Central States Recovery or CSR is a third-party collection agency based in Kansas. CSR has received consumer complaints alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), including threatening to take actions that cannot legally be taken and making false statements. If you have been contacted by Central States Recovery, understand your rights before responding.
The harassing company pays our fees.
They’re legit. According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Central States Recovery was founded in 1986, and the BBB established its profile page in 2002. CSR is listed as a collection agency. Buzzfile estimates CSR’s annual revenue at $2.7 million and the size of its headquarters staff at 36 people.
According to its website, CSR “combines dedication to excellence, state-of-the-art technology and a thoroughly trained and motivated collection staff with a service and support staff that’s second to none.”
Central States Recovery specializes in collections for healthcare providers, who make up 95% of their clientele. CSR’s collection staff are trained to follow the CSR collection process, which begins by running “all listings through the ‘National Change of Address’ database prior to the first letter being mailed.” Collection letters contain “all verbiage necessary to be compliant with federal and state statutes.”
Next, accounts are assigned for follow-up calls. “Accounts without telephone numbers are placed in a queue from which they will be looked up utilizing AT&T’s data base via modem.” If patients cannot pay in full, CSR’s collection staff “gathers a complete financial profile to determine exactly what the patients’ maximum effort can be.” For harder-to-collect accounts, it “may be necessary to seek legal action against a patient… as a last resort and…only with a client’s written permission.”
CSR “utilizes Ontario System’s FACS software and also has the ‘Guaranteed Contacts’ integrated predictive dialer which enables… calling pools for each collector based on specified parameters.” CSR’s technology enables “clients…to upload delinquent patient accounts…through a HIPAA/HITECH regulated portal.”
Central States Recovery has posted a statement that “all efforts to collect client accounts are within strict guidelines set forth by various laws governing our industry.” However, they do not provide detailed information about their compliance polices, nor do they 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 19 complaints against Central States Recovery in the past three years, with 4 closed in the past 12 months. Most of those complaints allege problems with billing and collections. Since December 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has received 51 complaints about CSR. A search for “Central States Recovery” in the Justia database does not return any results.
Central States Recovery, Inc.
P.O. Box 3130
Hutchinson, KS 67501-3130
Telephone: (800) 779-0419
Website: http://www.csrecovery.com/
It is illegal for a debt collector to make empty threats to sue you or garnish your wages. It is also unlikely Central States Recovery 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 is a Sample Case Complaint:
Complaints against Central States Recovery cite problems resulting from inaccuracies in reports to the credit reporting agencies (CRAs) and in the documentation of bills they attempt to collect. In July 2017, a complainant indicated she had been writing and filing complaints against CSR regarding a bill the complainant alleged had never been validated. The complainant indicates the bill in question originated with a utility company; that she requested validation as opposed to verification; and that regardless, CSR had failed to verify the debt in the first place. She allegedly called a manager at CSR three times to ask for itemized statements. The manager claimed to have already mailed a statement and refused to mail another one despite the complainant having explained that her spouse “is active duty military,” resulting in frequent relocation. The complainant insisted that she did not owe the bill, but would be willing to pay it if CSR were able to provide documentation of the charges. In response, CSR “requested the account be deleted from any consumer reporting agency files to which they… submitted information.”
In February 2016, a complainant alleged that CSR’s activity regarding a bill for his daughter’s medical treatment was fraudulent. The complainant believed he had already paid the bill with a credit card, and, in any case, had not received collection letters or delinquency notices. The CSR representative who eventually called them attempted to secure additional payment by credit card in exchange for a promise not to report the item to the CRAs. Subsequently, the complainant contacted the medical facility and discovered the date of service was inaccurate and agreed to pay the medical facility directly. The complainant called CSR back to inform them the bill had been paid and requested that the item not be reported to the CRAs, but the representative refused to remove the item because he “did not pay on the initial phone call.” The representative allegedly said that “she was ‘doing them a service and a favor’ but they forfeited that because they did not give… bank information upon the initial …phone call.” In response, Central States Recovery indicated they had “instructed Trans Union, Equifax and Experian to delete record of the collection. The account will be deleted, is paid in full, and is now closed.”
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.
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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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