Midland Credit Management (Encore Capital Group): sent to collections
Dispute in writing before the validation period in the notice ends; Midland must pause collection until it sends verification.
What does this mean?
Grade A (high: almost everything comes from official pages read directly). 100% of 42 sources are the organization's own pages or government sites.
Collect
- validation notice with the end date of the validation period
- MCM and original account numbers
- proof of payment or identity theft report
- copies of everything you send
Steps
Find the date the validation notice gives as the end of the validation period. Signed-in letters are in the Document Center.
Before that date, dispute in writing. Say which part you do not owe and ask for verification and for the name and address of the original creditor.
Or mail the dispute to the Chief Compliance Officer by certified mail and keep a copy.
MailWritten disputes, concerns and complaints Midland Credit Management, Attention: Chief Compliance Officer, P.O. Box 939069, San Diego, CA 92193If the debt is from identity theft, attach your FTC identity theft report from IdentityTheft.gov.
If Midland keeps collecting without sending verification, file a CFPB complaint.
More contacts for this issue
Facts you can cite
- Process
If you dispute in writing within the validation period, a debt collector must stop collecting the debt, or the disputed part, until it sends verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment (Regulation F, 12 CFR 1006.38).
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-13
- Process
A dispute sent through an electronic medium that the collector accepts, such as its website portal, counts as a written dispute under Regulation F.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-13
- Policy
Midland says that if you are actively making payments on your account, it will not sue you.
Source: midlandcredit.com, verified 2026-10-13
- Policy
Once an account is past the statute of limitations for lawsuits, Midland says it will tell you in later letters that it cannot and will not sue. Logging into your account online does not restart the statute of limitations.
Source: midlandcredit.com, verified 2026-10-13
The CFPB received 22,637 complaints about ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC. from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026 (debt collection 18,386; credit reporting 3,843). 17,052 were closed with explanation, 5,579 with non-monetary relief and 5 with monetary relief; 2 responses were not timely.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-13
- Policy
On October 16, 2020 a federal court entered a stipulated judgment in the CFPB's case against Encore Capital Group, Midland Funding, Midland Credit Management and Asset Acceptance, which alleged violations of a 2015 consent order. It ordered $79,308.81 in redress and a $15 million civil penalty, required disclosures, barred collecting time-barred debt without certain disclosures, and kept the 2015 order's conduct provisions for five more years.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-13
Tips
- Company tip
Do not send sensitive information such as your full Social Security number or a checking or debit card number in a complaint message; Midland asks only for the last four SSN digits.
Source: midlandcredit.com, verified 2026-10-13
- Company tip
In a letter to the Chief Compliance Officer, name everyone you spoke with and give dates and amounts; Midland says this speeds processing.
Source: midlandcredit.com, verified 2026-10-13
Rules in force
- Debt validation notice and dispute period (FDCPA, Regulation F)12 CFR 1006.34; 12 CFR 1006.38 (Regulation F)
A third-party debt collector must give the consumer validation information, including an itemization of the debt and the date the validation period ends. If the consumer disputes the debt in writing within the validation period (30 days after the consumer receives or is assumed to receive the information), the collector must stop collecting until it sends verification of the debt.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
7 citable points
- Policy
Regulation F covers a debt collector: a person whose principal business purpose is collecting debts, or who regularly collects debts owed or asserted to be owed to another. It generally does not cover a creditor's own employees collecting in the creditor's name, or a person who got a debt before it was in default. A debt is a consumer obligation primarily for personal, family or household purposes.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Deadline
The collector must give the validation information in the initial communication, or within five days after it, or orally in the initial communication.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Deadline
The validation period ends "30 days after the consumer receives or is assumed to receive the validation information". The collector may assume receipt on any date "at least five days (excluding legal public holidays identified in 5 U.S.C. 6103(a), Saturdays, and Sundays)" after it provides the information. The notice must state the date the collector will treat as the end of the validation period.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Policy
The validation information includes the itemization date, the amount of the debt on that date, an itemization of interest, fees, payments and credits since then, the current amount, and a consumer response section with dispute prompts.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Process
"Upon receipt of a dispute submitted by the consumer in writing within the validation period, a debt collector must cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion of the debt," until it sends the consumer a copy of verification of the debt or of a judgment, in writing or electronically. A dispute sent through an electronic medium the collector accepts, such as its email address or website portal, counts as written.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Process
If the consumer asks in writing within the validation period for the name and address of the original creditor, the collector must stop collection until it provides that information.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Policy
During the validation period the collector may not use collection activities or communications that overshadow or are inconsistent with the consumer's dispute rights. Failure to dispute does not count as a legal admission that the consumer owes the debt.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Policy
If that fails, escalate
Go up one step at a time. Keep the reference numbers and dates from each contact.
Written complaint
FormConsumer Resolution Center form (formal disputes and complaints to the Chief Compliance Officer)Dispute in writing within the validation period in the notice, or by mail to the Chief Compliance Officer.
Federal regulator
Federal regulator
State agency
Your state’s attorney general. Find it in the list of state agencies (also as JSON:
states/<code>.json, for example states/ny.json).Small claims court
Watch out
- Phone lines verify the account holder by voice.
- The account portal and Document Center need sign-in.
Let your AI agent handle this
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Midland Credit Management (Encore Capital Group) sent a bill I [paid or dispute] to collections. Use Escalate Anything to fix it.Source code, other install options and the Claude Code plugin