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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.

Beating SCA Collections feels like ^^

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

Getting a debt collection letter from SCA Collections in the mail is nobody's idea of a great start to the day. And finding out that you might owe money to someone you've likely never heard of can be a real head-scratcher.

When you find yourself on the receiving end of a debt collection letter, the best way to handle it is to read through it and try to obtain the information you need to determine whether it's a legitimate debt or just someone's mistake.

The first notification that you receive in the mail from SCA Collections is likely to set off a barrage of actions. You may find yourself getting multiple phone calls from representatives of the company attempting to make you pay the debt.

To stop the calls and any other collection-related activity, try sending a Debt Validation Letter. By law, debt collection agencies must validate a debt and give you 30 days to dispute its validity in writing.

Once you've sent the Debt Validation Letter to SCA Collections, activities will cease unless they're able to provide you with documentation to validate the debt. Such validation normally includes the name of the original lender, your account number, your name, and the amount that was owed at the time the debt was purchased by SCA Collections.

If they provide you with the requisite information, debt collection activities will resume. However, it's important to make sure their activities are in line with the requirements set forth by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

What debt collection activities are prohibited by the FDCPA?

The FDCPA was established in the 1970s to protect consumers from aggressive debt collection actions. Prior to the FDCPA, debt collectors were known for using all kinds of tactics to induce consumers to pay overdue debts.

These tactics could be scary and were found to be harmful to society in general. The federal government felt that reining in the methods used by debt collectors could lead to better outcomes for consumers.

Some acts that are banned by the FDCPA include:

Repeatedly calling an individual at their home throughout the day.
Letting the phone ring “off the hook” until someone answers.
Using abusive language toward the consumer, such as calling them a criminal.
Calling people at their workplace, especially when their employer forbids it.
Saying they are with law enforcement when they aren't.

If you experience these actions by a debt collector from SCA Collections — or any other behavior you think might be illegal or constitute harassment — you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Is SCA Collections a legitimate debt collector?

Yes, SCA Collections is a legitimate debt collector. It's based in North Carolina and primarily seeks to collect delinquent accounts for healthcare providers. However, it is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

If you're feeling frustrated with SCA Collections, you're not alone. As of 2022, SCA Collections has had 112 complaints filed against it in a three-year period through the BBB. Even worse, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has reported 493 complaints against SCA Collections in the past ten years. A review of the current complaints shows numerous occasions where the company has failed to substantiate a debt for the consumer, or they have not removed the debt from a credit report.

For most complaints, the company chooses to hide behind HIPAA legislation rather than resolving the issue for the consumer.

Let's take a look at a real example.

“This company is reporting a collection account on my credit report. I have never received service from the original creditor to the best of my knowledge, and have definitely not received any correspondence in regards to any balance current or past due from either the original creditor nor this company SCA collections. Not giving me an option to dispute the charges or the collection prior to reporting as a collections account to all 3 credit bureaus is unduly, unfair, unacceptable, and a direct violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and must be deleted from my credit reports IMMEDIATELY!”

What should I do if I'm sued by SCA Collections?

If you receive a notice that you are being sued for a debt held by SCA Collections, you'll want to take immediate action. In most cases, if you ignore the debt and it proceeds to court, a default judgment will be issued against you.

This judgment can severely impact your credit and allows SCA Collections to pursue further collection activity against you, such as garnishing your wages or freezing your bank account. You don't need that in your life, especially if the debt isn't yours to begin with.

Instead, you should file a written Answer in your local court. Here's how.

Respond to a debt lawsuit against SCA Collections

The first step to beating SCA Collections is to respond to the lawsuit with a written Answer. You have 14-35 days to submit your Answer, depending on which state you live in. If you don't respond in time, SCA Collections will request a default judgment.

You can save the money and stress of finding an attorney and represent yourself with SoloSuit's help.

Follow these six tips to draft an Answer to a debt lawsuit against SCA Collections:

The Answer isn't the place to tell your side of the story in detail. Instead of using an elaborate story to respond to the lawsuit, your Answer should focus on responding to the claims listed in the Complaint document. Keep it simple. You can admit, deny, or deny due to lack of knowledge.
Deny, deny, deny. Most attorneys recommend that you deny as many claims as possible, forcing SCA Collections to do more work to prove their side of the case.
Include affirmative defenses. These are any legal reasons that SCA Collections should not win the case. A common affirmative defense used in debt lawsuits is the statute of limitations, which is the time period that a debt collector has to sue someone for a debt. If the debt is past the statute of limitations, then the lawsuit is void.
Use standard formatting or “style”. At the head of the Answer document, be sure to include a caption where you list the court information, party information, and case number.
Include a certificate of service. It's important to serve your Answer to SCA Collections. At the end of your Answer document, include a certificate of service when you verify the address you used to serve SCA Collections the Answer.
Sign it. Most courts reject any legal documents without signatures, which is why this last step is so crucial.

In many cases, filing an Aanswer will stop the lawsuit from proceeding further. Sometimes, the collection agency may drop it altogether, especially if they don't have the evidence they need to prove in court that you owe the debt.

SoloSuit can help you draft and file an Answer in all 50 states.

Learn more about these six tips in this video:

Contact SCA Collections

If you need to reach SCA Collections, you can use the following contact information.

Address:
SCA Collections, Inc.
300 East Arlington Blvd, Suite 6-A (27858)
P.O. Box 876
Greenville, NC 27835

Phone number: 800-334-7713 or 252-355-5500

Email: info@scacollections.com

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

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