Thomas George Associates on Your Credit Report? Fight Back and Win

If Thomas George Associates is calling you, writing letters, or they’ve shown up on one or more of your credit reports, and you don’t know why, it’s stressful. There are things you can do to stop the calls and get Thomas George Associates off your credit report so they’re no longer affecting your life.

What is Thomas George Associates?

Thomas George Associates is a third-party debt collection agency. A third-party debt collector isn’t an original creditor, so the names of these companies are unfamiliar to people when they get phone calls or see them listed on their credit.

Thomas George Associates works primarily with insurance companies to help them collect debts.

Specifically, Thomas George Associates deals with what are known as subrogation claims for insurance companies. If you have an insurance claim pending at any point, you may or may not hear of subrogation. Subrogation claims are a way for insurance companies to try to avoid paying for car accident claims that aren’t their client's fault.

If someone is in an accident and they’re found not at fault, the driver’s insurance who is at fault is required to pay the repair costs and any associated medical bills. If there’s a delay in recovering the costs of an accident from the at-fault driver’s insurance, the insurance company for the driver not at-fault might step in to pay bills and repairs.

With subrogation, there’s a route for an insurer to recover their costs, such as medical payments and repairs, as well as deductibles. 

If you’re the policyholder who’s not at fault for the accident, you don’t have to worry about subrogation. Your insurer will handle it behind the scenes.

The at-fault driver might have to deal with a subrogation claim, however.

Specifically, subrogation occurs when someone who’s self-insured or the insurance company assumes the legal right to pursue an insurance loss. If you’re an at-fault driver and you have insurance, your insurance company might use subrogation to get money back from you that it paid out for your claim. If the insurance company gives up on trying to collect, they might outsource this to a company like Thomas George Associates.

Insurance companies will outsource collections on subrogation claims because otherwise, they lose a lot of money when they’re unpaid.

Why Is Thomas George Associates Calling Me?

If you’re getting calls from Thomas George Associates, or they’re trying to contact you in any other way, it’s likely because they think you owe a debt related to an insurance claim. There are often mistakes that occur in debt collection, though, so don’t assume that what they’re calling you about is actually your debt or that your only option is to pay it.

You should talk to a consumer protection attorney first because you may have options available to stop calls from Thomas George.

You also have federal rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, put into place to prevent debt collectors from going too far in their recovery attempts.

Because of the FDCPA, debt collection companies, including Thomas George Associates, aren’t allowed to use threats, profanity, or harassment. A debt collector is legally prohibited from calling people before 8 in the morning or after 9 at night. They have to be transparent and forthcoming about why they’re calling and the debt they’re trying to collect, and can’t misrepresent themselves.

Is Thomas George Associates a Scam?

People often worry that debt collection agencies are a scam, but Thomas George Associates isn’t. They’re a legitimate collections agency, but that doesn’t mean they’re correct about why they’re calling you.

There could be a situation, just to provide one frequently occurring example, where Thomas George Associates gets you confused with a person who shares a similar name or Social Security number. They might be contacting you about a debt that’s entirely someone else’s.

There are a number of complaints from consumers against this debt collector registered with the Better Business Bureau as well.

For example, some consumers allege that Thomas George Associates is, in fact, using threats and harassment when contacting them. Some consumers say the company never contacted their insurance company before trying to collect from them.

There are also a lot of consumers who say they submitted appeals to their insurance company about subrogation claims, and in the meantime, they started being contacted by Thomas George Associates anyway, even without hearing the result of the appeal.

Your FCRA Rights

Along with the FDCPA, consumers have other rights when it comes to dealing with debt collectors under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FCRA focuses on protecting your rights to transparency, fairness, and accuracy in how your credit information is maintained and reported.

Your credit reports with each of the three bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and Transunion, can impact your life. Your credit is pulled whenever you want to open a new account, buy a home, or even rent one. Your credit information is also relevant to certain jobs, so you deserve the right to know what’s listed there about you and to correct any wrong information.

If you believe that Thomas George Associates is calling you about a debt that’s not yours, or there’s some part of what they’re reporting that’s wrong, like the balance, the FCRA gives you the right to dispute it. If you don’t dispute it, the company can assume it’s a legitimate debt. Trying to dispute a debt on your own can be intimidating, time-consuming, and often unsuccessful. It’s best to talk to a consumer protection attorney before trying to dispute a debt that Thomas George Associates is calling you about or has reported to one or more of the credit bureaus.

If there is wrong information, a consumer protection attorney can handle the entire dispute process on your behalf, get the information updated as it needs to be, and ensure all of your rights are protected.

Fair Credit Can Help You Deal with Thomas George Associates

We encourage you to call our team at Fair Credit before you do anything further about Thomas George Associates. We offer free case reviews and can advise you on the right action, given your specific situation.