CPSI Loss Prevention’s dreadful Record With FDCPA

A Corpus-Christi-based collection agency, CPSI Loss Prevention, is in the news for its lousy track record with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The Better Business Bureau has received almost sixty complaints on the company in the last three years—people report the collection agency has threatened them with jail and lawsuits, and were rude and uncooperative when asked for documentation of debt.CPSI Loss Prevention goes by many aliases: Certi-Med, Check Plus, Check Plus Revenue Collection Service, Check Plus Systems National Notification Section, Check Plus Systems, Inc., Check Plus, Inc., CPS – Security Division, CPS Security and Medical Credit Collection Department. Among their violations of the FDCPA: drafting money from a Florida woman’s account without her permission (and after she had already settled with them); calling late at night; and falsely threatening imprisonment.The Florida woman, Tammy Fairchild, agreed to a one-time payment of $100 to resolve a bad check; a little while later CPSI took another $100 from her account in December without asking her and when she called about it, a company representative yelled at her. “I kept calling back,” Fairchild said. “They said to stop harassing them and said, ‘we will put you in jail.’ I went to my bank and filed it as a fraud report and the bank returned the $100. The company keeps calling.”An Indiana resident, Sandy Mahoney, filed a BBB complaint against the company in August 2012, after CPSI called her late at night and left a threatening message. She said she called back and left a message, but CPSI did not return her call to resolve the matter. “They called late, like 9 o’clock at night,” Mahoney said. “They said to call them back in 24 hours or they would file charges against me and take me to court.” Calling after nine at night is a prohibited by the FDCPA, as is falsely threatening people with jail time.If a collection agency has harassed you, you may be entitled to money damages up to $1,000.00, based on the FDCPA, which has been around for almost 35 years. The FDCPA is a federal law that applies to every state. In other words, everyone is protected by the FDCPA. The FDCPA is essentially a laundry list of what debt collectors can and cannot do while collecting a debt, as well as things debt collectors must do while collecting a debt. Plus, the FDCPA has a fee-shift provision. This means, the collection agency pays your attorney’s fees and costs. Founding attorney, Michael Agruss, has settled over 1,500 debt collection harassment cases. We want to help you, too.