Continental Credit Control or CCC is a third-party collection agency based in Southern California that specializes in collecting delinquent healthcare-related bills. CCC has received complaints alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), including failure to verify debts and attempting to collect debts not owed. If you have been contacted by Continental Credit Control, understand your rights before taking action.
The harassing company pays our fees.
They’re legit. According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Continental Credit Control, Inc. is a a legitimate collection agency, founded in 1982. The BBB established a profile page for CCC in 1997. Continental Credit Control is listed as a collection agency and collection systems provider. Buzzfile estimates Continental Credit Control’s annual revenue at $3.5 million and the size of its headquarters staff at 15 employees.
According to its website, CCC employs “friendly debt resolution advocates” to “help individuals resolve their debt quickly.” CCC’s management team “will address…questions, provide tailored reports, and develop a customized recovery strategy specific to …clients’ business needs while guiding and monitoring…recovery specialists for optimal results.” In addition, CCC educates its clients’ “staff on best practices data collection and account determination” to ensure “more in-full payments, reduce…past-due accounts, and expedite recovery.”
Continental Credit Control focuses mainly on healthcare receivables and lists several billing and collection services for medical offices, including “right party payor, Obamacare, Medicare, payment in full, payment plan, payment plan online, online payments, payment by phone, insurance discovery, and charity care discovery.” Within healthcare, CCC specializes in collecting revenue for radiology and imaging offices.
Continental Credit owns and operates Rad Revenue (www.radiologyrevenue.com), a billing and third-party collection agency with a clientele comprised entirely of radiology and imaging offices. In addition to healthcare, CCC also collects delinquent debts for telecommunications companies; small business and retail accounts; and government, municipal, and utility agencies.
As for compliance, CCC claims to have maintained a “long-standing reciprocal relationship with Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax…and conscientiously provides accurate credit reporting in compliance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act.” CCC employs “cutting-edge technologies…that efficiently locate and assess the consumer’s ability to pay to produce results 50% to 60% above the national average.” Their Frequently Asked Questions page contains information about disputing debts, requesting termination of telephone contact, sending a cease-and-desist letter, and reporting fraud. They also provide a link to the Ask Doctor Debt page of the International Association of Credit and Collection Professionals (ACA International) website. However, their website does not include a consumer resources page, and their Contact Us page does not include a disclaimer identifying them as a debt collector.
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 3 complaints against Continental Credit Control in the past three years, with only 1 of them in the past 12 months. All 3 complaints allege problems with billing and collection services. They have also received 1 negative review alleging a problem with billing. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has closed 20 complaints against CCC, and Justia lists at least 4 cases of civil litigation naming CCC as either plaintiff or defendant.
Continental Credit Control, Inc.
22 N. Milpas Street, Suite C
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
Telephone: (805) 899-4431
Website: http://www.contcred.com/
It is illegal for a debt collector to make empty threats to sue you or garnish your wages. It is also unlikely CCC 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 Continental Credit Control commonly cite problems resulting from errors in insurance billing combined with poor customer service. For example, in January 2018, a complainant indicated that he had received a bill for medical services that was incorrect. He contacted his insurance company and medical provider to dispute the charge. He did not receive any further billing notices, so he assumed the problem had been resolved. Unfortunately, 20 months after disputing the initial billing statement, he received a collection notice from CCC. He immediately contacted CCC to inform them that he had disputed the debt, but he complained that the CCC representative was “very cold, abrasive and unwilling to do anything for” him.
After not hearing back from Continental Credit Control, he attempted contact on several occasions, but each time he was allegedly “either disconnected or put through to leave a voice message and NEVER received a call back! He even asked for the head billing supervisor of the whole company and was given a number of 2 men in Texas, whom he also left at least 3 to 4 messages for and did not receive a call back.” After resolving the billing error and establishing that he was responsible for the initial charges, he disputed the interest charges that had been added by CCC, claiming that they were the result of delays caused by the inaccessibility of staff at both the insurance company and at Continental Credit Control. He approached a CCC supervisor about the 10% interest charges that had been accruing on his account throughout the dispute process, but the supervisor he had encountered was “just as cold, very dismissive and unwilling to hear his case” as the representative ha had initially contacted. In response to the complainant’s objections, the supervisor allegedly told him that “he could tell from the complainant’s credit… that he had…enough credit available to simply put the whole… amount due…on a credit card.” When the complainant asked the supervisor if he had looked at his credit report without his consent, the supervisor allegedly “defensively replied that he was looking at what was pulled… when CCC acquired the account…as a ‘soft’ inquiry.”
The complainant expressed outrage that a debt collector would attempt to bully him into acquiring more debt to pay off a delinquent bill. The supervisor replied that he had made the suggestion “as a courtesy,” and that he would agree to remove the delinquent item form the complainant’s credit report in exchange for payment in full. The complainant objected that he would have to provide the corrected information anyway. The supervisor refused to provide his last name to the complainant, and ultimately hung up before the end of the conversation. Continental Credit Control did not provide a public response.
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…
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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 was in the hospital for an emergency condition. The hospital filed a claim with my insurance provider, but one specific doctor did not. I got the notice of collections from CCC and I called them to inform them that the doctor did not file a claim and that I was insured during the time of the hospital stay. A lady there told me that it was too late and since it was in collections, my insurance provider would not pay.
I knew better and I called my insurance company letting them know that they are 100% liable for the payments and they are now processing the appeals to pay CCC. CCC did not verify that a claim was not filed and automatically assumed that I was the debt-holder, when in fact, my insurance provider was. CCC lied to me to get me to pay by falsely claiming that my insurance provider would not pay the debt since it was in collections.
One last thing, when I called them to tell them that I was filling a claim with my insurance provider, the lady there told me, “Ok, but just so you know, while that is happening, this collection will remain on your credit report”. The hospital bill was $1,100.00 and it is now $1,263.04 with the 10% interest rate accrual.
Once this payment is made from my insurance provider, I am definitely looking to see if I have any legal options to proceed further, because the debt was not properly verified, they lied to me, and they threatened my credit score repeatedly.
I started with Continental credit about I want to save 4 months ago and they have done nothing for me but take my money my credit score still the same I have tried to call them and ask him some questions about some people that are harassing calling me some debt collectors and all they say is oh don’t worry about it that there’s nothing that they could do about it that if I just have to go on my credit file and find out who it is and for me to call them who does that I thought they’re supposed to be helping me with my credit not me helping myself I want to see if I can file a suit so I can get all my money back that they’ve been taking from me and all the stress that I’ve been going through dealing with them they haven’t even tried to call me to go over my case or anything but they’re real good at taking my money every month even when I don’t even have it in my bank they still keep trying and trying and trying until they get it but don’t do nothing for me nothing on my case has been done it’s still the same as when I started with them so can I please get help from a lawyer
Is it true a healthcare facilty only has 1 year to bill you ? After 1 yr, you dont have to pay bill?
Recently i began to get robo calls from Continental Credit control. Whenever i try to call them there is no one there to speak. I checked my credit report and i do not see any debts, or collection notice. months ago i had a bill from radiology center, but i called and verified it and they apologized for the mistake. Now i am only getting robo calls once in a while. Do I have a case?