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How to Settle Debt With Professional Finance Company

George Simons | January 12, 2025

George Simons
Co-Founder of SoloSuit
George Simons, JD/MBA

George Simons is the co-founder and CEO of SoloSuit. He has helped Americans protect over $1 billion from predatory debt lawsuits. George graduated from BYU Law school in 2020 with a JD-MBA. In his spare time, George likes to cook, because he likes to eat.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

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.

Summary: Act quickly if contacted by Professional Finance Company. Validate the debt, know your rights under FDCPA, and use tools like SoloSettle to negotiate or dispute it. If you’ve been sued, be sure to file an Answer to prevent default judgment and give yourself time to work out a settlement.

Professional Finance Company is a debt collector that works with a variety of original creditors, such as healthcare providers, government agencies, consumer retail lenders, and financial services organizations.

A collection account on your credit report can harm your credit for up to seven years, even if it's paid. If Professional Finance Company contacts you regarding an old unpaid debt, it is crucial that you know your rights when dealing with their professional debt collectors.

Settle debt with Professional Finance Company

You can negotiate debt settlement at any stage of the collections process. SoloSettle makes it easy.

Settle with SoloSettle

Is Professional Finance Company legitimate?

Yes, Professional Finance Company is a legitimate third-party collection service. The company is headquartered at 5754 W. 11th St. Ste. 100 Greeley, CO., and claims to have been in business for over 72 years.

Below is the Professional Finance Company phone number and other contact information if you’re ready to reach out to negotiate settlement:

  • Phone number: 855-267-7451 or 800-864-4391
  • Mailing address: P.O. Box 1686, Greely, CO 80632-1686
  • Physical address: 5754 West 11th Street, Suite 100, Greeley, CO 80634

The company states that its recovery specialists are "true consumer advocates" and that the team is trained to treat consumers professionally, with courtesy and understanding to resolve debts.

Who does Professional Finance Company collect for?

Professional Finance Company (PFC) collects for a wide variety of clients, including municipalities, hospitals, clinics and retailers. The majority of their debt collection practice centers around medical debt, so Professional Finance Company mostly collects for medical providers.

PFC works as a contingency based collector, meaning they’re paid a percentage of each debt that they collect.

Respond to a debt lawsuit against Professional Finance Company

The first step to winning a debt lawsuit is to respond in court. You should respond by filing a written Answer with the court. If Professional Finance Company represents a debt collector suing you for a debt, follow these three steps to respond to the lawsuit.

Step 1: Answer each claim listed in the Complaint

Your Answer document should focus primarily on responding to the specific claims or allegations listed in the Complaint document that notified you of the case.

In response to each allegation, you can admit, deny, or deny due to lack of knowledge. Most attorneys recommend denying as many claims as possible because this will force Professional Finance Company to prove its side of the case. Without proper documentation for proof, their case won’t stand.

Step 2: Assert your affirmative defenses

An affirmative defense is any legal reason Professional Finance Company should not win the case. For example, the statute of limitations is a common affirmative defense to include in an Answer. There are dozens of other defenses you can use to strengthen your side of the case.

Step 3: File the Answer with the court and send a copy to Professional Finance Company

This is the last and most important step. Keep in mind that you have 14-35 days to file your Answer, depending on which state you live in. Make sure to send a copy of the Answer to Professional Finance Company via certified mail with a return receipt requested.

It’s important to remember that filing an Answer is not the end of a lawsuit. It is crucial that you continue to respond to any requests from the courts and appear for all hearings until the case is settled.

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

How to settle a lawsuit with Professional Finance Company

The easiest way to end a lawsuit is to reach a settlement agreement with Professional Finance Company. SoloSettle is a web-based app that makes it easy to initiate a settlement offer, track correspondence, reach a settlement agreement, and securely pay the agreed-upon amount.

Follow these steps to initiate a settlement:

  1. Gather documentation–collect all relevant documents related to the lawsuit, including court papers and any communication from Professional Finance Company.
  2. Familiarize yourself with SoloSettle and create an account.
  3. Take stock of your finances. Determine the maximum amount you can afford to settle the debt. Consider making an initial offer for less than the final amount so you can respond if they make a counteroffer.
  4. Initiate communication with Professional Finance Company and make an offer to settle the case for a lump sum.
  5. Create a Settlement Agreement. Once you and Professional Finance Company have reached an agreement, it’s paramount that you get the agreement in writing before initiating a payment.
  6. Follow through with the agreed-upon payment.

To learn more about these steps and other strategies for settling debt with a collector like Professional Finance Company, watch the following video where we ask an attorney for debt settlement tips:

Know your rights under the FDCPA

Federal legislation known as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a consumer's strongest defense against harassment and abusive behavior from debt collectors. The FDCPA forbids certain actions in the attempt to collect a debt. These forbidden actions include:

  • Contacting a customer before 8:00 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
  • Contacting a customer's family, employer, or friends regarding the debt.
  • Contacting a consumer at work or at any other time the consumer has notified the company is inconvenient.
  • Using abusive language.
  • Misrepresenting information about the debt.
  • Threatening legal action that they cannot or will not take.

If you encounter any of the above when contacted by Professional Finance Company, terminate the conversation and file a complaint with the FDCPA. It is good practice to keep all communication with a debt collector in writing. Ask a representative for an email address for faster communication.

Ask Professional Finance Company to validate your debt

When contacted by a debt collection agency, your first step is to seek a debt validation to ensure the information they have about your debt is correct and that it belongs to you. Do not enter into negotiations or provide any information about the debt until you send a Debt Validation Letter.

It is important to note that the creditor can legally assume the debt is valid unless the consumer sends the Debt Validation Letter within 30 days of initial contact. To your benefit, the creditor only has five days to provide you with:

  1. The name of the collection agency
  2. The name of the original creditor
  3. The exact amount of the debt
  4. A notice that informs you of your right to dispute the debt
  5. Mailed proof of the debt

Should they fail to provide you with this information, they are in violation of the FDCPA. Even if you miss the thirty-day window, you should still send a Debt Validation Letter. It may not carry the same power, but it is still a valuable tool to ensure the debt is valid and belongs to you.

File a dispute with the credit reporting agencies

Request a copy of your credit report to ensure any information reported is accurate. The debt collection process is not perfect, and it is not uncommon for inaccurate information to end up on your credit report. Check for inaccuracies in the following:

  • The balance owed
  • The account number
  • The name on the account
  • The payment status on the account
  • The date the account was opened or closed
  • Any other information that is inaccurate

If you find incorrect information reported by Professional Finance Company, file a dispute with the credit reporting bureau asking that the account be removed. Inaccurate information makes it more difficult for the credit agency to verify the accuracy of the collection account and can result in removing the collection from your credit report.

Key takeaways for dealing with Professional Finance Company

Even when a debt is legitimate, debt collectors are still bound by the FDCPA in how they treat consumers. Know your rights and hold debt collectors accountable if they violate those rights.

Professional Finance Company is a third-party debt collector that may have purchased your debt from the original creditor. In those transactions, information can be lost or mishandled, which can work to your benefit. The collection agency is responsible for providing accurate information to you and the credit reporting agencies. When they fail to do so, you can take action to have the debt removed from your credit report.

If you decide that paying the debt is the right course of action, you should still send a Debt Validation Letter and ensure all information reported to the credit bureaus is accurate.

You should also be aware that, in some circumstances, paying the debt will not help your credit score and could even harm it.

Most debts can only remain on your credit report for seven years. If your debt is nearing the end of that time frame, entering into a payment agreement with Professional Finance Company could extend the amount of time the negative mark stays on your credit report.

If you’re being contacted by debt collectors or sued for a debt, Solo can help.

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