Kansas Counselors, Inc. (KCI)

September 12, Complaint Number: Dear Ms***-***: This letter is in response to your correspondence submitted to the Revdex.com. Your statement indicates that Kansas Counselors, Inc(KCI) has failed to satisfactorily update the listing
to your credit bureau trade line as paid in full for a debt referred to our office by the creditor/provider, *** ***, DDS. I want to take this time to address your concern. First, as is required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and is strictly followed by KCI, an initial notice is sent to all legal guarantors on delinquent accounts placed with our agency. This notice contains our agency name, the name of the original creditor, your account number, the date of service, the exact amount owed, the full mini-Miranda, and the full statement of your rights to dispute and to request validation of the debt(s) in writing within thirty (30) days of receiving the notice. KCI mailed you a dunning notice for the account listed above to your last known address at Catalina St., Roeland Park, KS, on 06/17/13. The letter sent to your address was not returned via the US Postal Service. You did not exercise your rights within the time frame prescribed by law We did, however, receive a verbal dispute from you in July 2013. At that time you acknowledged owing the entire $2,balance, except for a $portion. That same month, when contacted by our office, you claimed to have made a credit card payment in the amount of $2,(the balance due minus the disputed $200.00). Unfortunately, we received notification through your bank that the credit card transaction had been canceled by you, and therefore, the balance remained $2, When contacting you during this period, you consistently made statements to our representatives that confirmed you had stopped payment on the transaction, but that you had eventually contacted your financial institution and requested the payment be released. Unfortunately, no payment was received and no confirmation from the bank was forthcoming that confirmed this transaction ever took place. In fact, every effort our staff made to allow you to provide verifiable proof, or supporting documentation to assist us in an investigation, was met with resistance At no time in the past four years have you supplied us bank records, credit card receipts, correspondence from your financial institution or even proof that you had mailed, e-mailed, or faxed any evidence to our office or that of our client. Instead, the balance has remained outstanding and the provider has maintained this with their own evidence since the start. However, KCI has marked your account as disputed and reported it to the credit reporting agencies as such, in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act As a data furnisher to the credit reporting agencies (CRAs), KCI has a requirement to report complete and accurate information regarding the debts it is commissioned to recover. In this case, your debts were originally reported to the CRAs in September 2013, approximately ninety (90) days after the account was referred to us for collections Based on recent conversations with our office and our continued efforts to verify the correct balance, our client, Shell ***, DDS, there was, however, a billing error discovered and the provider quickly rectified this once it was discovered. In fact, on September 7, the amount of $was adjusted from your balance, leaving the current amount you owe at $2,239.92, Now, although KCI is under no obligation to provide validation materials to you at this late date, per the FDCPA, in an effort to be helpful, I have requested your itemized statement as verification. As a courtesy to you, I am mailing this documentation to you today. Unfortunately, I do not feel comfortable attaching the document on this site since I am unsure how secure it is and wish to protect your rights under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Once received, you may keep this document for your records Unfortunately, we cannot, at this time, agree to your desired resolution on your account based on the fact that our verification efforts indicate you are the responsible party in this case, and that you have failed to pay the delinquent balance. In short, this debt has been validated, yet remains unpaid. In the event you should decide to resolve these balances, please feel free to contact my office to speak with a helpful representative who will gladly assist you I wish to personally thank you for your correspondence, and appreciate the opportunity to alleviate your concerns. KCI has now responded and considers this matter closed. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to call me at *** ext *** Sincerely, *** *** *** Director of Compliance

October 12,
Complaint #: ***
Dear Mr***:
This letter is in
response to your correspondence submitted to the Revdex.com (“Revdex.com”).
Your statements indicate that
you believe Kansas Counselors of Kansas City, Inc(KCI) has
failed to provide
accurate information on your credit bureau report regarding an account with
*** *** *** Center for services you received on 07/02/14. Additionally, you claim that KCI is
continuing to harass your wife and children regarding this debt. I want to take a moment to address each of your
allegations.
To
begin, Mr***, there is no record of you ever disputing this debt either in
writing or orally with a collection representative of KCI. As such, you have never denied that services
were provided to you by *** *** *** Center (***). In fact, you signed and authorized these
services, and assigned benefits from your carrier, ***, Inc., to *** for
payment. When doing so, you also legally
agreed to be responsible for any amounts not paid or contractually adjusted
according to the contract between ***, Incand ***
Unfortunately, ***, Inc
took an inordinate amount of time to successfully process your claim for you
(nearly ten months). As a courtesy, ***
submitted your claim three times to your carrier to assist you in having this
claim effectively processed. On
07/15/14, ***, Incdenied your charges as non-covered. When re-submitted, ***, Incdenied your
charges again on 10/24/as not meeting the coverage/program guidelines of
your policy. Fortunately, in April of
this year, your claim was successfully processed and both the payment and
contractual adjustments were received, posted and reported on 04/27/15,
bringing your outstanding balance to zero
Reviewing these facts, it
appears your frustration is actually with your carrier, and not with *** or
KCI. *** merely wished to be paid the
amount they were rightfully owed, by the person legally responsible to pay. In this case, that guarantor was you. KCI, on the other hand, was merely assisting
our client in recovering those monies from the responsible party, and in acting
as a data furnisher to the Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs), had listed the
legitimate and accurate debt to your trade line. In accordance with federal law, you were duly
notified that the account had been referred for collection back in November
2014, and were provided an additional days before placement of the debt on
your credit report. This provided you
more than half a year (seven months) from the date of service, which you
authorized, to either resolve this matter with your insurance carrier or to pay
your debt and seek reimbursement if and when they paid
I can fully appreciate your
dissatisfaction with the outcome of your insurance carrier’s multiple denials
of your claim. There can be no doubt
that it is frustrating when you pay monthly premiums to your carrier for
coverage and when it comes time for them to process and pay a claim there are
often denials or delays. Nevertheless,
there has been no attempt to treat you unfairly. In fact, as a data furnisher, KCI has an
obligation under federal law to accurately report your outstanding debt to the
Credit Reporting Agencies. At the time,
that debt was, in fact, $544.55, which was the amount of your charges minus the
$co-payment you made
However, KCI also has a responsibility to accurately
report any payments or adjustments on your account as well. Once notified that your account had been paid
in April 2015, KCI made the appropriate reports of this information to the
Credit Reporting Agencies. This is the reason
why most of the CRAs show the correct and current balance to be zero. Unfortunately, according to your statements,
it appears that not all of the Credit Reporting Agencies have correctly updated
your information. To rectify this, I
have manually adjusted the reporting codes for you and will make certain they
are reported properly according to the law on our next credit bureau upload
which will take place on October 16, 2015.
Any further issues with the CRAs may be tackled by disputing any
inaccurate information directly with the CRA in question. My sincere apologies for any confusion or
inconvenience this may have caused
Additionally, and in
accordance with the FDCPA, I will make certain to report this debt as disputed
on your behalf, based on the statements you have outlined in your complaint
As for the harassment you
claim to have been experiencing, I must assume you are mistaken. KCI documents and records all outgoing and
incoming calls to all consumers. For the
particular account you have referenced in your complaint, there have been no
calls since 04/27/15, except for a call initiated by our Collection Manager on
05/02/15. This last call was made at the
request of *** to assist in explaining the credit reporting process. However, like every other attempt to reach
you at your cellular telephone number, you did not answer and no communication
took place
More importantly, while KCI
would have been within its legal rights to discuss your debt with your legal
spouse, we do not have a spouse listed on your account and, therefore, could
not have done so. In similar fashion,
KCI does not and would not conduct any business nor disclose any financial or
personal information with a minor child.
I have reviewed all call records and recordings and, in short, these
events never occurred. In fact, the
telephone number associated with this account (###-###-####) has been inactive
for six months
In the event that you, your
legal spouse, a significant other, or a roommate has other accounts placed with
our office for collection, it may be possible that your household is receiving
additional calls. However, any calls you
may be receiving do not pertain to the account referenced in this
communication, are not being made to the telephone number listed above, and have
included no ‘communication’ with you, your wife, or your children as defined by
the FDCPA
Once
more, I apologize for any misunderstanding or confusion regarding either the
insurance process and/or the credit bureau reporting process. As I promised, however, I will make certain
this information is re-reported, and is marked as a disputed item. I have also attached copies of your ***
Remittance Advice showing the two denials, and a copy of your itemized
statement from *** for validation purposes and your own records. I hope the remedy I have applied in your case
is satisfactory to you, and I wish to personally thank you for your
correspondence, and appreciate the opportunity to alleviate your concerns. If I can be of any further assistance, please
do not hesitate to call me at ###-###-####
Sincerely,
Director
of Compliance

June 24,
Complaint #: ***
Dear Ms***:
This letter is in
response to your correspondence submitted to the Revdex.com (“Revdex.com”).
Your statement indicates that
you are upset with Kansas Counselors of Kansas
City, Incfor failing to update
your credit bureau trade line after you paid your delinquent account in April
of 2015. Additionally, you were upset
that we did not immediately return your telephone call placed with our office
for a supervisor on June 22, 2015. I
want to take a moment to address each of your concerns.
First,
I must admit that I am at a loss as to why your credit bureau has not been
updated properly after your payment made on April 1, 2015. Please keep in mind that due to the fact that
you reside in a ‘No-Call’ state where our agency is not currently licensed,
your account was placed with a forwarding agency for collection. If you’ll recall, it was with this agency
(*** *** *** ***) that you made your transaction. Your payment was properly reported to us, and
posted on 04/20/15, and then reported by us to the original creditor. Nevertheless, based on your statements, it
appears that one or more of the Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs) did not
satisfactorily update the payment information which was sent to them
For future reference, should
such an error ever happen again, it is recommended that you dispute the status
of the account directly with the CRA. As
required by law, they will notify us, we will investigate the issue, and will respond
and make whatever revisions are necessary within days
By law, any FCRA dispute made
directly to the data furnisher (KCI is a data furnisher as defined by the law)
needs to be submitted in writing.
However, we want to make certain this matter is rectified for you
immediately, so I am taking steps to accomplish this straightaway
Once again, I cannot be
certain how this error occurred, but I believe I can correct the issue for you. Ordinarily, I would seek to update your
payment information yet again, but there is no specific time-frame for how
quickly the Credit Reporting Agency will incorporate this new information into
your trade line. Instead, I am opting to
do a complete deletion of the record which should update your record in the next
twenty-four hours. This action will
remove the listing as if it were never placed
Lastly, I wanted to apologize
for not responding immediately to your calls, but since you are in a No-Call
state, telephonic attempts to reach you by our office are generally considered
in violation of your state law(s). I
was, however, able to find an exemption that applied in your case, and did, in
fact, try to reach you earlier today to explain our intentions
I
hope the remedy I have applied in your case is satisfactory to you, and I wish
to personally thank you for your correspondence, and appreciate the opportunity
to alleviate your concerns. If I can be
of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to call me at ###-###-#### Ext
Sincerely,
Scott
*** T***
Director
of Compliance

February 8, 2016
 
Complaint #:  [redacted]
 
Dear Ms.
[redacted]:
 
This letter is in
response to your correspondence submitted to the Revdex.com
(“Revdex.com”). 
 
Your statement indicates that
you are upset with Kansas Counselors, Inc....

(KCI) for not returning your calls
from June of last year, and for being unavailable at other times when you tried
to reach us.
 
Providing
consumers with excellent customer service and extraordinary attention as we
conduct our business, is always a priority at Kansas Counselors, Inc.  I want to offer my sincere apologies that we
were unable to provide you the attention and service which you deserve.  However, I also wish to make it clear that our
failure in the area was in no way intentional. Your call, and the calls of all other
consumers are very important to us, and I apologize if we gave you any other
impression. 
 
I do show record of your
calls to our office (a total of four attempts in June 2015).  Your calls were forwarded to me based on the
particular status of your accounts, and I did, in fact, return the call at your
request.  Your message did not specify
your preferred contact number, however, and my attempts at reaching you at
###-###-#### may have been overlooked. 
Unfortunately, on June 12, 2015, I received no answer and made no
further attempts on the account.  My
records do no indicate you made any further attempts to reach our office
regarding this matter after that time.
 
As a debt collection agency,
our staff routinely handles thousands of calls per day.  At periods of heavy call volume it is not
uncommon for there to be hold times, and occasionally a dropped call.  KCI works very hard to diminish these delays
and to eliminate dropped calls altogether, but there are times when this cannot
be avoided.  Generally, our
representatives attempt to return all calls on which we have received a voice
mail, and any missed calls are treated as a priority as well.  Unfortunately, due to our incoming call
volume, and certain considerations under the law, it is not always feasible to
make multiple or continual attempts to return a message.  I apologize if this created any inconvenience
for you.
 
You complaint indicated that
you also wish to pay your outstanding account, and I wanted to remind you that we
regularly accept money orders, checks, and credit/debit card information via the
mail as well.  To assist you in this
endeavor, I have requested that one of our managers make an effort to contact
you as soon as possible, and I believe she has already telephoned and left you
a message today.
 
In the meantime, I wish to personally
thank you for your correspondence, and appreciate the opportunity to alleviate
your concerns.  If I can be of any
further assistance, please do not hesitate to call me at ###-###-####.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
Director
of Compliance

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
[redacted]

Ms.
[redacted]:
 
I
apologize if there is still some confusion. I will do my best to offer you a
more detailed explanation. It is important to remember that when visiting the
Emergency Room, a patient will incur AT MINIMUM, two separate charges or
bills.  One bill is for the hospital or facility, and the other is for the
attending ER physician.  In fact, in many instances there may be
additional charges which are billed separately which may include such things as
anesthesiology, radiology, or even laboratory services. As such, it is not
uncommon to incur four of five bills from different companies for a single ER
visit.  In all of these examples, the services are performed by
separate entities and billed by different billing services.  In some cases,
such as the radiologist or laboratory charges, the services are not even
performed at the physical location of the hospital, but are completed miles
away.  Due to this, it is typical that the hospital and all of the
specialists performing medical services at, or in conjunction with, a specific
date of service, are unaware of these other charges.  Additionally, they may be but are not
familiar with the other provider's exact locations, contact information,
account balances or account numbers, and certainly not who they choose to do
their third party collection work.  In short, while I can understand how
you might be concerned that the hospital isn't familiar with our company,
there is no reason why they would.  We currently do not have
a relationship with the hospital.  Our contract is with the Liberty
ER Physicians; an entirely separate entity. 
 
I also
apologize if you have found the documentation provided to us by our client to
be "sloppy".  I too would like all of our validation materials
to be on letterhead, to be clear and concise, and to be easily
readable.  Unfortunately, I have no control over how our medical provider
clients perform their secretarial functions or format this
information for their patients.  Likewise, the Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act does not dictate the method whereby a debt is
validated.  A statement from an accounting ledger of the original creditor
claiming a consumer owes a particular amount is sufficient under the
law.  I sincerely wish there was a way I could help to alleviate your concerns
regarding the appearance of this documentation, but I can only forward to you
what I receive, as long as it meets the requirements under the law.
 
In
the mean[redacted]e, I have spoken with [redacted], the Billing Practice manager at
the [redacted]e your bill was incurred, and she too was troubled by the fact that we
have been unable to remedy this situation to your satisfaction.  This debt is your legi[redacted]ate ER physician’s
charge from your emergency room visit of 04/11/14, and currently still has an unpaid
balance.  However, as a former patient,
those involved wished to resolve this matter to your satisfaction. Since you have made a good faith effort to
resolve this debt up until this recent confusion and complaint, we were collectively
in agreement that we would close and return the remaining $55.00, and delete
the item from your credit bureau trade line on our next upload to the credit
reporting agencies, scheduled for January 2016.
 
If
I can be of any further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact me
at ###-###-####.  Thank you!

March 3, 2017 Complaint Number:  [redacted] Dear Ms. [redacted]: This letter is in response to your correspondence submitted to the Revdex.com (“Revdex.com”).  Your statement indicates that you received a dunning notice for [redacted] Auto Specialists at your address and that...

you have received such letters for five years.  You also state that you tried to correct this information, but despite assurances that the error has been resolved, you continue to receive these notices.  I want to take a moment to address your concerns here. First, Kansas Counselors, Inc. did, in fact, mail you a dunning letter, addressed to [redacted] Auto Specialists on February 20, 2017.  Unfortunately, the address of [redacted] listed when they referred the account to collections. We have taken note of your information naming this address as incorrect and have removed it from our system.  You will not receive any further notices from Kansas Counselors, Inc. regarding this outstanding debt.  Additionally, this does not have any effect on you, your credit, or your property. With regard to the previous notices you claim to have received over the past few years, I can say only that your complaint against KCI is misplaced.  The account in question was only placed with our agency for collection in February of 2017.  We were not in receipt of this account prior, and have never sent any other letters to your address prior to the date listed above. I suspect you true complaint is with the City of Kansas City, Missouri.  How or why they had, or have, your residential address linked to the business named above, I cannot speculate.  I have, however, requested that our Client Liaison contact the City on your behalf to remove the address and/or mark it as incorrect.  Please understand that I have no control over the manner in which the City conducts itself in these matters. I also wish to personally thank you for your correspondence, and appreciate the opportunity to alleviate your concerns.  KCI has now complied and considers this matter closed.  If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to call me at ###-###-####.   Sincerely,  [redacted]Director of Compliance

June 24, 2015
 
Complaint #:  10701149
 
Dear Ms. [redacted]:
 
This letter is in
response to your correspondence submitted to the Revdex.com (“Revdex.com”). 
 
Your statement indicates that
you are upset with Kansas Counselors of Kansas...

City, Inc. for waiting 30 days
to mail you a receipt for your payment. 
Additionally, you were concerned that you had not yet received the
receipt.  I want to take a moment to
address both of your concerns. 
 
First,
I wanted to take a moment to explain our company’s policy for a 30-day waiting
period before generating paid in full receipts. 
As a medical collection agency, consumers are often required to pay
their outstanding balances before being allowed to schedule doctor’s
appointments, or to receive medication or updated prescriptions.  Unfortunately, often times consumer’s make
these payment to receive the short-term benefits they seek, and then dispute
the charges with their bank or chargeback their credit card payments.  To help combat this costly activity, KCI waits
until at least 30 days before providing proof of payment.  For many banks and credit card vendors, this
is the allotted period for charge dispute, and helps to protect both our
company and our clients from unscrupulous activity.
 
In your particular case,
requested a receipt be mailed to you on 06/16/15, and requested a second one
today, after receipt of your e-mail to our company.
 
In an effort to resolve this
as quickly as possible, I called today and was able to ascertain that you have
recently moved and now have a new address, and I believe that may have played a
role in the delay and/or failure of our receipt to reach you.  Since you advised me that this proof was
essential for your upcoming bar examination, I agreed to e-mail the receipt to
expedite the process, and did so without delay.
 
I
hope the remedy I have applied in your case is satisfactory to you, and I wish
to personally thank you for your correspondence, and appreciate the opportunity
to alleviate your concerns.  If I can be
of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to call me at ###-###-#### Ext.
234.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Scott
[redacted] T[redacted]
Director
of Compliance

April 5, 2016
Complaint #: 
[redacted]
Dear Mr. [redacted]:
This letter is in response to your
correspondence submitted to the Revdex.com (“Revdex.com”).
Your statement indicates that Kansas Counselors, Inc. (KCI)
is continuing to collect on an account which you...

claims was included and
discharged in a recent bankruptcy.  You
are also concerned that this debt has been reported to the Credit Reporting
Agencies (CRAs) and you are demanding it be removed, and are upset that you
have not received a response from us.  I
want to take a moment to address your concerns here.
First, I wanted to address your impression that we are not
responding to you or ignoring your issues and needs.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, in every instance we have complied
with the law in our effort to assist you.
To begin, you are sending us messages through our client web
portal on the Internet.  KCI’s clients
are creditors to whom money is owed by consumers.  The portal through which you are trying to
communicate with us is clearly demarcated for sales and for use by prospective
clients wishing to inquire about placing accounts for collection with our
agency.  As such, your messages have been
intercepted by our sales staff and not our collection team.  KCI is responsible to provide various means
through which consumers may contact us regarding disputes, and unfortunately,
Internet e-mail is not one of these
methods.  Nevertheless, we were prepared
to reach out to you, but since you have moved to a No-Call state ([redacted]) where
KCI is not currently licensed, we were unable to do so without violating your
state’s laws.
As
defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, KCI is considered a data furnisher
and has a responsibility to report accurate information to the credit reporting
agencies, as well as to respond in timely fashion to any disputes received by
the CRAs.  In your case, my records
indicate that we received an Automated Consumer Dispute Verification (ACDV)
during the month of March 2016.  Our
agency performed a “reasonable investigation”, as is required by law, and after
coordinating with our client, found the debt to be valid and still unpaid, so
marked the account as disputed and provided the results of our query to the
CRAs via e-OSCAR.  This is all the
communication required by law in this instance, and we fully complied.
As a
consumer you have rights concerning requesting validation in writing, which you
failed to exercise in October or November of 2011 when the account was
originally placed.  You also could have
mailed us an FCRA dispute listing the specific account, reason(s) for the
dispute, and included supporting documentation as required by law, but did not
do that either.  Lastly, we provided our
telephone numbers, both local and toll-free on our notices, and provided a
Credit Bureau hotline number with all of our ACDV dispute responses through
e-OSCAR.  For whatever reason, you chose
not to use any of these convenient options.
As
far as bankruptcies are concerned, KCI also takes these matters very
seriously.  So seriously, in fact, that
we use multiple, nationwide databases to “scrub” for such information even
before beginning any collection efforts. 
We also run such inquiries on a monthly basis to ensure we our
information is updated as often as possible. 
In addition, we are diligent in our efforts to obtain and update
notifications from bankruptcy attorneys and/or the federal bankruptcy courts,
both received at our office and received at the offices of our clients.
Throughout
all of these processes, and even after our investigation for your credit
dispute, KCI has not been able to ascertain valid proof or documentation that
this particular debt was ever included in nor discharged through a bankruptcy
under your name.
I
have even gone so far as to manually check the Public Access to Court
Electronic Records (PACER) system for validation of you claims.  When I search the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for
the Western District of Missouri, I am, of course, able to identify your Chapter
7 Case, [redacted].  This case was filed on
11/26/10 and discharged on 02/28/11. 
Unfortunately, the debt in questions was incurred by you on 05/06/11,
several months after your bankruptcy case had closed.  Therefore, this debt was not discharged and
is still valid and unpaid.
For your convenience, I have
attached a copies of the itemized statement for your [redacted] accounts, for validation of the debt and for your own recordkeeping
purposes.  Additionally I have included
the list of creditors from your bankruptcy filing as provided by the PACER
system.  I hope the explanation I have
supplied in your case is satisfactory to you, and I wish to personally thank
you for your correspondence, and appreciate the opportunity to alleviate your
concerns.
However, in the event you wish to
resolve these matters, please feel free to contact our office and one of our
helpful representatives will be more than happy to assist you.  If I can be of any further assistance, please
do not hesitate to call me at ###-###-####.
 
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Director of Compliance

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
[redacted]

July 20, 2016   Complaint #:  [redacted]   Dear Mr. [redacted]:   This letter is in response to your correspondence submitted to the Revdex.com (“Revdex.com”).    Your statement indicates that you are upset with Kansas Counselors, Inc. (KCI) and our client, Healthcare...

Associates ER Physicians for not contacting you regarding your bill, and/or properly billing your insurance carrier for the ER doctor charges.   Providing consumers with adequate and/or required billing is a policy of KCI and a requirement of the law, and I went to great lengths to investigate this matter for you.  After reviewing your account notes and history, and listening to all of the recorded calls in this case, I want to take a moment to address your concerns and share with you the information I’ve discovered.   First, I’d like to assist by explaining a bit about the initial billing process.  Generally, before an account is placed in collections, there are a number of letters sent from the original creditor, each advising the consumer of their delinquent balance, and the potential for referral to a third party.  Additionally, in the event that insurance is involved, the consumer will also receive an Explanation of Benefits from the carrier detailing the manner in which the claim was processed, any payments or contractual adjustments that have been made, and a clear indication of any remaining patient responsibility for payment.   Although both you and your father indicate that you had health insurance coverage at the time, I am not privy to whether or not your provided this information at the time of service, or if it was filed.  Generally, a provider files a consumer’s insurance due to a contractual obligation and/or a courtesy for its patients.  In either case, the ultimate responsibility to ascertain whether or not the filing process is completed successfully is the burden of the subscriber.   Please keep in mind that you or your father’s agreement with the health insurance carrier is entirely separate from the contract you signed for services when you sought treatment in the emergency room.  In short, whether the insurance pays or not, the responsibility to the provider is always the consumer’s obligation.  Additionally, it is important to remember that the surrender of a co-pay at the time of admission does not ensure that there will be payment in full from the insurance company, or that there will not be a patient responsibility afterward.  A policy’s co-insurance rates, deductibles, and riders (including non-covered charges or elective procedures) must be taken into consideration before drawing any conclusions related to processing and payment.   Once your account was placed with our agency for collection on 09/21/10, KCI mailed you an initial dunning notice, as required by law. This notice contained pertinent information such as the name of our company, the name of the original creditor, the amount owed, and a statement of your rights as a consumer under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).  These statements included the requirements a consumer must follow in order to request validation as stipulated by federal law.  Please note, this notice was mailed to your then current and correct address, and was not returned via the United States Postal Service (USPS).   Pursuant to your validation rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), § 809(a) [15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a)], a consumer can dispute all or any part of a debt at any time, but only a written request sent within thirty days of receipt of the first written notice of the debt triggers validation rights under the FDCPA.  In short, an oral request for validation, months, or years after the fact, does not obligate KCI to provide any debt verification for you.  Additionally, it is important to state that KCI is not a billing agency either and in no way responsible for filing your insurance.  We do our best to help facilitate the process whenever possible, but in your case, we never received any information or documentation from you that would have allowed us to assist you.   KCI is, however, defined as a data furnisher by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and has a responsibility under the law to provide accurate debt information to the credit reporting agencies (CRAs).  Our records indicate that your debt was initially reported to the CRAs at the end of December 2010; ninety (90) days after placement with our agency.  Due to a recent merger with our Wichita office, KCI was required to update its reported inventory with the CRAs using a full file credit bureau report in February of this year.  This explains why that is the report date currently showing on your credit file.  This in no way, however, re-aged the account, or provided any other information that was not true and correct under the circumstances.   Our company, however, always wishes to be as helpful as possible in aiding consumers regarding their debts, and has recently adopted a policy focused on providing validation even on oral requests which take place long after a consumer’s rights have expired.  This is not something required by law, but it is a policy we have adopted to be as helpful as possible.  Due to this, I personally requested your debt’s documentation on the day I received your Revdex.com correspondence, and have also listed the account as disputed, as required by law.   I am now in receipt of the information and am attaching the verification here to assist you.  I am also providing you with my direct telephone number so that you may reach me to discuss this matter should you choose to do so.  Based on your difficulties throughout this process, I would be willing to negotiate a discount on this to resolve the issue and remove it from your credit bureau report.  Unfortunately, at this time we would not be able to provide your desired outcome based on the fact that the outstanding bill is your responsibility, and that it is still currently unpaid.   In the meantime, I wish to personally thank you for your correspondence, and appreciate the opportunity to alleviate your concerns.  If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to call me at ###-###-####.     Sincerely,     [redacted] Director of Compliance

August 2, 2017   Complaint Number:  12298687   Dear Ms. [redacted]:   This letter is in response to your correspondence submitted to the Revdex.com.  This appears to be the same information you submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and which...

we responded to on July 31, 2017.  Nevertheless, I want to take the opportunity to explain our position to you once again.    Your statement still indicates that Kansas Counselors, Inc. (KCI) has failed to satisfactorily validate your debt after you disputed the above mentioned account in a letter to our agency, dated May 25, 2017.    First, as is required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and is strictly followed by KCI, an initial notice is sent to all legal guarantors on delinquent accounts placed with our agency.  This notice contains our agency name, the name of the original creditor, your account number, the date of service, the exact amount owed, the full mini-Miranda, and the full statement of your rights to dispute and to request validation of the debt(s) in writing within thirty (30) days of receiving the notice.    KCI mailed you a dunning notice for the account listed above to your last known address at 2304 Nicole Dr., Hampton, GA, 30228 on 11/26/13.  The letter sent to your address was not returned via the US Postal Service.  You did not exercise your rights within the time frame prescribed by law.   We did, however, receive a written dispute in May 2017.  This letter was a dispute only and not a request for validation, and of course, was received years after the validation period had expired.  Under the law KCI was under no obligation from the FDCPA to fulfill your request.  Still, we made every attempt to accommodate you and mailed you a copy of your utility bill from the City of Independence, Missouri.  This documentation included information properly identifying you as the guarantor of this account, and verified the balance we are attempting to collect as accurate and correct.   KCI immediately marked your account as disputed and reported it to the credit reporting agencies as such, in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.   To reiterate, KCI was under no obligation to provide validation materials to you at this late date, per the FDCPA, but in an effort to be helpful, our agency still complied.  The materials that we sent are considered sufficient under the law, and we are under no obligation to provide anything further to you as verification.  As a courtesy to you, I am including the validation document from the City of Independence, as well as a copy of your dispute letter.  You may keep these for your records.   Unfortunately, we cannot, at this time, agree to your desired resolution on your account based on the fact that our verification efforts indicate you are the responsible party in this case, and that you have failed to pay the delinquent balance.  In short, this debt has been validated, yet remains unpaid.  In the event you should decide to resolve these balances, please feel free to contact my office to speak with a helpful representative who will gladly assist you.   I wish to personally thank you for your correspondence, and appreciate the opportunity to alleviate your concerns.  KCI has now responded and considers this matter closed.  If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to call me.     Sincerely,     [redacted] Director of Compliance

Ms. [redacted]: The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act does not require that a debt collector use certified or registered mail to send a dunning notice.  As such, there would be no 'tracking' number.Despite your statements to the contrary, we have validated your debt(s) with the appropriate and sufficient materials, despite the fact that we were under no further obligation under the law to do so.Lastly, from a semantic standpoint, you are not contractually obligated to pay Kansas Counselors, Inc.  Therefore, no such documentation exists, and no statement regarding this has ever been made to you.  You are, however, under contractual obligation to pay the creditor/provider with whom you contracted for medical services during your visit to the emergency room on 04/16/14.  As a third party debt collector and a data furnisher under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, our job is to facilitate your payment to our client(s), and to report these debt(s) accurately to the credit reporting agency.You are certainly welcome to pay your outstanding obligation(s) directly to St. Joseph Medical Center and Carondelet ER Physicians.  Once you do so, they will notify our agency, and once he payment(s) are posted, we will request that they be deleted from the credit reporting agencies as a courtesy to you.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
I thank you for pulling my mothers phone number from my account.  If you want to do your research you'll find that I have paid off several I curing bills from the September and October incidence. There was one I did not pay off because I could not be told how much to write the check for. I hope that was not your business also. Thank you for your name and number. I'll be contacting you. You may want to review the complaint because technology seems like it could help you. If you can see my history but can't distinguish between two addresses.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Thank you for assuring my address is removed from the account and thank you for contacting the city on my behalf to see if they will do the same.
Regards,
[redacted].

Hello KCI, I did not receive a dunning notice from you in 2014 if so I would like to know the tracking number to locate this letter.  I do not recall having any contractual obligation with you if I am mistaken I ask that you submit that as well. Please note that this is a medical account according to what you proclaim in which I am taking very careful notes as to my steps on solving this dispute that you are recording on my credit report. Please note that according to Attorney [redacted] you should be aware that a printout of a bill or itemized document does not constitute verification. I am requesting a copy of any documents bearing my signature showing that I have a legally binding contractual obligation to pay you. 
Regards,
[redacted]

June
9, 2015
 
 
Sent
via: Revdex.com Portal
 
 
This letter is in
response to the complaint submitted to the Revdex.com
(“Revdex.com”).  We appreciate the opportunity to respond. 
 
The statement
from Mr. [redacted] alleges...

that Kansas Counselors of Kansas City, Inc. directed ‘repeated’
telephone calls to his mother, and harassed her in an attempt to make contact
with him.  Additionally, Mr. [redacted] was
upset that we would not explain to him where we got his mother’s telephone
number.
 
First,
there is indeed an account which was placed with our office for collections for
which Mr. [redacted] is the legal guarantor. 
The account information is listed above and is in the amount of $243.00
and has been delinquent since 09/11/14. 
The account was placed with our agency for collections by the original
creditor for on 03/20/15.  In the nearly
three months that we’ve had the outstanding balance, the telephone number in
question was called three times.  Since,
under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) it is technically
permissible to call once per day, I feel it is a gross exaggeration to claim that
three calls in a three month period constitutes ‘repeated’ telephone calls.
 
In
compliance with federal law, a ‘first notice’ providing Mr. [redacted] with all the
necessary and pertinent account information, including his rights to dispute or
request validation of the debt, was mailed to him at his current address on
03/20/15.  This mail was not returned via
the United States Postal Service, and as such is considered as having been
lawfully received by Mr. [redacted].  Nevertheless,
despite our mailing and a previous call from our office to the number Mr.
[redacted] called from yesterday, he failed to return our call or communicate with
our office regarding his unpaid obligation.
 
Because
of this, our representatives considered it likely that we had an incorrect or
inconvenient number for Mr. [redacted], and began to attempt locating him at other
numbers which were provided to us by the original creditor.  Although KCI performs limited skip tracing on
larger balance accounts, this process was not explored on Mr. [redacted]
account.  Mr. [redacted] has had more than
one account placed with our agency over the years and the numbers we called in
an attempt to locate him were, in fact, provided
by Mr. [redacted] himself at some point in the past.
 
I
reviewed the telephone recording of Mr. [redacted]’ mother’s telephone call to our
office, and his characterization of this call as harassment is once more
inconsistent with the facts.  Bear in
mind, that it is a right afforded a debt collector under the FDCPA to contact
third parties in an attempt to locate a debtor. 
However, a debt collector is prohibited from disclosing any information
regarding the debt during that effort. 
Mr. [redacted]’ mother was, in fact, uncooperative and demanded to know the
reason for our call and to know who her son owed. 
We politely refused to disclose this information, in compliance with the
law, and the parties mutually ended the call.
 
The
fact that Mr. [redacted] shares the same name as his deceased father is merely
coincidental and in no way should be construed as an attempt on our part to
upset anyone.  In fact, Mr. [redacted]’
mother’s telephone number was immediately removed from our system once it was
determined not to be his own.
 
Minutes
later, Mr. [redacted] began calling our office and demanding to know who we got his
mother’s telephone number from.  As a
third party debt collector involved in medical collections, our agency must
adhere to both the FDCPA and HIPAA and we require a consumer to verify their
identity before sharing information with them. 
Mr. [redacted] had great difficulty assisting in this process, and once
doing so, continued his demands by continually interrupting, speaking angrily,
and talking over our representative who was merely trying to assist him.
 
Kansas
Counselors of Kansas City, Inc. has an excellent rating with the RevDex.com and takes any and all complaints very seriously.  However, in this particular case, our company
and its representatives did nothing to violate federal law, state law, or even
company policy with regard to courtesy and respect on the telephone.  Should it be necessary, KCI is willing to share the telephone recordings which amply support our point. 
 
KCI genuinely
wishes to see an amicable resolution to this matter, and while I will apologize
for any perceived slight Mr. [redacted] or his mother may have experienced, any misconduct
in this matter was not our own.  Should
Mr. [redacted] decide he wants to resolve this matter and avoid placement with the
credit bureau(s), we would be more than happy to assist him.  I would even be willing to have him contact
me personally to help him negotiate a suitable repayment plan.  My telephone number is ###-###-####, Ext.
[redacted].    
   
Sincerely,
 
 
[redacted]
Director
of Compliance
Kansas
Counselors of Kansas City, Inc.

October 31, 2017   Complaint Number:  12470747   Dear Ms. [redacted]:   This letter is in response to your correspondence submitted to the Revdex.com.  This appears to be the same information you submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and...

which we responded to on September 6, 2017.  Nevertheless, I want to take the opportunity to explain our position to you once again.    Your statement still indicates that Kansas Counselors, Inc. (KCI) has failed to satisfactorily validate your debt after you disputed your St. Joseph Medical Center account in a letter to our agency, dated July 19, 2017.   First, as is required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and is strictly followed by KCI, an initial notice is sent to all legal guarantors on delinquent accounts placed with our agency.  This notice contains our agency name, the name of the original creditor, your account number, the date of service, the exact amount owed, the full mini-Miranda, and the full statement of your rights to dispute and to request validation of the debt(s) in writing within thirty (30) days of receiving the notice.    KCI mailed you a dunning notice for the account listed above to your last known address at 2540 Chestnut Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64127 on 11/26/14.  The letter sent to your address was not returned via the US Postal Service.  You did not exercise your rights within the time frame prescribed by law.   We did, however, receive a written dispute in July 2017.  This letter was a dispute and a request for validation, and of course, was received years after the validation period had expired.  Under the law, KCI was under no obligation from the FDCPA to fulfill your request.  Still, we made every attempt to accommodate you and mailed you a copy of your invoice, obtained directly from St. Joseph Medical Center.  This documentation included information properly identifying you as the guarantor of this account, and verified the balance we are attempting to collect as accurate and correct.   KCI immediately marked your account as disputed and reported it to the credit reporting agencies as such, in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).   My records also indicate that we received a dispute from you regarding your account submitted directly through the credit reporting agencies (CRAs).  These Automated Consumer Dispute Verifications (ACDVs) are forwarded to our agency through the Online Solution for Complete and Accurate Reporting (e-OSCAR) system.  With each dispute, our agency performed a “reasonable investigation”, as is required by law, and after coordinating with our client, found both debts to be valid and still unpaid.  At that time, we marked the accounts as disputed again, and provided the results of our query to the CRAs via e-OSCAR.   Please understand, after completing our “reasonable investigation” in compliance with the FCRA, and responding back to the CRAs via e-OSCAR, KCI is not under any obligation to send any additional material to you.  Nevertheless, KCI mailed a second copy of the itemized bill to you from the original creditor, including your signature page from the ER physicians (Carondelet) at St. Joseph Medical Center, to serve as validation of your debt for you.  Because you have specifically authorized me to do so, I am uploading a copy here yet again.  You may keep these for your records.   To reiterate, KCI was under no obligation to provide validation materials to you at this late date, per the FDCPA, but in an effort to be helpful, our agency has complied for a third time.  The materials that we sent are considered sufficient under the law.  KCI has done everything necessary to comply with your wishes, and had been compliant with its requirements under federal both FDCPA and FCRA.   Unfortunately, we cannot, at this time, agree to your desired resolution on your account based on the fact that our verification efforts indicate you are the responsible party in this case, and that you have failed to pay the delinquent balance.  In short, this debt has been validated, yet remains unpaid.  In the event you should decide to resolve your balance(s), please feel free to contact my office to speak with a helpful representative who will gladly assist you.   I wish to personally thank you for your correspondence, and appreciate the opportunity to alleviate your concerns.  KCI has now responded and considers this matter closed.  If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to call me at [redacted] ext [redacted].     Sincerely,     [redacted] Director of Compliance     This communication is from a debt collector.  This is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

January11, 2016
 
Complaint #: 
[redacted]
 
Dear Ms. [redacted]:
 
This letter is in response to your
correspondence submitted to the Revdex.com (“Revdex.com”). 
 
Your statement indicates that you are upset with Kansas
Counselors, Inc. (KCI)...

for not sending you an invoice after you made multiple
requests for this information.  I want to
apologize if this created any inconvenience for you.
 
Providing consumers with adequate
and/or required billing is a policy of KCI and a requirement of the law, and I went
to great lengths to investigate this matter for you.  After reviewing your account notes and history,
and listening to all of the recorded calls in this case, I want to take a
moment to address your concerns and share with you the information I’ve discovered.
 
First, I’d like to assist by explaining a bit about the
initial billing process.  Generally,
before an account is placed in collections, there are a number of letters sent
from the original creditor, each advising the consumer of their delinquent
balance, and the potential for referral to a third party.  Additionally, in the event that insurance is
involved, the consumer will also receive an Explanation of Benefits from the
carrier detailing the manner in which the claim was processed, any payments or
contractual adjustments that have been made, and a clear indication of any
remaining patient responsibility for payment. 
Our records indicate this process was followed in your case.
 
Once the account was placed with our agency for collection on
09/08/11, KCI mailed you an initial dunning notice, as required by law.  This notice contained pertinent information
such as the name of our company, the name of the original creditor, the amount
owed, and a statement of your rights as a consumer under the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).  These
statements included the requirements a consumer must follow in order to request
validation as stipulated by federal law. 
Please note, this notice was mailed to your then current and correct
address, and was not returned via the United States Postal Service (USPS).
 
Pursuant to your validation rights under the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), § 809(a) [15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a)], a consumer can dispute all or any part of a
debt at any [redacted]e, but only a written
request sent within thirty days of receipt of the first written notice of the
debt triggers validation rights under the FDCPA.  In short, an oral request for validation,
months, or in this case, years after the fact, does not obligate KCI to provide
any debt verification for you.
 
To be fair, it
seems logical that you not only received this initial bill, but did some sort
of due diligence regarding its validity prior to making your first voluntary
payment on 04/10/12.  In fact, since that
first payment, you have made a total of eleven (11) additional payments over
the course of the following two years, before abruptly stopping on 04/11/14.
 
It wasn’t until
July of 2014 that you spoke with our office and requested a bill.  You did so on 07/24/14 and again on
07/29/14.  However, in neither of these
calls did you request an itemized invoice. 
In fact, you requested a bill with information regarding which
department was billing you.  Yet during
this [redacted]e a total of six (6) letters had been sent at your request, all to your
then current address, and none returned via the USPS.
 
To be frank,
after six notices had already been sent, and since our agency was not obligated
by law to fulfill your request, four years after your rights expired, your
representative was unwilling to send additional materials to you.  Additionally, the fact that none of your
requests for validation had been submitted in writing, also played a role in
this decision.
 
Our company,
however, always wishes to be as helpful as possible in aiding consumers
regarding their debts, and has recently adopted a policy focused on providing
validation even on oral requests which take place long after a consumer’s
rights have expired.  This is not
something required by law, but it is a policy we have adopted to be as helpful
as possible.  Due to this, a request for
your debt’s documentation was made on the day of your conversation with our
collections manager, and forwarded to our clients for completion on 12/14/15.  Unfortunately, due to the holiday season,
requests for information on debts dating back so many years has taken longer
than usual to obtain.
 
Nevertheless, I
am now in receipt of the information you requested and I am attaching the
verification here to assist you.  I am
also providing you with my direct telephone number so that you may reach me to
discuss this matter should you choose to do so.
 
In the mean[redacted]e, I
wish to personally thank you for your correspondence, and appreciate the
opportunity to alleviate your concerns. 
If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to call me
at ###-###-####.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
 
[redacted]
Director of Compliance

September 14, 2015
 
Complaint #:  [redacted]
 
Dear Mrs. [redacted]:
 
This letter is in
response to your correspondence submitted to the Revdex.com (“Revdex.com”). 
 
Your statement indicates that
you are upset with Kansas Counselors of...

Kansas City, Inc. (KCI) for not immediately
ending our telephone call to you once you requested validation of your six
debts from six different creditors that have been placed with our office for
collections. 
 
First,
I wanted to take a moment to explain the requirements for validation as
stipulated by federal law.  This statement of your rights was also included on all
six of the dunning notices mailed to you for each of your debts.  Please note, each of these notices were
mailed to your current and correct address, and none were returned via the
United States Postal Service.
 
Pursuant to your validation
rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), § 809(a) [15
U.S.C. § 1692g(a)], a consumer can dispute all or any part of a debt at any time, but only a written request sent within thirty
days of receipt of the first written notice of the debt triggers validation
rights under the FDCPA.  In short, an
oral request for validation, months, or in this case, years after the fact,
does not obligate KCI to provide any
debt verification for you, let alone require us to abruptly cease a collection telephone
call.
 
Our company, however, always wishes to be as helpful as possible in aiding
consumers regarding their debts, and has adopted a policy focusing on providing
validation even on oral requests which take place long after a consumer’s
rights have expired.  Due to this, a request
for your debt’s documentation was made on the day of your conversation with our office, and
forwarded to our clients for completion. 
I expect you will receive all of these documents in the next week or two
as these requests are fulfilled.
 
Although your complaint seems to indicate that you were also annoyed by our
representative’s questions, they were, in fact, designed to ascertain whether
or not you were disputing any of the debts in question.  If so, we would be required to report them to
the credit bureau as such, in compliance with the FDCPA.  Unfortunately, you refused to answer any of
the questions which would have assisted us in helping you in this matter.
 
Lastly, you requested no
further verbal contact with our agency. 
Ordinarily, as outlined by the law, this too would need to be submitted in writing, but we will
comply with your wishes.  However, please
note that this will not halt further collection action against you in an
attempt to recover these monies once they have been validated.
 
I
hope the remedy I have applied in your case is satisfactory to you, and I wish
to personally thank you for your correspondence, and appreciate the opportunity
to alleviate your concerns.  If I can be
of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to call me at ###-###-#### Ext.
[redacted].
 
 
Sincerely,
 
 
Scott
[redacted]
Director
of Compliance