ComplaintsforProfessional Finance Company (PFC USA)

• Initial Complaint

  01/31/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Business is trying to reach me for paying my medical bill that was already paid fully before the due date. The bills are paid by Nov 1 2020 with $0 due but the professional finance company has been asking for debts and reported derogatory activity on 11/2021.

  

  Business response

  02/09/2022

  Professional Finance Company, Inc. (“PFC”) appreciates the opportunity to respond to Ms. **********’s complaint.   On 5/20/2020, ********** ** ******** ******** (“***”) provided services to Ms. **********.  These charges from *** for physician services, are separate from any hospital charges incurred, and *** is a separate entity from the hospital.  *** bills Ms. **********’s insurance and a balance was left remaining as Ms. **********’s responsibility.  When *** received no further payments for these services provided, the debts were placed with PFC for collection.  PFC mailed Ms. ********** initial notice of the debts on 12/12/2020 and received no indication of returned or undeliverable mail.  PFC reached Ms. ********** by telephone on 12/29/2020.  During this communication, Ms. ********** stated that she had proof that the accounts were paid, stated she would be sending PFC this proof, but never provided any proof of payment to PFC.  On 2/9/2021, Ms. ********** telephoned PFC and stated that she had paid the hospital.  However, PFC explained that *** and the hospital were separate entities.  PFC received no further communications from Ms. ********** until the filing of the instant complaint.  However, Ms. ********** did pay the *** account after telephoning PFC on 2/8/2022 and accepting the explanation that the hospital charges and the charges from *** are indeed separate charges.  As further explanation, PFC has included the itemized statement from *** that shows the nature of the charges at issue.  Due to the confusion from Ms. ********** surrounding these charges and Ms. **********’s payment, PFC has agreed to deletion of the credit reporting of these accounts.  PFC expects that with Ms. **********’s payment, this matter is closed.  However, PFC is happy to answer any further questions regarding this matter.

• Initial Complaint

  01/07/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Recently Professional Finance Company (PFC) placed a collections account on my 3 credit bureau reports from ********** ******* *** **** *****. After disputing this medical collection, ******** and ********** were not able to verify its validity and they deleted it from my reports. However, ******* sent an updated report saying they had verified the information (see attached file). I also sent in a dispute to PFC regarding this alleged collection and sought verification and validation of this supposed debt from them. I did not (and have not) received any of the validations I requested from either ******* or PFC. In addition, PFC is in direct violation of HIPAA laws because I did not give them permission to access, view, or, in any other way, obtain my confidential medical information. In addition, I never received a letter from PFC regarding this alleged debt. My address has not changed in the last 3 years and appears on all three credit reports so obtaining it to send me a debt collection letter should have been fairly easy. I'd like PFC to please remove the said collection from my ******* credit report since they are in direct violation of HIPAA laws, with assurances on their part that they will not seek to place this collection ever again on my credit reports. Thank you for your assistance.

  

  Business response

  01/12/2022

  Professional Finance Company, Inc. (“PFC”) appreciates the opportunity to respond to Ms. *****’s complaint.  ********** ******* ****** – *** *** (“**********”) provided services to Ms. ***** on 3/3/2020.  ********** billed Ms. *****’s ***** insurance and an amount was left owing as patient responsibility.  Ms. ***** made several payments, the last of which was made on 6/15/2020, and a balance of $71.05 remained.  When ********** received no further payments, the account was placed for collections on 7/13/2020.  On 7/16/2020, PFC mailed Ms. ***** initial notice of the debt to her *** ***** *** address.  PFC received no indication of returned or undeliverable mail for the notice and PFC’s letter tracking service indicated that the notice was delivered as addressed on or about 7/25/2020.  When PFC received no response to its collection efforts, the account was credit reported as an open collection item on 11/21/2021.  Ms. ***** telephoned PFC on 11/29/2021, confirmed the address to which PFC mailed the initial notice, and was provided information regarding the ********** account.  Ms. ***** stated during this call that she wanted to check with ********** prior to making any payments.  PFC then did receive a dispute through the credit reporting agencies.  PFC performed an investigation into the account and responded to the dispute on 12/16/2021 that the information being reported was accurate.  On 12/29/2021, PFC received Ms. *****’s letter of dispute requesting verification of the account.  When PFC received the instant complaint on 1/10/2022, it was waiting for ********** to respond to the request for further documentation.  This documentation was mailed to Ms. ***** on 1/11/2022 and has been attached in response to this complaint.  Neither PFC nor ********** believe that the placement of accounts for collections is a HIPAA violation.  PFC would direct Ms. ***** to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ website for further information at https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/267/does-the-privacy-rule-prevent-reporting-to-consumer-credit-agencies/index.html and https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/268/does-the-hipaa-privacy-rule-prevent-health-care-providers-from-using-debt-collection-agencies/index.html.
  PFC has a Business Associate Agreement with ********** that allows PFC to act as **********’s collection agency.  PFC only requested further information regarding Ms. *****’s accounts from ********** when this information was requested by Ms. ***** in keeping with HIPAA’s minimum necessary requirements. 
  PFC believes that consumers should be given an opportunity to paid owing debts prior to any impact to their credit. Thus, PFC is happy to delete credit reporting of the account upon payment and take Ms. *****’s word that she was previously unaware of the account.  We look forward to assisting Ms. ***** in resolving this matter.

  Customer response

  01/13/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  

  I have reviewed the response made by the business, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. However, I do want to make it clear that I did phone ********** when the account reported on my credit reports. When I inquired if I could pay ********** directly if I indeed owed the outstanding balance, they responded that the debt had been sold to PFC. They did not state that PFC was employed as their collection agency. If indeed the debt was sold, according to HIPAA law, a collection agency cannot collect on a medical debt as it is in violation of  a patient's privacy. Here is a statement from the hhs.gov website regarding the former: The Privacy Rule permits covered entities to continue to use the services of debt collection agencies. Debt collection is recognized as a payment activity within the “payment” definition. See the definition of “payment” at 45 CFR 164.501. Through a business associate arrangement, the covered entity may engage a debt collection agency to perform this function on its behalf. Disclosures to collection agencies are governed by other provisions of the Privacy Rule, such as the business associate and minimum necessary requirements.
  

  
  

  I may have misunderstood the customer rep at ********** on ownership of this debt. But if I owe this debt, I will happily pay it with an assurance of deletion from my credit reports as stated in PFC's response.

  
  

  Please let me know how I may resolve this account.

  
  

  I thank you for researching and responding to my complaint.
  

   

  Best regards,

  ********* *****

  

  Business response

  01/18/2022

  Professional Finance Company, Inc. ("PFC") appreciates the continued opportunity to resolve this matter.  To clarify, PFC does not purchase debt and did not purchase Ms. *****'s debt.  It is possible that the representative at ********** misspoke or was misinformed.  Regardless, Ms. ***** is welcome to call PFC at (855) ******** at her convenience and we would be happy to assist her.  As previously stated, PFC will submit a deletion of credit reporting upon receipt of payment.

  Customer response

  01/18/2022

  Better Business Bureau:

  I have reviewed the response made by the business (PFC), and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I appreciate the swift and courteous response to my issue. And I regret that ********** misinformed me as this situation could have been resolved much sooner.

  Thanks to BBB and PFC for endeavoring to resolve complaints in a timely and amicable way.

  Regards,
  ********* *****

• Initial Complaint

  11/29/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  PFC sent a letter about an alleged debt detailing how they were going to pursue legal action for an alleged debt and it was their intent to seek a judgment. This is illegal under the FDCPA, which funny enough they claim they follow the law. You are not allowed to threaten legal action, and the threat of judgements is yet another threat as it ruins credit further. They are doing illegal practices in trying to collect debt.

  

  Business response

  12/07/2021

  
  Professional Finance Company, Inc. (“PFC”) appreciates the opportunity to respond to Mr. ******’s complaint.  Between January and July of 2019, ********** ** ******** ******** (“UCM”) provided services to Mr. ******’s minor children 12 times.  For each of these 12 dates of service, UCM billed Mr. ******’s Aetna insurance and a balance was left owing as Mr. ******’s responsibility for a copay, coinsurance, or deductible. When UCM received no payments from Mr. ****** for these amounts, UCM placed the accounts for collection throughout 2020.  For each account placed, PFC mailed Mr. ****** notice of the debt to the address listed in his complaint and received no indication of returned of undeliverable mail.  PFC also attempted to reach Mr. ****** be telephone to discuss the debts, but was unsuccessful.  On 11/19/2021, one of PFC’s attorney’s reviewed Mr. ******’s accounts for potential legal action.  Finding that the accounts qualified for legal action and that Mr. ****** may have the ability to pay for the accounts, PFC’s attorney reviewed and signed the letter to which Mr. ******’s complaint refers.  As stated in the letter, the accounts qualify for legal action and PFC is prepared to take legal action to collect the accounts.  PFC’s letter also informs Mr. ****** that PFC is providing Mr. ****** another opportunity to dispute the debts or request further information.  PFC will treat Mr. ******’s complaint as a dispute and request for such further information and is mailing Mr. ****** itemization of the debts from UCM to fulfill this request.  The FDCPA does prohibit “threat[ening] to take any action that cannot legally be taken or that is not intended to be taken.”  15 USC § 1692(e)5.  However, PFC is both allowed to, and intends to, take legal action to collect the debts should they remain unpaid or a valid dispute is raised.  PFC does not and cannot place judgments on a credit report but does understand that some credit bureaus do sweep public information for such judgments. PFC truly treats litigation as an avenue of last resort to collect debts and would much rather work with consumers to resolve their accounts.  PFC is always happy to work with Mr. ****** to resolve his debts and looks forward to doing so.

  Customer response

  12/08/2021

  I reject this. First of all this agency is acting like the debt is mine without even having validated it yet. Second, they have the right to say they are going to take legal action if they intend to do so, immediately. However the wording of this letter from the agency does not intend that.  There are words of "potential legal action", "should we proceed", "we will not initiate any legal action until". These are not definitive statements.  Additionally, there is an 8% interest rate on this letter,  which would be this agency adding on their own interest rates, as I've not signed for interest rate on medical. So I completely reject this agency's response. 

  

  Business response

  12/08/2021

  Professional Finance Company, Inc. (“PFC”) appreciates the continued opportunity to respond to Mr. ******’s complaint.  First, PFC has attached additional information from ********** ** ******** ******** (“***”) to validate the debts at issue.  These same documents have been sent to Mr. ****** by mail as well.  PFC must disagree with Mr. ******’s view of the letter sent by PFC.  PFC does not believe there is a requirement to state only that PFC will take legal action immediately.  Allowing Mr. ****** additional opportunity to dispute or pay the debt prior to litigation is of benefit to Mr. ****** and there are no false or misleading statements in PFC’s letter.  PFC is not required only to make definitive statements or predict the future, as circumstances may change that avoid or prohibit litigation.  Finally, PFC and *** are allowed to add on 8% interest under Colorado law.  Pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes 5-12-102(2), “When there is no agreement as to the rate thereof, creditors shall be allowed to receive interest at the rate of eight percent per annum compounded annually for all moneys after they become due on any bill…”  Of course, PFC is happy to waive any interest accrued for Mr. ******, should he wish to resolve this matter. 

• Initial Complaint

  11/12/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I have a entry on my credit report from Professional Finance Company (Account number ********) that states this collection was open on September 7, 2021 for the amount of $264 and that they acquired this debt from ******* ******* ******* ***. However I never had any interaction and documentation from or with Professional Finance Company (along with ******* ******* ******* ***). When this came on my Credit Report with ******* ******* ******* *** I disputed it because this debt does not belong to me and I have requested verification and have not received anything from ******* ******* ******* *** and they were dropped from my Credit reports (as they should be because this I am not responsible for this debt). Now Professional Finance Company is trying to claim I owe them this debt. I do not know what type of debt this is. This is not my debt and if this is a Hospital debt they are in clear violation of my HIPPA as to i did not give any permission for any of my information to be released.

  

  Business response

  11/17/2021

  
  Professional Finance Company, Inc. (“PFC”) appreciates the opportunity to respond to Ms. ****’s complaint.  On 9/7/2021, ******* ******* ******* (“*******”) placed the account in question with PFC for collection efforts.   PFC mailed Ms. **** initial notice of the debt on 9/10/2021 and received notification from the USPS that the mailing was forwarded to Ms. ****’s ******** ****** address.  When PFC received no response to the notice or its telephone collection efforts, PFC began credit reporting the account as an open collection item.  As a result of Ms. ****’s dispute, ******* has chosen to cancel the collection placement with PFC.  As such, PFC has closed the account, submitted a deletion of any credit reporting, and ceased all collection efforts.  Recently, PFC has received disputes through the credit reporting agencies and has responded to Ms. ****’s disputes by requesting that the account be deleted.  PFC is unable to offer legal advice regarding HIPAA, but would direct Ms. **** to https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/268/does-the-hipaa-privacy-rule-prevent-health-care-providers-from-using-debt-collection-agencies/index.html for further information.

  Customer response

  11/17/2021

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** ****

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