Midland Funding LLC is a debt buyer. That means they buy consumer debts from credit card companies, banks, and healthcare providers.
If you're behind on your bills, it's possible that Midland is buying up the delinquent debt you left behind and will try to collect using unfair or illegal practices.
This article will tell you exactly who they are and how you can act if they contact you.
How Does Midland Funding LLC Work?
You may have received a collection letter from Encore Group, which is a publicly-traded debt collection business, including Midland Funding LLC.
Encore Capital Group consists of three primary entities: Midland Credit Management and Midland Funding LLC are the most frequent. Atlantic Credit & Finance is the third business unit.
Midland Credit Management (MCM) is a debt collector that helps consumers to settle past-due bills. Midland Credit Management works with clients to resolve their outstanding debts, even if the original creditor has declared the account charged off.
When an account is more than 120-180 days late without payment, it is frequently considered charged off.
MCM will work with a client's creditors to negotiate a payment plan or set up a settlement amount. They might even pay the account off for less than what is owed.
Midland Funding LLC is one of the country's largest purchasers of unpaid debt from some of the country's top lenders. From my experience, Midland will buy debt from organizations such as Barclays, Synchrony, Chase, and Citibank.
The entity that files the most lawsuits is often Midland Funding LLC. When you're working with MCM, they will help you to resolve your debts with creditors.
However, when working with Midland Funding LLC, they are mainly looking to collect money. They don't care if it's fair or not.
They just want their money back at any cost. The main job of midland Funding is to purchase delinquent accounts and then sue the debtor to collect.
They buy debt for pennies on the dollar and then try to get consumers to pay them back at full price. It makes it sound simple, but midland has been known to use some dirty tactics in order to get their money from you.
Midland Funding Structure
Midland Funding works for itself.
That means they're not working on behalf of any particular credit card company or bank.
They buy up huge bundles of debt, usually thousands of accounts at once, and then try to recover as much money as possible for themselves.
If Midland files suit against you for any reason, they automatically win by default judgment and then will garnish your wages without giving you another chance to challenge the debt.
Who are Midland Funding's Vendors?
Midland works with a number of third-party debt buyers. These are companies that work on behalf of Midland to collect debts that they may have bought up.
It's important to know who these companies are and what they might do once you're in debt to them.
The CFPB found that the businesses violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and Fair Credit Reporting Act, therefore, creating a consent order.
The best way to handle Midland Credit Management or LLC is to stop them before they start. Unfortunately, Midland and its subsidiaries won't go away without a fight.
Although the MCM website claims to do so responsibly, their phone calls and letters are intended to frighten you.
In fact, in 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reached a Consent Order with Encore Capital Group and its affiliates, including Midland Funding, LLC and MCM, for deceptive debt collection methods such as harassment and wage garnishment without notification.
If they continue harassing you, document the date and time of every incident. Contact your state attorney general's office and tell them about any violations that you notice.
If You Owe the Debt
When you owe a debt, we usually advise you to contact the creditor and ask if it would be possible for the company to negotiate with them.
Look at your complete financial situation since there's a chance additional creditors will proceed with their own litigation, so have someone review your credit report or data for you that understands creditor lawsuit risk.
- Don't ignore the problem.
- Work out a reasonable payment arrangement with them.
- Take notes of every conversation and email to use as evidence later if necessary.
- If you don't owe the debt:
- Tell them this right away. Give them proof, such as a credit report or other written statement from the actual creditor, that you don't owe the debt.
- Send them a cease and desist letter.
- If they continue to harass or threaten you, contact your state attorney general's office for help.
There are groups like MFY Legal Services that can give you free legal assistance in fighting Midland if necessary.
How to Not Get Sued by Midland Funding?
- Respond to all phone calls and letters from midland.
- If they sue you, call them immediately and tell them that you don't owe the debt. Ask for proof of the debt.
- Send Midland a letter through certified mail that tells them that you do not owe the debt or that you are disputing the debt.
- Negotiate with midland to make a reasonable payment plan for the debt if you owe it.
- Communicate in writing whenever possible. Take notes of conversations or phone calls and send them to midland through certified mail.
- If midland sues you, you can request that the judge dismiss the case.
- If midland is not being reasonable with you, hire an attorney to represent you in court.
Midland Funding will continue its efforts to collect unpaid debts if they believe that you owe someone money. They are aggressive debt collectors who -- regardless of whether or not you actually owe a creditor -- will attempt to sue you in court for the unpaid debt that they claim you owe.
The best thing to do if midland attempts to contact you is to seek help from an attorney. There are many attorneys who specialize in cases like this and can provide free legal advice or reduce their fees if you can't afford it.
If midland sues you, do whatever you can to avoid a default judgment. If midland wins, they will have a lien on all of your financial accounts and may begin wage garnishment against you until the debt is paid off.
What Can Midland Funding Do To You?
Midland Funding has one goal: To sue you if they believe that you owe someone money.
They often scare people who receive phone calls from midland into making payments on the debt without knowing for sure whether or not they actually owe the money.
If midland decides to file a lawsuit against you, it will cost a lot of time and money to represent yourself in court.
Midland Funding LLC will attempt to garnish your wages, freeze your bank account and seize any property that they believe may be valuable.
Midland Funding LLC is also allowed to report negative information on your credit report even if you don't owe the debt. This negatively affects your ability to get loans for years into the future.
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Other Things You Should Know
In order to understand your position, there are a few things you need to know about debt collection laws.
How does Midland Funding Lawsuit start?
Debt collection lawsuits are often filed in small claims court. If midland wins, you will be ordered to pay the debt and midland's attorneys' fees and costs of suit.
- Credit card companies and other creditors can't sue you in state or federal courts, but if they hire a debt collection agency to collect on your debts, they can file suit against you.
- Midland Funding LLC is a debt collection agency that often buys debts for pennies on the dollar and then files lawsuits against people they believe owe them money.
Defending against the Debt Collection Lawsuit
When midland opens a lawsuit against you, there are two main things that you can do:
- You can choose to ignore the lawsuit. If midland wins and garnishes your wages or freezes your bank accounts, it will probably be very hard for you to get by financially.
- If midland wins, they will begin collecting on the debt. They will continue to attempt to collect the debt until it is paid off in full, even if midland sues you more than once for the same debt.
Gather information for the Lawsuit
Within five days of midland filing its lawsuit, you can request more information about midland's case.
This includes the name and address of midland's attorney (if they have one), a copy of the original contract that created your debt, copies of all account statements for this debt, any other documents midland has related to the debt and a copy of midland's file containing their records that support its case.
If midland cannot provide you with all of this information, it may be impossible for midland to prove that the debt is yours and legally collect on it.
FAQs
How Often Does Midland Funding Sue?
Midland Funding files more than 600 lawsuits a month nationwide. A lawsuit filed against you doesn't mean that midland owns the debt, only that midland wants to take legal action to collect on it.
Why Does Midland Credit Management Sue Me and Not Others?
Midland Funding buys debt from credit card companies and other creditors for pennies on the dollar.
The midland filed a lawsuit against you because midland likes to win their cases as quickly as possible with as little expense as possible.
Is Midland Funding Legit?
Midland Funding doesn't tell you that midland is only interested in collecting the money.
They make it sound like they are concerned about keeping you out of debt, but midland's main concern is collecting on their own debts.
What Is Midland Funding LLC on My Credit Report?
Midland Funding uses midland as the name on their court filings. This does not mean that midland is responsible for midland funding LLC.
What to Do If Midland Funding LLC Contacts You...
In conclusion, midland is a debt collection agency that buys debts at pennies on the dollar. Midland will often file lawsuits against people to attempt to collect the debt.
However, midland doesn't always own the actual debt, midland just wants to take action against you to collect midland's money.
To fight back against midland funding LLC, collect all relevant information and file a motion.
