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How to Settle Debt With USCB America

Dena Standley | July 30, 2024

Dena Standley
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

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: USCB America is a medical debt collection company that might sue you for past due healthcare debt. To beat them in court, respond to the lawsuit and force them to prove their claims. If they can’t, your case might just get dismissed.

Debt can happen to anyone. In fact, 1 out of 10 adults owe medical debt in the US. Most of the time, this happens to people unknowingly and for reasons beyond their control—lay-offs, insufficient medical insurance, or having relatives with expensive care.

As the phone calls begin, they are merely embarrassing, and as they persist in calling, the debt collectors become outright frightening and threatening. USCB America may call you because you owe an unpaid debt. Meaning an account is open on your credit report for collections.

SoloSuit can help you learn more about USCB America and how to defeat them. But first…

Settle debt with USCB America

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

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Who is USCB America?

USCB America is a medical debt collection company. If you’ve been contacted by USCB collections, chances are you have an unpaid medical debt.

Founded in 1915, USCB America has its headquarters in Los Angeles. With over 100 years of experience, it is one of the nation's oldest and longest-running collections agencies. Although they call themselves a "receivables management company," this is just a fancy way of saying they operate as a collection agency.

USCB America collects for healthcare organizations and represents the largest healthcare systems, hospitals, physician groups, and academic institutions in the United States. Over 250 hospitals in 25 states are included, and the company claims to have handled 19 million cases solely in 2019. As promised above, here is what you can do when USCB America contacts you.

Contact USCB America collections

Below is the USCB America debt collector phone number and other contact information:

  • Address: 355 S. Grand Ave., Ste. 3200, Los Angeles, CA 90071
  • Telephone: (877) 846-9531
  • Website: https://www.uscbinc.com

As promised above, here is what you can do when USCB America contacts you.

Communicate with USCB America in writing

It is your legal right to insist that the USCB America collection agency not contact you by phone but ‌ in writing. When your account with them reaches collection status, written communication will reduce misunderstandings arising from phone conversations.

You have rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and USCB America must honor your request. In particular, if USCB America violates the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) when trying to collect a medical debt, you may use the violation to beat them and possibly avoid paying the debt.

Debt collectors often make false promises over the telephone. You can hold USCB America accountable for the promises they make by insisting communications be done via certified U.S. mail. Holding them to their word will prevent them from harassing you.

USCB will try to argue with you on the phone. Tell them they have violated the FDCPA and hang up. Most people are not aware of their rights under the FDCPA; mentioning that you know your rights will probably catch them by surprise. If USCB America has not complied with your request, do not communicate with them.

Ask USCB collections to validate the debt

You probably will not need to validate the debt if you're paying on an active account with USCB America. But, if they approach you about a collection account, the law requires them to provide you with complete documentation regarding the debt. You can request a debt validation by sending a Debt Validation Letter to USCB America. They must respond with a debt validation notice that includes all relevant debt information, such as:

  • Original creditor's name
  • When the account went into collection
  • Debt amount
  • Clear information about your obligations

You can legally dispute the debt if USCB America cannot provide a debt validation notice or if it comes back incomplete. If the collection agency does not have complete evidence of your debt, they should stop the collection effort. SoloSuit can help you draft a Debt Validation Letter in minutes. To learn more about how to send a Debt Validation Letter, watch this video:

You can also open a dispute with the three credit bureaus if they fail to remove a collection account from your credit report. Once the credit bureaus receive your claim, they must investigate it within 30 days. If USCB America cannot verify the debt, the credit bureaus will remove it from your credit report.

How to get medical bills off your credit report after a HIPAA violation

USCB collections might contact you if you owe a debt to Kaiser. Let’s explore an example of a real consumer who beat a USCB debt collector.

Kim, a diligent bill-payer who prefers online transactions, encountered a surprising issue. Despite living paperlessly, she received a month-old notice from USCB America for an unpaid Kaiser bill.

Upon reviewing her Kaiser account, Kim discovered the claimed charge dated August 19th, which she had already paid. Her account showed no unpaid charges for that date, contradicting the collection agency's statement.

The agency alleged multiple failed communication attempts, prompting the debt transfer to them. However, Kim had received other Kaiser communications at her new address after setting up mail forwarding, indicating no issues with her mail reception.

To resolve this, Kim decided to:

  • Contact Kaiser for clarification.
  • Send a written dispute to USCB America using express delivery, considering the approaching 30-day deadline.
  • Call the collection agency to ensure they were aware of her proactive steps within the dispute period.

Kim's situation demonstrates the importance of thorough record-keeping and assertive action in the face of potential credit report impacts.

USCB America may accept pay-for-delete agreements

USCB America may accept a pay-for-delete agreement if the debt belongs to you. It can prevent wage garnishment and other legal actions. Our team frequently gets the question, "Will USCB America sue me for payment?" Unfortunately, the answer is likely yes.

Offering to pay a portion of your debt may convince USCB not to report your account to credit bureaus. It is a win-win situation; you get the negative entry removed from your report, and they get some of the debt paid.

Offer to pay USCB America 50% of the balance and then negotiate from there. After you come up with an agreement, ask them to send it to you in writing. Make the first payment if the terms of the agreement are in line with what you proposed. After 30 days, check your credit score to see if they have removed their entry. Contact USCB America if it is still there.

Respond to a debt lawsuit against USCB America

If USCB America has taken the debt to court and filed a lawsuit against you, the first step to beating them is to file a written Answer. Most people in this position don't know how to respond, so they just ignore the lawsuit. When you fail to respond to a debt lawsuit, you will lose by default. USCB America can request a default judgment to be entered against you which gives them the legal right to collect the debt by garnishing your wages, seizing your property, and freezing your bank account.

Here are 3 simple steps to help you respond to your debt lawsuit vs USCB America:

  1. Respond to each allegation listed in the Complaint
  2. Assert your affirmative defenses
  3. File the Answer with the court and send a copy to USCB America

Now let us break each of these steps down further. If you don't like reading, you can watch this video instead:

Step 1: Respond to each allegation listed in the Complaint

If you've been sued for debt by USCB America, you should have received the court documents that notify you of the lawsuit and the specific claims against you. These documents are called the Summons and Complaint.

Step one in drafting your Answer to the lawsuit is to respond to each allegation (or claim) that is listed in the Complaint. These claims are usually listed in numbered paragraphs, and each of your responses should be presented in a numbered list that corresponds with the Complaint. You should respond by either:

  • Admitting—like saying, “This is true.”
  • Denying—like saying, “Prove it.”
  • Denying due to lack of knowledge—like saying, “I don't know.”

Most attorneys recommend that you deny as many allegations as possible. This requires USCB America to do more work in order to prove their case.

Step 2: Assert your affirmative defenses

After you've responded to each claim against you, you should include a section for your affirmative defenses. An affirmative defense is any reason that USCB America doesn't have a case against you. Here are some common affirmative defenses you might bring up:

  • The statute of limitations has expired. A statute of limitations is a law that sets a deadline on an action.
  • The account with the debt is not your account
  • The contract was already canceled. Therefore you don't owe the creditor anything.
  • The debt has been paid or excused.
  • The debt has been partially paid.
  • You were a co-signer but were not informed of your rights as a co-signer.

Step 3: File the Answer with the court and send a copy to USCB America

Once you've drafted your Answer with your responses and affirmative defenses, you need to file the Answer document into the case. You have 14-35 days to file your Answer before the deadline is up. The deadline is different in each state, so make sure to pay attention to your court Summons for that information.

You must print a copy of the Answer and send it to USCB America (of the attorney representing them). If you don't file your Answer within the deadline and serve USCB America a copy, a default judgment could be entered against you.

You can mail your Answer to the court's mailing address, drop it off in person, or some courts even require that you file it electronically.

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

Reach a settlement with a USCB America debt collector

You can reach out to a USCB America debt collector at any stage of the lawsuit to discuss a settlement offer. However, it's best to wait until after you've filed your Answer to the lawsuit. You should also make sure to get the settlement agreement in writing for proof. Here's why.

Many debt collection agencies agree to a settlement then request a default judgment in court when you don't file your Answer. Yes, it's pretty shady business, but it's not uncommon for this to happen.

Begin the settlement negotiation process by sending a Debt Lawsuit Settlement Letter to USCB America. This can provide an arrangement to settle a debt outside court. Even if you want to win the lawsuit and not pay anything, you could close the case by paying less than the original amount.

Learn more about how to settle debt with USCB America in this video:

What are the complaints against USCB America?

On a scale ranging from A+ to F, USCB America has an A rating from the Better Business Bureau. Over the past three years, USCB America has had 154 complaints against them with the BBB. They responded to all complaints based on a quick scan, and nearly half of them stand resolved to the consumer's satisfaction. Many of the complaints involve billing and collection issues.

USCB America has been a defendant in at least three civil lawsuits filed so far by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) since April 2015.

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"Finding yourself on the wrong side of the law unexpectedly is kinda scary. I started researching on YouTube and found SoloSuit's channel. The videos were so helpful, easy to understand and encouraging. When I reached out to SoloSuit they were on it. Very professional, impeccably prompt. Thanks for the service!" – Heather.

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