Kinum, Inc. is a third-party collection agency based in Virginia. Kinum has received consumer complaints alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), including using false or misleading information in an effort to collect a debt and threatening to take actions that cannot legally be taken. If you have been contacted by Kinum, make sure you understand your rights before responding.
The harassing company pays our fees.
They’re legit. According to the BBB, Kinum, Inc. is a legitimate collection agency, founded in 2007. The BBB established Kinum’s profile page in 2014.
According to its website, Kinum uses a “comprehensive approach [that] takes the burden of accounts receivable collection off of your office staff and collects more efficiently with gentle but effective reminders.” Kinum offers a “system that… help[s] clients avoid traditional collections through a better accounts receivable program.”
Kinum uses a two-step process—Connect and Collect. During the Connect phase of collections, Kinum sends out automated calls and letters using proprietary debt management software. Step 1 “includes 3 reminder letters sent at the right intervals [and] 2 phone call reminders, scripted in a friendly manner to maintain customer relationships.” During Step 2, Kinum “connects as a debt collector and applies the right amount of pressure.”
The Collect phase begins with Step 3, when Kinum takes over as a third-party collection agency using a “secure platform… designed to protect your sensitive customer information… [and] the best tools available to recover…money.” Step 4 is the litigation process, during which Kinum “offer[s] personal legal contact and analysis from a nationwide network of attorneys that specialize in collection law.”
Kinum offers collection services to a variety of industries, including professional services; entertainment, hotel, and restaurant service providers; healthcare and medical service providers; telecommunications providers; education lenders; and retail services. Kinum also provides business-to-business commercial collections.
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 8 complaints against Kinum Inc in the past three years, with 1 complaint closed in the past 12 months. The majority of those complaints alleged problems with billing and collections. Since June 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has closed 21 complaints against Kinum. Justia lists at least 1 case of civil litigation involving Kinum.
Kinum, Inc.
2133 Upton Drive, Ste. 126-129
Virginia Beach, VA 23454-1193
Telephone: (888) 281-1750
Website: https://kinum.com/
It is illegal for a debt collector to make empty threats to sue you or garnish your wages. It is also unlikely Kinum 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!
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Unlawful Debt Harassment? Learn the Law & Sue the Collector.
Absolutely. You can sue a debt collector. Here are some Sample Complaints
Complaints against Kinum Inc cite problems resulting from disputes about the accuracy of billing documentation associated with music store rentals and purchases. In December 2017, a complainant indicated that a credit account that Kinum had reported to the credit reporting agencies as delinquent had been paid. Kinum responded to the complainant with a very lengthy and detailed account history, in which they indicated that they had sent a collection letter to a verified address for the complainant. In addition, Kinum indicated they had made several attempts to contact the complainant by phone, all of them unsuccessful. Kinum indicated they reported the account to the credit reporting agencies because they had not received a dispute letter, and because they had not been able to contact the complainant by phone. Kinum also indicated that subsequent to their decision to report the item, the complainant contacted their office, paid the amount owed on the rented musical instrument, and was instructed that “once the instrument was returned to send… proof so that Kinum could update [their] records and that… there would not be any more rental charges accruing from that day on.” Kinum indicated that the complainant complied with their request. However, when the complainant requested that they update their accounting of the delinquency, Kinum claimed they were waiting for confirmation from the original creditor.
The complainant rejected the response, indicating that he had not received the initial letter, nor any of the attempts to contact him subsequently. He also indicated that he had already returned the rental and provided a receipt as instructed. Kinum Inc disputed the allegations in the complainant’s response but agreed to delete the delinquency from the complainant’s credit report due to the delay in the response from the original creditor.
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…
“As we discussed on the phone earlier today, this settlement is perfectly okay to me. I need to thank you and all of your cohorts at Lemberg Law to get a project handled so professionally. Please allow Amy, the first person who contacted me from Lemberg, know how much I appreciate her efforts, kindness, and professionalism.”
“I won’t be afraid to contact you or recommend your services to others for applicable legal issues. Please keep up the outstanding work you do, and again, thank you for helping me through this challenging time. I’m most grateful. I can not say thank you enough!”
“I received outstanding professionalism from the own staff. I had a horrible experience when trying to solve a debt. 1 debt collector associate said she would speak to the prosecutor’s office and another representative told me that when I called the office back he would call the police and have me arrested. I had been insulted, mocked, and threatened, and feared that the police would appear at my door any given moment.”
“I just wanted to let you know we received the check from your office on now and I wanted to take some time to inform you that we really appreciate all of your efforts in this matter.”
We can absolutely help. Call us today.
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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."
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I normally do not answer calls from numbers I don’t recognize but I inadvertently answered this one. The phone calls above all sound familiar to the one I received except for:
They asked me to verify personal information without telling me what it was about… not even if it was an attempt to collect a debt, they were only willing to tell me their company’s name and the first name of the person calling. I asked them where they got my information from, they would not answer any questions without me confirming my personal information. I told them I wasn’t going to consider this call anything other than a scam, a cold call, if they couldn’t assure me they had legitimate business with me. She said she didn’t have to do that, so I hung up.
She called me back and asked me if I meant to hang up and I replied yes, and I would do so again if she couldn’t tell me what this was in reference to, anything that might give me a clue that this was a legitimate call. Such as if it’s a debt and who did I owe the debt to, a hospital, a utility, a credit card, or anything. She said she didn’t have to.
She said they sent me 4 letters and she had one in front of her. When I asked her to read the letter to me because I had received no letters from her company she refused to do so. When I asked her how did they mail the letters because I do not open letters that are not sent first class, because no business is going to send important correspondence by standard or bulk mail, in other words, ‘junk mail’.
The reason being when first class mail can not be delivered it becomes ‘RTS’ RETURN TO SENDER, junk mail is marked ‘NOV’ NO OBVIOUS VALUE and thrown away.
I told her that if they were sending important mail as junk mail they can’t expect anyone to read it. She said they would not spend any money mailing me a notice (I tried to inform her that no one can send mail for free (except politicians and blind people). All it takes is a stamp for about $.50
It seams she was only focused on hitting the checkpoints that would let her mark her call sheet and mark me as uncooperative as opposed to string to make a productive call.
I received a letter for payment a debt that was already paid to the NUC university. I have receipts. What shoul I do? I understand that I do not have any debt. The disclaimer in its website reads to enter and continue selecting ” accept “that I have a debt, which is not true. Can this collector agency affects my credit, just with a false notificación letter. ?
I was contacted by Kenum, and have entered into a payment plan over a valid debt with Music and Arts.. However, when the payments were calculated out, it went beyond the original amount owed. They informed me that VA law allows them to tack on interest of 6% on the debt. I know that the Fair Debt Collection Act prohibits this practice on debts that are contracted at 0% interest. Federal Law overrides State Law on this point. I have immediatly contacted Music and Arts about this issue to investigate their third party collector. They of course said they could not look into this as it was a third party company.
They call me every day and say they are collecting for the IRS and I owe from 2012 ! I’m sure the IRS would collect their own debts!! I don’t owe the IRS!!
I was contacted by Kinum, Bruce Klinger, regarding a business debt we had. My husband had also been called and told me the number came up on caller id as an old business number of ours. He said he thought that was very shady. My concern is that when he called me, the number came up as my husband’s cell phone number. I was so concerned, so I called the company we owed to verify they were legit. When I called Kinum back and spoke with Bruce again, I questioned him on how he was able to get my husband’s number to appear on caller id. He seemed very evasive and acted like he didn’t know what I was talking about. This is very disturbing that companies are now able to use fake phone numbers of family members. That is just not right!
I got a call from a male rep stating I had a $62 collection for a laptop charger that was not returned to my daughters high school. I then said I had no knowledge of this and would like to verify with the school and my daughter before discussing anything, so I asked for the company phone number to call them back once I did my due diligence and looked into it. He became very disrespectful and said there’s nothing to look into, you owe this, the school wouldn’t hand over a debt if they hadn’t already tried collecting and then asked that I pay over the phone. I then said I want a validation letter from them (I have a legal right to request this to ensure I’m not being scammed). He said they had sent me letters and I’ve received them. I told him I had not gotten any letters and would like one sent, he accused me of throwing away my mail to avoid paying my debt. I then asked if he had proof of this accusation, he said the proof was they mailed out the letters and were not returned. He then started talking over me and yelling at me saying “my name, you are 35 is this how you handle your debt?” I was appalled that this person who claimed to be on a recorded line would insult me and make accusations with no basis. I don’t believe that being cautious is trying to avoid paying debt, it’s $62!!! I simply want to verify I do in fact owe this before I just hand off my money to a stranger over the phone. They asked that I verify my social, date of birth, address, and name??? this is personal information to just hand over to someone who refused to give me their company number or address. I called the number that appeared on my when this man called to see if I could speak to someone else and verify the company isn’t a fraud, the next rep was a female and she then refused to give me the address unless I verified my social, birthday, or address besides my full name. She then had a different reason for the collection and said it was for a laptop not a charger. Now I’m confused because how does a collection company not know what they are collecting on. I told her I just left a voicemail with the school treasury to verify I owe this and the amount, she said they won’t talk to you or call you back because they already passed along the debt to collection. Uhmm, I volunteered and worked with many of the staff members there, I paid book and lab fees that were owed a couple months after my daughter transferred and I was not informed a laptop or charger had not been returned or needed any payment for it. She too refused to say they will send a validation letter to me, all she said was one was sent this month, when I asked for the specific date she would not tell me and again would not give me the address to their company. Horrible company, they are worse than a scammer if they aren’t one. I have rights and I will verify everything before I give any personal information or pay any “debt” I wasn’t aware of.
Kinum has lied to my wife and called many times to collect a debt. I was paying every month and they stopped collecting the debt one month and then the calls started. They have lied to my wife telling her she had a new credit card and she needed to use it. They told me I was supposed to pay the balance at a time when I had not agreed to that. They are liars and intimidators. I feel threatened by them. I only owe them about 250.00 now. I do not trust them. They have been belligerent.
I was notified by one of my credit bureaus that Kinum collections has reported a debt to them. This debt was already paid to original debtor and after talking to their reps and emailing them receipts of account paid in full to original debtor, Nathan Lanning, one of their reps, practically informed me that they would not do so. He stated the agency sent a letter notifying me of debt but I never received such letter.
I am very very upset and I willing to pursue remedies. What must I do?