Legal Expert, Paralegal
Dena Standley, BA

Dena Standley is a seasoned paralegal with more than 20 years of experience in legal research and writing, having received a certification as a Legal Assistant/Paralegal from Southern Technical College.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

What beating GC Services feels like ^^

Summary: Is GC Services suing you for a debt? SoloSuit can help you take a stand and win in court.

Debt collectors are infamous for their underhanded and harsh business practices. A collection agency buys unpaid debts from banks and businesses for pennies on the dollar, then tracks down and demands payment from debtors. Debt collection, however, is a seedy underbelly dotted with former criminals and bullies looking to scam distressed debtors.

To clean up the sector, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) focuses on prominent players like GC Services, but these debt collectors still err on lawlessness. As long as institutions turn a blind eye, they can harass you, hunt you down, and report incorrect information to the credit bureaus. The good news is that you can beat them. How? Find out below.

Who is GC Services?

The GC Services collection agency assists companies across various industries to collect debt. They collect all debt types from origin to charge off and any debt type. Founded in 1957, the company has 7,500 employees. GC Services currently has over 30 call centers in the United States and worldwide, including two in Manila, the Philippines. "GC Services" is a division of ORG GC Midco, which declared bankruptcy in 2021.

Fraudsters may impersonate GC Services, and it's difficult to tell whether a debt collector is legit. If in doubt, reach GC Services on the below contact:

Address: 6330 Gulfton St., Houston, Texas 77081
Email: marketing.communications@gcserv.com
Telephone: 877-374-0943 or 713-776-6623

GC Services has had cases of misconduct in the past. In the last three years, they have been the subject of 50 BBB complaints, including 17 complaints resolved in the previous 12 months. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined GC Services $700,000 for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in 2017.

If you feel frustrated with GC Services, you're not alone. Many consumers have had their rights violated when dealing with GC Services. As such, it's important for you to learn about your rights so you know how to protect yourself.

Know your rights under the FDCPA

You have rights under state and federal consumer rights laws, and these laws give you more leverage when dealing with debt collectors. With a better understanding of your rights, you can:

Flip the script on baseless threats.
Delete collections from your credit reports.
Send a Debt Validation Letter.
Identify violations during calls and in collection agency letters.

Two new regulations were completed recently by the CFPB to clarify and update the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) provisions. CFPB released a final rule on debt collector communications with consumers on November 30, 2020.

It limits the number of times debt collectors may call a consumer in seven days and prohibits them from calling within a week of speaking to a consumer over the phone.
Debt collectors like GC Services can now communicate with consumers using new technologies like text messages and email. They may use these tools anytime. It does, however, mandate that consumers can opt-out of these types of messages using a reasonable and straightforward method.

The CFPB published its second and final rule on January 19, 2021, clarifying what information debt collectors should provide to consumers. At first contact, debt collectors need to disclose certain information about the debt and the consumer's rights in the debt collection process. For example, the consumer must know how to dispute a debt. In addition, the regulation allows debt collectors to use a model validation notice as a "safe harbor" to avoid liability.

In compliance with the rule, debt collectors cannot provide information about a debt to a credit bureau before speaking to the consumer directly. The laws listed above give you a unique perspective to take on collectors.

Validate GC Services debt request

You must confirm ‌GC Services has the correct debt details. Sold off unpaid debts go into an economic hinterland where strange things can happen. Many players compete to recoup every cent and penny from every dollar—from debt buyers to collectors to brokers to street hustlers and criminals.

It is not uncommon for large debt portfolios to be traded, sold, and sometimes stolen in this typically lawless industry. GC Services must prove the debt belongs to you through the verification process, no matter who owns the debt. They must show:

Your correct full name.
Your Social Security Numbers (in case of a medical bill debt).
Mailing address.
Your signature on the debt in question.

Sending a Debt Validation Letter is how you can formally request a debt validation from GC Services. There is a time factor here, so you must take action immediately. GC Services must receive this letter within 30 days of initially contacting you. As soon as they receive your letter, GC Services should send you a letter that proves you own the debt.

Scrutinize the validation to confirm if they have reported to the credit bureaus and check this on your credit report. In that case, you may pay as long as you get a formal letter from the creditor saying that if you pay in full, they won't report it. If you find information that contradicts the records you have about your debt, you can send a dispute letter to the three major credit bureaus. The credit bureaus will remove the account from your credit report if they agree GC Services made a mistake.

Consider negotiating older debts

Don't be afraid to offer GC Services a debt settlement of pennies on the dollar when they contact you about an older debtt. Try offering a $250 payment if you owe $1000. As mentioned above, many collection agencies buy debts from various companies after the company has written off the debt.

Although the settlement amount may seem small, it's important to remember that collection agencies are happy as long as they make a profit. Most agencies require a lump sum, but some will allow a payment plan. You can start the settlement negotiation process by sending a Debt Lawsuit Settlement Letter.

You can also request Goodwill deletion after you have paid off the account. As an act of kindness, you can ask GC Services to empathize with your situation and remove the mark from your credit report in a goodwill letter. But this is no guarantee they will remove the entry. Another option you have is to pay-for-deletion. Paying off the debt might persuade GC Services to remove the negative mark. Start these negotiations with a pay-for-delete letter.

Respond to a debt lawsuit against GC Services

If you're being sued by GC Services for a debt, you can take a stand and win in court. The first step to beating GC Services is to file a written Answer to the debt lawsuit.

Follow these three steps to respond to a debt lawsuit against GC Services and win:

Respond to each allegation listed in the Complaint document. You can respond to each claim by admitting, denying, or denying due to lack of knowledge. Keep in mind that most attorneys recommend denying as many allegations as possible.
Assert your affirmative defenses. These are any legal reasons that GC Services shouldn't win their case. For example, the debt being past the statute of limitations is a common affirmative defense to raise in a debt lawsuit.
File the Answer with the court, and send a copy to GC Services. Make sure to file before the deadline, which is 14-35 days depending on which state you live in. When you file, make a copy of the Answer to send to the attorneys representing GC Services. Their address should be listed on the Summons and Complaint documents. Send the copy via certified mail and request a return receipt for proof of delivery.

To learn more about these three steps, check out this video:

What is SoloSuit?

SoloSuit makes it easy to fight debt collectors.

You can use SoloSuit to respond to a debt lawsuit, to send letters to collectors, and even to settle a debt.

SoloSuit's Answer service is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your Answer. Upon completion, we'll have an attorney review your document and we'll file it for you.

Respond with SoloSuit

"First time getting sued by a debt collector and I was searching all over YouTube and ran across SoloSuit, so I decided to buy their services with their attorney reviewed documentation which cost extra but it was well worth it! SoloSuit sent the documentation to the parties and to the court which saved me time from having to go to court and in a few weeks the case got dismissed!" – James

Get Started

We have answers.
Join our community of over 40,000 people.

You can ask your questions on the SoloSuit forum and the community will help you out. Whether you need help now or are just looking for support, we're here for you.

Ask a Question

>>Read the FastCompany article: Debt Lawsuits Are Complicated: This Website Makes Them Simpler To Navigate