Kansas Counselors Inc or KCI is a third-party collection agency. KCI has received consumer complaints alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), including failure to verify debts and using false or misleading information in an effort to collect a debt. If you have been contacted by Kansas Counselors Inc, make sure you understand your rights before responding.
The harassing company pays our fees.
They’re legit. According to the BBB, Kansas Counselors, Inc. is a legitimate collection agency founded and incorporated in 1960. The BBB established a profile page for KCI in 1995. KCI is listed as a collection agency. Buzzfile estimates KCI’s annual revenue at $2 million and the size of its headquarters staff at 30 employees.
According to its website, Kansas Counselors “is the Midwest’s premier collection agency with a history of success, and an abundance of satisfied clients.” KCI has “always had a watchful eye on industry changes ; …has made adjustments far in advance of many of their peers;and … has been able to remain consistent, flexible, and progressive in its approach and philosophy.” KCI’s “recovery rates have remained among the highest in the industry.”
As a full-service collection agency, Kansas Counselors offers a range of services. Their bad debt collections division “utilizes the latest advancements in technology to maximize right party contacts” and employs a “collection team…trained to quickly identify reasons for delinquency and efficiently uncover potential sources of income.” Their second placement division “accepts account placements that have already been ‘worked’ by previous collection agencies in an attempt to salvage recoveries.” Their self-pay/early-out division employs a pre-collection staff who work as members of their clients’ “own business office team…. to ensure consistent attempts to contact… customers and the resolution of… payment issues long before they become bigger, and more expensive problems.” Finally, KCI’s “professional customer service and collection “team…delivers…appropriate reminders, monitors…regular payers, and resolves…returned items or broken promises.”
As for compliance, KCI’s “collectors are thoroughly trained with regard to the prohibitions on third party disclosure pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDPA)…to personal health information (PHI)…under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)…as well as all the policies and procedures of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).” In addition, KCI’s client workshops “assist their clients’ staff in sharpening their communication and negotiation skills, developing productive collection strategies, and improving their understanding of consumer collection laws.”
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 22 complaints against Kansas Counselors Inc in the past three years, with 5 complaints closed in the past 12 months. Most of those complaints alleged problems with billing and collections. Since October 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has closed 19 complaints against KCI. Justia lists at least 5 cases of civil litigation involving Kansas Counselors,.
Kansas Counselors, Inc.
PO Box 14765
Shawnee Mission, KS 66285
Telephone: (888) 536-9852
Website: http://kcikc.com/
It is illegal for a debt collector to make empty threats to sue you or garnish your wages. It is also unlikely Kansas Counselors 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. Here are some Sample Cases
Complaints against Kansas Counselors commonly cite problems resulting from disputes about billing documentation and validation. In April 2017, a complainant indicated that after assuming responsibility for his father’s finances after his father had been diagnosed with dementia, he received a collection notice from KCI indicating his father owed money “from an ambulance ride he had in October 2016.” The complainant indicated that he did not dispute the bill because his father had “not been on top of paying his bills” since his diagnosis. The complainant provided Kansas Counselors with his father’s credit card number to pay the outstanding debt, but when he subsequently spoke with the medical provider, he was informed the bill had already been paid. Specifically, a representative at the ambulance company told him that “someone had paid $251.88 and that they will credit the account and the complainant can pay the remaining $94.12.” The complainant thought this report of previous activity was suspicious, but when he requested additional information, they told him they could not provide it. After speaking with the representative, he did “a reverse lookup on the phone number and it was identified as a collection scam.” When he contacted the credit card company, they advised him to file a transaction dispute. He concluded his complaint by asserting his understanding to KCI that his father “does not owe anyone any money related to this ambulance ride” and that he “wants his money back.”
In August 2016, a complainant indicated he had been treated for a wound at an emergency room in 2010 at a time when he was covered under his parents’ insurance. Although he acknowledged that the emergency room may have had a different billing service than the hospital itself, he insisted he had never received any bills and therefore assumed his insurance company had paid for it. He also indicated he had paid the copay at the time of service. Regardless, six years later, the item was reported as a delinquency on his credit report by Kansas Counselors, which had apparently been turned over to them by the medical facility back in 2010. The complainant was upset for two reasons: the medical facility and insurance company had failed to provide him with the billing statements that would have given him the opportunity to resolve the matter before it became delinquent; and KCI did nothing for six years before reporting it as a delinquency. In response, KCI attempted to educate the complainant about medical and insurance billing, informing him that ensuring all the billing paperwork was processed correctly was his responsibility, not that of the insurance company or of the medical facility. As a result, Kansas Counselors argued that their having reported the item as a delinquency was business as usual. Although KCI stressed that they were not legally obligated to do so, they indicated that they had researched the billing dispute and would provide the complainant with the requested information
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).
But here’s the rub: If you want to enforce your rights, or recover money for violations — you need to sue. These 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.
Your debt harassment checklist:
“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.”
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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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