency will offer various services, including Collection Letters, Collection Calls and Filing a Legal Suit if necessary. They offer both fixed fees and contingency services.

A combination of collection calls and a collection attorney notice is very effective for foreclosure debt.

Credit Union Collection Agency Services Include

Collection Letters Service

The upfront cost for 5 Collection Letters is about $15 per account. Debtors pay directly to you, with no other fees and a low-cost option. Good for accounts less than 120 days past due.

Collection Calls Service

Contingency fee only. No upfront or other fees. Agency gets paid a portion of the money they recover.  No recovery-No fees. Best for accounts over 120 days. A debt collector calls the debtor many times. If everything fails, a possible Legal Suit is recommended by the attorney.

 

Out of thousands of collection agencies in USA, only a few collection agencies offer their customers a dedicated “Client Portal” to manage all the debt collection activity online.

It is a great way to minimize complexities related to working with a collection agency. Our two favorite portals are KinumOrders.com and RocketReceivables.com. Kinum is a relatively lower-cost option for contingency collections. Rocket is backed by a larger collection agency – TSI.

Contact us if you need a good collection agency that also offers a self-service debt collection portal for your unpaid bills.

A self-service portal should be easy to use, yet your collection agency should offer a dedicated sales/support person who can address your needs if you need anything extra.

A secure self-service portal allows clients to do ten major tasks

1. Easily submit new accounts for collections. ( One-by-one, or Uploading in bulk using an excel document)

2. View all the current collection efforts done by the Collection Agency on your accounts.

3. Stop, Update or Pause the collection activity on an account.

4. Generate performance reports and check the recovery rate.

5. Upload debt verification documents if requested by the debt collector.

6. Transfer account from diplomatic to intensive collections.

7. Contact support staff using a standard online ticketing system, instead of calling or emailing support staff.

8. Ability to update login credentials for your client portal.

9. Notify the collection agency regarding any payment that you have received directly from the debtor.

10. Notify your collection agency of any significant updates or disputes regarding the debtor.

A self-service debt for collection portal is convenient and saves a lot of time. It also indicates that the collection agency believes in good customer service and maintains 100% transparency of their collection efforts with customers like you. Such agencies also provide a convenient way for debtors to make online payments using a credit card and in many other ways.

Offering a self-service portal for debt collection is not cheap; it requires hiring several software engineers to develop, hardware costs and efforts needed to keep the data secure. A Collection Agency which does not provide a Self Service Portal to its clients could be keeping its data in the old-fashioned way (in paper format), which is indeed very risky.

It is important to ask if the Collection Agency has got its Self Service Client portal audited for security by a professional security agency. Since you will be sharing a lot of personal data of your debtors, it is essential that they keep it secure.

Just a handful of collection agencies offers Self-Service client portal.

Contact us if you are looking for a good collection agency with a high recovery rate and also provides a self-service portal to their clients to manage and monitor all the debt collection activity.

If you are an electrician or have an HVAC installation business, you likely run into non-payment by clients or vendors all the time. These unpaid bills or overdue accounts receivable can quickly eat up a significant percentage of your profits and in extreme cases result in severe cash flow. Without a well-defined accounts receivable strategy, these past-due accounts become unrecoverable, forcing you to write them off and report them as a loss in your income statement.

Serving HVAC/Air Conditioning/Electrical Businesses Nationwide Need a collection agency? Contact us High recovery rates – Low cost – Easy to use

Suppose repeated reminders over the phone or written invoices do not result in the settlement of an account, an you should transfer the account to a Collection Agency immediately. Wasting time pushes the account toward a permanent default.

The debtor might be getting chased by several creditors like you, and his financial situation is likely deteriorating daily.  

Maintaining proper proof of work done and a copy of invoices is essential because when a Collection Agency contacts your debtor to recover money, the debtor often asks for verification of debt which is their legal right.

Collection Agencies work on a contingency basis, which means you have nothing to lose or no investments to make. Although most collection agencies offer low-cost “Written Demands” service too, it is completely up to the electrician to utilize that step or directly go for Collection Calls.

An electrician must realize that several debt collection laws need to be followed. Some laws apply to the original creditor as well. If a collection agency working on your case, their staff is well trained to handle customer excuses and still collect money diplomatically while following the mandatory debt collection laws.

A Collection Agency will always attempt to keep a professional, diplomatic, yet a firm approach to ensure maximum recovery without destroying the relationship with your client.

The fact is, no one likes to hear from a 3rd party Collection Agency reading the billing matters. All debtors understand that a Collection Agency will not easily back off and will continue to attempt a recovery using one legal way or another. Therefore they are more likely to pay off the bill and close the case.

Equipped with advanced ( and costly) Skip tracing tools, they will locate the debtor even if they have shifted or if their contact information has changed. The internal staff of an electrician not only hates following up with non-paying customers, but they are also neither trained nor have the tools to successfully execute the recovery process, especially if the payment is more than 30-60 days past due.

Collection agencies recover billions of dollars of debt every year. Almost no one can beat the recovery rate of a good Collection Agency.  Moreover, they can perform collections in both English and Spanish.

Make your payment terms clear from the start. Specify when payment is due (such as within 30 days of service), the accepted methods of payment, and any late fees or interest that apply to overdue payments.

Credit reporting should not be used as a revenge tool or a threat; it is against the debt collection laws. But a creditor whose account becomes seriously past due has the legal right to report the account to Credit Bureaus if he has adequate proof regarding the authenticity of the debt. The top three Credit Bureaus of the USA are Equifax, Transunion and Experian.

Most small businesses do not do Credit reporting themself. When the account is 30 days or more past due, they forward the account to a debt collection agency.

A Collection Agency can report the account to Credit Bureaus after their debt collection efforts have failed and the original creditor wishes to report this delinquency on the debtor’s Credit History report. This entry can stay on the debtor’s credit report for up to 7 years.

There are several laws around Credit Bureau Reporting since it adversely impacts the credit history of debtors or patients. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), all accounts reported after September 15, 2017, should have Full Name, Address, Full SSN and Full Date of birth. Since collection agencies use skip-tracing services and may also have access to debtor credit reports, they can usually find one or more missing information by reverse lookup using the Debtor’s SSN. For example – if the debtor’s DOB is missing, then a collection agency can find it using the debtor’s SSN.

Although Credit Reporting is a powerful tool, it should be used judiciously. A debtor has his own consumer rights. If an entry has been reported incorrectly to the Credit Bureaus, the debtor can dispute it. In extreme cases, the debtor may even file a lawsuit if corrective actions are not taken on time. If the creditor cannot verify any information, the consumer reporting agency is responsible for removing it. It is better to continue working with the debtor to recover the money than to instruct the collection agency to report the matter to Credit Bureaus at the earliest opportunity.

Benefits of Credit Reporting

Reporting a  debt to Credit Bureaus has some benefits.

1. It indicates to the debtor that you are serious about recovering your money.

2. If you sue the debtor in court, your attorney can tell the judge that despite all efforts, like making calls and credit reporting, the debtor has not paid. Your case can potentially become stronger.

3. Since millions of Americans check their free credit report annually on annualcreditreport.com, it reduces the chances of mistakes and fraud if there has been a credit reporting error by the original creditor or the collections agency. These issues require immediate attention and must be rectified promptly.

4. If a consumer is aware that you do not hesitate to report genuine cases of unpaid bills to Credit Bureaus, it will reduce the occurrence of late payments and defaults.

5. Not just the bad debts, if you report debts paid in time (like car loans, credit card loans, etc), then it motivates the client to make payments promptly because it helps them to establish good credit.

6. Debtors can sometimes agree to pay in exchange for the entry to be removed from his credit history report. However, this approach is not recommended.

Opening an account with a credit bureau has other benefits too. It allows original creditors to check the credit ratings of their prospective clients and for the collection agencies, it helps to compute the probability of getting paid.

Disadvantages of Credit Reporting

1. Once an account has been reported, the debtor’s worst nightmare has come true. He thinks, “Now what? Or What worse can happen?“. The debtor loses the fear as the worse that could have happened to his credit history report has already happened. Credit Bureau reporting as a negotiating tool is off the table now.

2. Incorrect reporting ( incorrect amount or other mistakes ) can have legal repercussions. Not many, but a few debtors may sue back the creditor or the collection agency for damages.

3. Medical debts, once paid off, should be removed from the credit report. This creates more work for the collection agency.

Responsibilities of Original Creditors towards their Collection Agency:
– Inform your collection agency of any payments received promptly
– Inform of any disputes or bankruptcies immediately
– Provide substantiation of all debts assigned at the time of placement or as requested
– Always accurately report the balance and the status of the account

If you are looking for a debt collection agency that can work on your accounts receivable in a cost-effective way; even report your unpaid accounts to credit bureaus if you request them, Contact Us

Debt collections can be quite frustrating and boring if too many customers fail to make payments on time. Your staff has to contact them repeatedly to pay their past-due bills. More significant challenges arise when some of the following issues complicate recovery efforts.

1. Debtor is not traceable:

Every business struggles with the lack of current contact information of their debtors. May be the debtor has moved from his current residence, or your employee made an incorrect entry while typing the data into the system.

Solution 1:
The USPS maintains a database of people who have recently moved. You can request the USPS to inform you of a person’s new address by using USPS ancillary service endorsements.

Solution 2:
Use a professional Skip tracer service. Skip tracing provides the latest residence or business address of any individual. It will also include the latest phone number if available. Advance Skip tracing services are costly, and for a single account check, they can charge anywhere between $25 to $200 per account.

Solution 3:
If you intend to transfer the account to a Collection Agency, they will do it for free as a part of their collections process. They pay a huge amount to professional skip tracers every month and get the volume discount benefit. They get this service for pennies on the dollar.

2. Some accounts may no longer be in business or bankrupt

Creditors cannot try to collect on debts that are discharged due to bankruptcy. Even if a debtor simply files for bankruptcy, the debt collectors are not allowed to continue collection activities while the bankruptcy case is pending in court.

How to find out if someone has filed for bankruptcy?

Solution 1:
Go to: http://www.ncmb.uscourts.gov/content/how-can-i-verify-if-someone-has-filed-bankruptcy
* If you have a PACER account, you can search using the PACER Case Locator.
* You can visit the courthouse and use a public terminal.
* If you know the social security number, you can use the VCIS system. It’s a toll-free call to 1-866-222-8029. See VCIS instructions here.

Solution 2:

Well, simply hire a Collection Agency, they will check it for free as a part of the standard collections process.

3. Debtor Excuses

We have a detailed article on the excuses made by debtors, a pretty interesting article. It will give you several ideas on how to handle all those excuses.

Solution 1:
Instruct someone in your Accounting/AR employee to keep checking with the debtor frequently. The debtor will likely pay when he realizes that collection demands are not going away any time soon.

Solution 2:
Go to the Small Claims Court and get a judgment against the debtor; this may include wage garnishment. If you are lucky, you may get a default judgment if the debtor fails to appear.

Solution 3:
Hire a professional collections agency and let them do all this work for you. They have excellent systems and software in place to periodically contact the debtor.

4. Government Regulations and Laws:

Did you know that the government has many laws which need to be followed when attempting to recover money from a person? In many states, these restrictions apply to the original creditor as well. These laws are designed to prevent Creditors/Collection Agencies from putting unreasonable pressure on debtors. Not following these debt collection laws and regulations can result in getting sued back by the debtor.

Solution 1:
Have your in-house collection specialist keep himself up to date with laws that are applicable to the original creditors too.

Solution 2:
Use a collection agency. The staff of a collection agency is well-trained to follow various Federal and State laws. Check out the Debt Collection Laws in the United States. In case of a mishap (a lawsuit occurs from the debtor’s side), they are fully insured for such situations to protect themself and their clients from a financial loss.

5. Training Staff Regularly

No one likes calling people again and again and insisting they pay their bills. Invoicing people regularly and following up with them after the past-due date requires tremendous patience, discipline, training and a process in place. As time passes by, the debtor gets pretty immune to those reminder notices. Make sure your staff even keeps a regular check of clients who are past due. These cases should not slip away because no one is properly checking.

Solution 1:
Debt collectors are people with great patience and have too many ideas on how to recover money legally. That’s what they do all day long. Debt collectors are regularly trained by their employers (the Collections Agency).

6. Language barrier

Are all your customers English speaking only? Do you have a bilingual staff who can speak their language? Small businesses and medical professionals often serve people whose primary language is either Spanish or Mandarin.

Solution 1:
Find a friend or an employee who can speak the language of your debtor. Explain to him what to talk about and how to respond.

Solution 2:
Transfer the account to a collection agency that employs multilingual staff. Spanish-speaking debt collectors at the minimum.

7. Tax season

Tax filing season ( March to April) is notoriously bad for debt collections. Many people must pay IRS those unexpected taxes or fines.

Solution 1:
On the brighter side, millions of people receive tax refunds. This may include some of your debtors too. Make sure you re-send the invoice during this period as they may clear your bill finally from the extra money they just got back from the IRS.

8. Verification of debt

Debtors often ask Creditors/Collection Agencies to provide all documents related to the debt, which proves the debtor indeed owes the money. Failure to provide adequate documents will lead you to write off this debt. If it takes too long to locate debtors’ data and you have to go through the bundle of files, then it’s time for a procedural change.

Solution 1:
Of course, your AR team should keep documentation properly. If too many physical documents or paper-based files are making your office a junkyard, consider storing documents electronically. There are several companies that help you store documentation safely and well organized. Finding the electronic version of a document will be a huge time saver.

9. Maintaining positive customer relationships

Most businesses do not want to lose customers or aggravate them just because they have failed to make payments this time. They may give more business in the future after their situation improves. They can potentially spread negative word about your business in the community or online.

Solution 1:
Instruct your staff to deal with debtors diplomatically and with respect. Even if they feel frustrated at times, it is better to end the call that very moment on some pretext, rather than continue to talk and yell at each other. Calling up at a different time could very well be fruitful as your debtor’s mood may be more cheerful.

Solution 2:
The staff of Debt Collection Agencies is well-trained to deal with debtors diplomatically. Try sending Collection Letters first, as they are the best way to maintain better relations with your customers.

10. Pause Collection Activity when the Government notifies

During the coronavirus pandemic, several states prohibited debt collection activity in their states. Similarly, when hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, floods or tornados arrive in a region, collection activity needs to be paused. To keep track of all such events, a collection agency must be on the lookout for these notifications.

Hiring a collection agency

Collection Agencies have been around for decades and recover billions of dollars every year for their clients, which would have otherwise resulted in a 100% loss. Collection agencies subscribe to several services like Skip Tracing, Bankruptcy Screening, etc which you would be reluctant to buy. You can never match the cost and efficiency of a collection agency. It is recommended to use the Collection Letters service for accounts less than 120 days past due, and the Collections Calls service for accounts over 120 days past due.

Collection agencies must follow specific federal and state laws when contacting individuals regarding debt collection. These laws are enforced to protect debtors from potential harassment by Collection Agencies. Not following these laws can result in penalties, lawsuits, and other legal implications. Proper training for debt collectors is mandatory and can save thousands of dollars in fines later. The most common federal laws that collection agencies need to follow are FDCPA, GLBA, TCPA, HIPAA and FCRA.

Note: We have tried to keep this information short and reasonably accurate, but as you can imagine, there are extensive details behind these laws. We recommend you use this article only for your basic understanding and visit the relevant government websites or an expert lawyer for the most up-to-date information and all those extensive details. 

FDCPA (The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act)

This federal law enforces limitations on what debt collectors can say or do when collecting certain types of consumer/individual debt (B2C collections). The FDCPA prohibits debt collection agencies from using abusive, unfair or deceptive practices to collect debts from a debtor. The FDCPA does not cover business debts (B2B collections).

Suppose a consumer sends a written dispute or request for verification within 30 days of receiving the notice. In that case, the debt collector must either mail the consumer the requested verification information or cease collection efforts altogether.

A debt collector cannot:

•  Continue to call a debtor after they notify the collector to stop contacting them. But this does not prevent the debt collector from pursuing other legal ways to collect money, including a lawsuit or reporting this debt to a credit reporting company ( Like Equifax, Experian or Transunion).
•  If a debtor has requested a collection agency to validate the debt, they are being contacted or pushed hard for debt collection during the validation period.
• Calling a debtor before 8:00 A.M and after 9:00 P.M. local time is prohibited.
• Using foul language or blackmailing the consumer.
• Threatening to arrest, file police complaint, informing the employer and threatening of other legal actions.
• Reporting false information to the consumer’s credit report.
• Contacting a debtor at work ( despite the debt collector knowing that a debtor is not allowed to receive such communications at work).
• Call or engage any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously.
• Call the debtor’s friends or coworkers regarding the debt or discuss anything related to the debt with them.
• Attempts to intimidate the debtor are not permitted.
• Threaten the consumer with negative credit reporting.
• Make automated robocalls in an attempt to collect.
• Seek an unjustified amount.
• Use obscene or profane language, racial slurs or insulting remarks.
• Representing that the consumer has committed a crime or disgraceful conduct.
• Not disclosing that he is only a debt collector, or falsely representing some other entity (ex: IRS, FBI, Police, etc.) to pressurize the debtor to pay.
• Fair Debt Collection Practices for Service-members Act (H.R. 5003) protects the defense service-members more than civilians.

If a debt collector knows that an attorney is representing a debtor about the debt, the debt collector must directly contact the attorney instead.

A debt collector cannot sue a debtor in court after the statute of limitations has expired. These are usually between three and six years.

GLBA: (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act)

As per FTC, starting June 9, 2023 all collection agencies will be treated as financial institutions. This means all collection agencies must secure consumer data nearly the same way as banks.

Failure to comply with GLBA can have severe consequences for the collection agency, especially the owners and the higher management. Each violation can result in fines of up to $100,000 and may extend to criminal penalties.

FCRA: (Fair Credit Reporting Act)

This law governs how the debt should be reported to the credit reports. A collection agency will typically require a creditor to provide “SSN” and/or “Date of Birth” of the debtor to ensure they do not place this debt on some other person’s credit report.

This legislation was enacted to promote the accuracy, fairness and privacy of consumer information reported to the consumer reporting agencies. It protects consumers from the willful and/or negligent inclusion of inaccurate information in their credit history reports.

Three major credit bureaus are Experian, Equifax and Transunion. A 180-day waiting period exists before unpaid medical debts can appear on people’s credit reports.

New Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Rules – Nov 30, 2021

Broadly speaking, Collection agencies must contact the debtor first through phone, mail, message or other electronic media and give them sufficient time to respond ( typically 15 to 30 days), before the debt can be reported to Credit Bureaus. This is good because several collection agencies have unfairly started using credit reporting as a tool to recover debt. They cannot threaten to recover a debt that is uncollectable or if it has hit the Statute of Limitations. They must also provide disclosure information on their demands and list all payments, interests from the Date of Debt or service.

TCPA: (Telephone Consumer Protection Act)

This federal law is designed to safeguard consumer privacy. It restricts telemarketing communications via voice calls, SMS and fax. It also applies to debt collections, meaning they cannot call the debtor’s cell with an auto-dialer, or call his cellphone unless the collector has the debtor’s permission to call his cell phone.

Even if a debt collector calls on a debtor’s cell phone, they have the right to tell the caller not to contact them. It is recommended to notify your contacting preference to the collection agency in writing with a letter sent by certified mail. Calls to cellphones using robocalls or pre-recorded voice without consent are also illegal. Voicemails in which the debt collector speaks about the debt you owe are not permitted because other people can listen to them.

The TCPA prohibits any telephone solicitation before 8 a.m. and after 9 p.m. local time. A penalty can be imposed, ranging between $500 to $1,500 per call or text. There are also laws around the DNC (do-not-call) list that a debt collector must follow.

HIPAA: (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)

This legislation provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information, including the medical condition of a patient (or debtor). HIPPA laws do not protect a patient from his billing information being shared with a Debt Collection Agency since that forms the basis of all recovery efforts and verification of the debt if required.

The exact nature of services received by the patient is considered his private information; therefore, full medical records cannot be submitted to a collection agency. Debtors who discover that the collector knows too many details of his diagnosis and treatment may file a complaint with hhs.gov in the context that their privacy has been violated. This complaint must be filed within 180 days of the violation. Office for Civil Rights (OCR) may ask the debt collector to take a corrective action or impose civil money penalties.

State Debt Collection Laws:

Many states have also enacted their own laws to protect consumers who are dealing with debt collectors; sometimes, it includes original creditors too (first-party) and not just the collection agencies (third-party). Debt collection is very tricky and better left to the experts.

California Fair Debt Collection Laws
Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, is California’s version of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Rosenthal act provides consumers protection from first-party creditors as well.

Florida and Colorado Fair Debt Collection Laws
It prohibits debt collectors and creditors from using deceptive and abusive tactics to collect debts.

Georgia Fair Debt Collection Laws
The Georgia Industrial Loan Act applies to consumer loans less than $3,000 with a loan length less than 36 months and 15 days.

Illinois Collection Agency Act
The Illinois collection agency act (ICAA) requires all debt collectors to have a license before being operational.

New York City:
Debt collectors must be licensed as debt collectors by the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs and cannot call the debtor more than twice a week about a debt.

Louisiana also has Fair Debt Collection Practices Act § 3552 and 3562

Not all states and cities specific debt collection laws have been covered here.

Source / References used:
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/are-there-laws-that-limit-what-debt-collectors-can-say-or-do-en-329/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Credit_Reporting_Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Debt_Collection_Practices_Act