Alpine Credit on Your Credit Report? Fight Back and Win

You just checked one or more of your credit reports, and a collections account is listed under the name Alpine Credit Inc. It significantly affects your score, and you don’t know why. If you’ve found yourself in this situation, you have rights under federal laws, and there are steps available that can help you get Alpine Credit off your credit and also stop their calls.

What Is Alpine Credit?

Alpine Credit is a third-party debt collector. Alpine Credit is part of a larger company, Allegiant Receivables Solutions, Inc. so you could also get calls from a representative of this company or see them listed on your credit report.

A third-party debt collection agency is one that works on behalf of other businesses or organizations.

What happens in the debt collection process is typically that there’s an original creditor first. You have an account with this original creditor, such as a credit card or loan. Original creditors can also include student loan servicers, medical providers, or utility companies. You make payments on the account as agreed, and if you don’t or you’re late on a payment, the original creditor will begin by trying to collect it with their in-house team.

Eventually, the company might decide they aren’t able to recover the debt, or they don’t have the resources to continue trying. Then, they might hire a company like Alpine Credit or Allegiant Receivables Solutions to collect on their behalf. That’s what makes Alpine Credit a third-party collector—the original debt came from another company.

Certain laws and regulations guide third-party debt collection.

Is Alpine Credit Legit?

Alpine Credit isn’t a scam. They’re a legitimate company based in Arvada, Colorado. There are still numerous consumer complaints against the company, despite its legitimacy. For example, there are complaints from consumers who say that Alpine Credit took over inaccurate debts without first verifying them.

There are also complaints from consumers who say Alpine Credit reported negative information to credit bureaus that weren’t accurate, and then the company isn’t responsive to their disputes.

In general, Alpine Credit has a reputation among consumers for being non-responsive.

Some people say that they’ve been trying to get information about an owed debt on their credit report from Alpine Credit and have been unsuccessful in obtaining any verification.

Who Does Alpine Credit Collect For?

Alpine Credit focuses on medical collection services, as well as dental collections.

Why Is Alpine Credit Calling Me?

As a debt collector, if Alpine Credit is contacting you, it’s because they think you owe a debt related to a medical or dental service. Any time a debt collector contacts you, they’re supposed to let you know upfront who they are and why they’re calling, but companies aren’t always compliant with this federal requirement.

It’s also possible that Alpine Credit is calling you because of a mistake or mix-up, and you don’t owe money at all.

There’s always a chance for debt collectors to have or report wrong information—it’s actually incredibly common. With medical debt, it’s even more likely there are errors. Common medical billing errors that can then lead to calls from Alpine Credit or negative reporting on your credit include:

• Duplicate charges

Patients can be charged more than once for the same procedure, test, or product.

• Missing or wrong patient information.

A patient’s name could be spelled wrong, or the digits in their insurance policy number might be incorrectly written, eventually leading to problems with billing.

• Wrong bill amounts.

A typo or switching up numbers on a medical bill could mean that you’re reported as owing more than you really do. After an insurer pays what’s owed for a procedure based on a patient’s health plan, they may have an out-of-pocket balance, but the provider might enter the balance incorrectly.

• Upcoding

The term upcoding refers to providers using the wrong codes, and then your health plan might be charged for something more expensive than the service you received. This is typically a mistake but can also be done on purpose, which is illegal.

While these are mistakes specific to medical billing, there can also be other mistakes that occur, leading to wrong information on your credit report. For example, on your actual credit report, your name and information might be mixed up with someone else’s. People get calls all the time about debts that belong to another person entirely.

Another issue is that a debt is old and should have “fallen off” your credit report when the statute of limitations expired, but it’s now listed as new.

Disputing a Debt with Alpine Credit

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), consumers have certain rights as far as how their financial information is kept up and accessed. Consumers also have the right to dispute inaccurate information.

It doesn’t have to mean the entire debt is wrong—it could be that part of it is, and you can still dispute it and have the information corrected, updated, or removed.

Under the FCRA, consumers can dispute something, and the company has 30 days to investigate it and correct anything as needed.

Unfortunately, many companies and debt collectors don’t respond to disputes or are non-compliant with the FCRA. It’s also possible that if a consumer tries to work it out directly with Alpine Credit, they could make a mistake like taking ownership of the debt, leading the statute of limitations clock to start over.

It’s best to work with a consumer protection attorney when dealing with Alpine Credit, especially if you’re going to file a dispute. The attorney can work on your behalf, making sure your rights are protected and you don’t have to deal with stressful communications with the collection agency.

If debt collectors contact a consumer, they’re also limited by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). For example, according to this law, debt collectors aren’t supposed to use threats, intimidation, or deception to try and collect on a debt.

Contact Fair Credit Today

If you’re ready to stop the calls from Alpine Credit and get them off your credit report, contact Fair Credit. We’re FCRA attorneys who can help, and we can get started with a free case review.