Professional Finance Company on Your Credit Report? Fight Back and Win

When you check your credit report, and you’re not expecting negative information to be listed, it can catch you off guard. You might also start getting phone calls from a company claiming you owe a debt, and you aren’t sure why. One of these companies that could be on your credit report or you could be hearing from is the Professional Finance Company, also known as PFC or PFC USA.

What should you do? How can you get this company off your credit report so you can raise your score? How do you stop their calls and get peace of mind?

What is Professional Finance Company?

Professional Finance Company, or PFC, is a third-party debt collection company. A third-party debt collector like this one isn’t an original creditor, which is why it’s confusing if you see them on your credit report or you start to get notices from them in the mail. PFC isn’t who you open an account with.

Instead, this third-party collection agency works for other companies that are original creditors. The process usually begins with someone receiving a service or opening an account with the original creditor. Then, if they don’t make their agreed payments on time, the original creditor might first try to collect unpaid money.

Eventually, the original creditor might charge off the debt, with the assumption they can’t collect it. They can also hire a third-party collection agency like the Professional Finance Company to collect on their behalf.

PFC works as a contingency-based collector, meaning they’re paid only if they’re able to collect. Other third-party debt collection agencies will buy debt altogether for less than it’s worth and try to collect as much of it as they can.

Is Professional Finance Company a Scam?

Professional Finance Company isn’t a scam. They’re a legitimate debt collection agency based in Greeley, Colorado. The company is accredited by the Better Business Bureau and has an A+ rating, despite many consumer complaints against them.

The most common complaint from consumers against PFC is that they don’t believe they’re liable for the debt the company is attempting to collect. There are consumers who feel that PFC isn’t providing them with accurate information about their debt, and numerous people report that they weren’t able to get any information about the original debt in question from Professional Finance Company.

Also frequently reported are consumers who say they worked out payment plans with the original creditor and are current on their payments as agreed, yet they continue to get calls from Professional Finance Company.

While the company is legitimate, it’s important to realize how often mistakes are made in the process of collecting a debt. You might assume you owe a debt that you don't owe just because a collection agency is contacting you. Working with a consumer protection attorney can help you avoid paying something you don’t owe.

Who Does Professional Finance Company Collect For?

Professional Finance Company focuses primarily on collecting medical debts. When someone goes to the hospital or receives another type of medical care, their insurance might cover some of the costs, but there’s almost always an out-of-pocket cost, too, like a deductible.

If you have an overnight stay in a hospital or medical facility, your out-of-pocket expenses can be thousands of dollars or more. The part of your balance not paid by insurance can become a debt that’s sent to a company like Professional Finance Company. 

Medical billing is notoriously complex and often leads to mistakes, especially if you aren’t sure what’s being covered by insurance and what isn’t. Medical debts are also challenging to unravel because if you visit an emergency room or stay at the hospital for any time, all your providers are typically independent contractors. You can receive dozens of bills for one visit making it hard to keep up with what you’ve paid versus what you owe.

Why Is Professional Finance Company Calling Me?

If you’re getting calls from Professional Finance Company, they believe you owe a debt, and they’re trying to collect it.

The Effects of Professional Finance Company On Your Credit Report

You have three separate credit reports with the three major bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. The information can be the same across the three reports or different. A debt collection agency like Professional Finance Company can report a debt to one or more of these bureaus, where it will be listed as a collections account.

Collections accounts can have a big impact on your credit score, in some cases dropping it by triple digits.

It’s important that if you see Professional Finance Company on your credit report, you take the steps to have it removed or you’re proactive in how you handle it. Otherwise, you could be left struggling to rent or buy a home, open up new credit accounts, and even get certain jobs. All of these things can depend on a credit check.

If you believe there’s a mistake on the part of Professional Finance Company, and you don’t owe the debt they’re reporting or calling you about, you have rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FCRA is a federal consumer law that dictates how your credit information can be accessed and used.

The FCRA also gives consumers the right to dispute anything they feel is inaccurate. Once you submit a dispute to a company, they must investigate within 30 days, update the wrong information, or remove the information from your credit report.

While you can dispute wrong information on your own, the company may not be responsive or may not take all the steps they’re required to under the law, so it’s best to contact a consumer protection attorney if you want the Professional Finance Company off your credit report.

Reach Out to Fair Credit

Fair Credit is a consumer protection law firm that works to help protect the FCRA rights of clients. If you’re tired of dealing with Professional Finance Company, contact us for a free case review. We can help you move forward in your life financially without the ongoing effects of Professional Finance Company.