Express Recovery Services or ERS is a third-party collection agency based in Salt Lake City, UT. ERS has received consumer complaints alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), including illegal communication tactics and attempting to collect debts not owed. If you have been contacted by Express Recovery Services, understand your rights before responding.
The harassing company pays our fees.
They’re legit. According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Express Recovery Services, Inc. is a legitimate collection agency, founded and incorporated in January 1996. The BBB established its profile page in March 1996. The BBB lists ERS as a collection agency that uses the alternate business name, Clear Management Solutions. Buzzfile estimates ERS’ annual revenue at $1.7 million.
According to its website, ERS “is a leading provider of receivables management services throughout the United States.” ERS cites as its strengths its “superior, pro-active service designed to reduce…administrative burden and create a user-friendly relationship for…management…and staff”; its positive advocacy-oriented customer service approach; its staff of “happy, well-trained employees”; and its “wide array of customized services.”
As a full-service third-party collection agency, Express Recovery Services offers delinquent account collections; extended business office services; account backlog clean-up programs; receivables management consulting; customized recovery campaigns; and litigation services. ERS’ website does not provide industry-specific information about its collection practices.
As for compliance, Express Recovery Services claims to offer “the most extensive training program in the industry…with new hire training that consists of four weeks of classroom instruction where employees are educated about the FDCPA, HIPAA, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regulations, FCRA and other state and federal laws.” Furthermore, “ERS employs one of only two ACA Certified Training Specialists in the State of Utah… enabling them to provide in-house certification for their employees.” However, ERS’ website is client-facing and does not provide links or references to consumer protection resources, laws, or enforcement agencies.
Who are we? We are Lemberg Law, a Consumer Law Firm
Lemberg Law is a consumer law firm helping victims of collection harassment and abuse. We are ranked A+ by the BBB. We’ve helped more than 15,000 consumers stop harassment and recover money from debt collectors. Harassed? Abused? Misled by a collector? Call our Helpline today! There is no charge unless we win.
The BBB has closed 17 complaints against Express Recovery Services in the past three years, with 10 closed in the past 12 months. Almost all of those complaints allege problems with billing and collections. Since March 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has received 26 complaints about ERS. Justia lists at least 15 cases of civil litigation involving ERS.
Express Recovery Services, Inc.
PO Box 26415
Salt Lake City, Utah 84126
Telephone: (800) 238-5888
Website: http://www.expressrecovery.com/
It is illegal for a debt collector to make empty threats to sue you or garnish your wages. It is also unlikely ERS would sue you for a debt you may not owe or they cannot validate. However, debt collection agencies are known to have summoned debtors to court and garnish wages after a default judgement. Contacting an attorney BEFORE this could possibly happen would be a smart move. We’ve helped thousands of consumers fight back against unscrupulous debt collection harassers. Find out if we can help you too today!
Get Free BBB A+ Attorney. Call 475-277-1600 NOW
Unlawful Debt Harassment? Learn the Law & Sue the Collector.
Absolutely. You can sue a debt collector. Here are some Sample Complaints
In April 2017, in the Utah Court of Appeals, a judge issued an Opinion regarding a case challenging ERS’ right to collect a debt. In this case, the plaintiff had been hired by an appliance servicing company. As part of the hiring agreement, the appliance servicing company agreed to pay for training for the plaintiff. The employment contract contained “a liquidated damages provision requiring the plaintiff to reimburse the company for training costs if he was terminated within two years after he completed his training.” The plaintiff left his employer during that two-year period, which resulted in the collection effort discussed at the April 2017 hearing.
The appliance company attempted to recover the costs of the training by hiring ERS to collect an amount of $10,348.25 as a result of breach of contract on the part of the plaintiff. The plaintiff objected to the breach of contract finding, and filed a countersuit for unjust enrichment, seeking a set off of $1,600. During the trial, Express Recovery Services was unable to prove its breach of contract claim, relieving the plaintiff from any financial obligation regarding the training course. At the same time, the plaintiff was not successful in proving his counterclaim. As a result, because neither party was able to prove its claim, the trial court denied court costs and attorney fees to both parties.
The April 2017 hearing was held to determine the plaintiff’s appeal of the trial court’s decision to deny him attorney fees and court costs. He argued that although he had not proven his counterclaim, he had prevailed in his primary objective of defeating ERS’ breach of contract claim. Because he was successful in that regard, he should have been awarded court costs and attorney fees as the prevailing party. Express Recovery Services argued that he would have received the award if he had prevailed in his counterclaim. The plaintiff countered that an award of court costs and attorney fees has never been predicated on the success of any counterclaims, and that in fact he was not even required to file a counterclaim. The awarding of court costs and attorney fees follows exclusively from prevailing against the opposing party in the motivating issue at trial. The court agreed and remanded the case back to trial to determine the amount of the award for the plaintiff.
Federal laws protect you. The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) regulates the behavior of collection agencies by prohibiting actions such as the use of abusive or threatening language; harassment; or the use of false or misleading information to collect a debt. The FCRA regulates how collection agencies and creditors report delinquent debts to credit reporting agencies. Additional consumer protection laws include the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA).
Yes. If you want to enforce your rights, or recover money for violations — you need to sue. Federal laws provide individuals like you with a means to seek monetary damages in court. For example, the FDCPA allows consumers who have been violated to recover damages of up to $1,000, plus attorney fees and court costs.
You may have a case, if…
“When I first contacted Lemberg Law, I was at my wit’s end, not knowing what to do or how to protect myself against the collection agencies. I felt like I was sinking. After sending in my case evaluation, Lemberg Law quickly threw me a lifeline and turned the tide.”
“Thanks to the staff at Lemberg Law, I have peace of mind again. They worked quickly to find the harassing calls ended and were super considerate when I spoke together. I love the hard work!”
“I am so blessed that during this dreadful, frightening encounter, your company was there to help me. I can not thank you enough.”
We can absolutely help. Call us today.
Share your story
Have you had a bad experience with this agency’s debt collectors? Sound off and share your experience with other visitors in the comment box below.
Sergei Lemberg is an attorney focusing on consumer law, class actions related to automotive issues, and personal injury litigation. With nearly two decades of experience, his areas of practice include Lemon Law (vehicle defects), Debt Collection Harassment, TCPA (illegal robocalls and texts), Fair Credit Reporting Act, Overtime claims, Personal Injury cases, and Class Actions. He has consistently been recognized as the nation's "most active consumer attorney." In 2020, Mr. Lemberg represented Noah Duguid before the United States Supreme Court in the landmark case Duguid v. Facebook. He is also the author of "Defanging Debt Collectors," a guide that empowers consumers to fight back against debt collectors and prevail, as well as "Lemon Law 101: The Laws That Lemon Dealers Don't Want You to Know."
See more posts from Sergei Lemberg
My daughter is being harassed at work, several times even though both her and her employer have asked them to stop. Today my daughter called in tears saying “troy” showed up in a threatening manner, shes a school councilor working w little kids. Her case is simple, she went to hospital and according to both facility and hospital, both claimed she was insured. Since, we have been dealing back and forth ins bs facility which is common but our insurance is as good as a company can get yet the facility, instead of sending the parents/insured the bill or communicating w us, they went after a struggling college student while at work- thats not legal. Today i called yelling at the supervisor to stop this and if she sends this “troy” over again, im afraid it will get ugly. This has to stop! I use collection agencies and understand there is a need but there is also a way, this is not the way.
Express Recovery Services has done 3 of the illegal activities on the harassment checklist for a bad check written to me by my former employer. They are threatening negative credit reporting if I don’t pay back the money that I worked for. They claim that they have contacted my previous employer twice and have not received an answer. Are they in the wrong? If so, what do I do next?
I was force to pay a payday loan that existed on 2014. I gave my card number to pay a minimal amount that they ask. They called my wife and theaten her for a lawsuit against me.
Today I was contacted by a company claiming to be “ERS” and/or “ERS Mediation Services” and also told by one rep that this was a division of “Legal Services.”
They called from a spoofed local number (this time the number was not in service when I called it back, several times, however, individuals have answered swearing they never called me.
I answered a call today from a spoofed local number and was greeted with a recording saying papers would be filed in court against me if I didn’t pay them an outrageous amount of money from a very old pay day loan. The amount they requested was more than triple the “debt” they claimed to be collecting. Then a guy with a heavy Indian accent spoke for a minute, not sure what he said, honestly, and then a woman came on the line.
She identified herself as “Kimberly Jenkins,” and demanded money, threatened legal action, and began to insult me when I scoffed, calling me a “low-life” and eventually hanging up on me. Before she did I was able to get a call back number of 888-229-6342, extension 102. A recording of this call exists.
When I called back there was no menu, she just answered directly on the first ring, tv playing in background. She insulted me further, refused to speak with me, then hung up.
I called back again blocking my Caller ID number, and reached an Alex. When I tried to get him to tell me the name of his company he said “ERS a division of Legal Services.” I asked, “so Legal Services is the name of the business?” He hung up.
I called back again, blocking my CID again, got Alex again, and this time he took my name, put me on hold, came back and said he has no file on me, and to ignore future calls. I asked if I could go to their website, and he refused to give me their website address.
Who knows how many people these scammers have tricked people out of their money. I’d like to see them legally stopped. Would love to file an action against them. Aside from virtually stealing from people by claiming to be collecting valid debt and threatening with “papers have been filed” threats, they’re disrupting lives of who knows how many by spoofing active telephone numbers.
Can we take action against this scam operation?