Who is Midland Funding LLC? (Everything You Should Know)
If you're behind on your bills, it's possible that Midland Credit Management is buying up the delinquent debt you left behind and will try to collect using unfair or illegal practices.
With over a decade of practice as a business consultant for limited liability companies, I addressed clients' concerns regarding debt buyers. I guided them on how to proceed with the situation.
In my research, I collaborated with legal experts to provide all the pertinent information you need.
Quick Summary:
- Midland Funding LLC is a company that buys unpaid debt.
- The company employs a collection agency to try to recover some of the debts.
- According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Midland Funding LLC files more than 600 monthly lawsuits nationwide.
- From my point of view, the practices of Midland Funding LLC emphasize the necessity for individuals to educate themselves on debt collection laws and seek legal advice when necessary to protect their financial well-being.
What is Midland Funding LLC and How Does It Work?
Midland Funding LLC is a company that purchases debts from credit and loaning institutions at a lower rate. It employs a subsidiary LLC that contacts debtors to collect debts. In most instances, midland funding is undocumented [1].
From my personal experience, you may have received a collection letter from Encore Group, 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. MCM 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 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 funding's vendors are companies that work on behalf of Midland to collect debts.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 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 [2]. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, approximately 70% of the cases involved in the Consent Order were found to have been subject to deceptive debt collection practices.
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.
What To Do If You Owe the Debt?
If you owe the 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 litigation, so have someone review your credit report or data for you who understands creditor lawsuit risk.
Here is what to do:
- 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 that you don't owe the debt, such as a credit report or other written statement from the actual creditor. Send them a cease and desist letter.
If they continue to harass or threaten you, contact your state attorney general's office for help.
Some groups like Mobilization for Justice can give you free legal assistance in fighting Midland Credit Management if necessary.
How Not to Get Sued by Midland Funding?
In order not to get sued by Midland Funding, you need to respond to all phone calls and letters from Midland and ask for proof of the debt.
You can use the following section as a guideline:
- 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 it believes that you owe someone money. They are aggressive debt collectors who -- regardless of whether or not you owe a creditor -- will attempt to sue you in court for the debt that they claim you owe.
The best thing to do if Midland attempts to contact you is to seek help from an attorney. Many attorneys 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.
"In many cases, individuals sued by Midland or another debt buyer often neglect to defend themselves or appear in court, leading to a default judgment in Midland's favor, enabling them to pursue collection through methods such as wage garnishment and bank account levies."
- Jon Morgan, CEO, Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Venture Smarter
What Can Midland Funding Do To You?
Midland Funding can 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 owe the money.
If Midland Credit Management 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
To understand your position, there are a few things you need to know about debt collection laws.
1. How does the Midland Funding LLC Lawsuit start?
Midland Credit Management lawsuit starts if the debtor refuses to pay the collector.
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 the suit.
2. Defending against the Debt Collection Lawsuit
When Midland opens a lawsuit against you, you should respond with the counter-litigation, otherwise, the court will rule in favor of Midland because of default judgment. You can employ a legal representative to help you with the case.
3. Gather information for the Lawsuit
Within five days of Midland Funding filing its lawsuit, you can request more information about Midland's case.
This includes the following:
- 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 its records that support its case.
If Midland Funding cannot provide you with all of this information, it may be impossible for Midland to prove that the debt is yours and legally collect 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 Credit Management sued you and not others most probably because they bought your outstanding debt from the credit company and intend to collect. When the company buys debts, the transaction involves collecting all information about the debtor.
What Is Midland Funding LLC on My Credit Report?
Midland Funding LLC on your credit report may mean that the company bought your debt and holds the right to collect. It means that the old account has been transferred to a new owner.
References:
- https://www.hershlegal.com/midland-funding-llc
- https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/business/dealbook/sued-over-old-debt-and-blocked-from-suing-back.html
