Kansas Counselors of Kansas City, Inc.

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 placing you on
hold, playing music and then
disconnecting the call. You are also upset that KCI did not advise
you that we were attempting to collect a debt, and for refusing to provide any
personal debt and private health information (PHI) before obtaining the
necessary identification and assurance that our company requires before
disclosing this sensitive informationI want to take a moment to address each
of your concerns.
First,
I reviewed our initial call to you, and it does appear that the call was
disconnected. However, our recording
does not show you were ever placed on hold.
In fact, the call drops while our Transfer Operator is actually
speaking. This leads me to believe this
was an unfortunate error due to neither party’s intention, and I apologize for
any frustration this may have caused
Secondly, since KCI is a
third party debt collector, and is governed by the Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act (FDCPA), we must adhere to this law in its strictest form. Equally as important, since we are primarily
a medical collection agency, we must follow the security and privacy
regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA). To protect consumer’s rights,
as well as their Private Health Information (PHI), KCI requires that those
parties we disclose information to, provide their full name, as well as one of
three additional pieces of information to assist us in guaranteeing we are
divulging sensitive information to only the legally-correct party. To accomplish this, our representatives
request the guarantor to provide us only one of the following: their street
address, the year of their birth, or the last four digits of their social
security number. Because you refused
this information, and we were unable to adequately identify who we were
speaking with, KCI was unable to assist you by providing any further
information
As you correctly asserted,
another mandate of the FDCPA, is the requirement to advise a
correctly-identified guarantor, that our communication is from a debt collector
and is an attempt to collect a debt and that any information obtained will be
used for that purpose. This is referred
to as the ‘mini-Miranda’. This
obligation, however, is necessary only during ‘communications’ which we
initiate with a right party, or on calls a consumer initiates only after
completing our due diligence and ascertaining if we are speaking to the right
party, and only when we are actually discussing the debt
Under the FDCPA,
‘communication’ takes place when debt information is conveyed to a
consumer. Due to the fact that we have
not discussed nor disclosed any debt information to you, nor even identified
you as the correct party, we are under no obligation to ‘Mirandize’ you
Lastly, I personally reviewed
the communications you had with our representative. Our employee readily identified his name and
the name of our company, but refused to provide you any further information
until you had been suitably identified.
Failure of our employees to adhere to this procedure could easily result
in a consumer’s personal debt information being disclosed to a third
party. Such a transgression would not
only be in violation of federal law, but would be unconscionable based on our
company’s desire to protect the privacy of all the consumers with which we
speak. If this policy gave you the
impression we were trying to be difficult or rude, I personally apologize. To the contrary, this policy is in place to
protect you or anyone else with business with our agency
In
closing, KCI always has every intention of adhering to the FDCPA, to the HIPAA,
and of protecting your rights as a consumerWe wholeheartedly wish to assist
the guarantor in this case in resolving any matters with our office. Unfortunately, even now, I have received no
information or documentation to indicate or insure that you are the correct
party, and therefore, must err on the side of caution, and wait for such time
as you can identify yourself satisfactorily before we disclose any additional
information
If
and when you decide to do so, and if the information results in identifying you
as the right-party contact, we will be happy to disclose any and all pertinent
information to you
I
personally thank you for your correspondence, and appreciate the opportunity to
alleviate your concerns. I’m simply
sorry that I am unable to do more for you at this time, and deeply regret any
inconvenience or frustration this may have caused you. KCI has now complied with your requested
relief, as much as is possible in compliance with the law, and considers this
matter closed. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate
to call me at ###-###-####
Sincerely,
Cameron Karim
Director
of Operations

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.

[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]

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

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!

This letter is in
response to the complaint submitted to the RevDex.com (“Revdex.com”).  We appreciate the opportunity to respond. 
 
The complaint indicates that
Kansas Counselors of Kansas City, Inc. is attempting to collect on a debt that is past the...

statute of limitations.  Additionally, the complaint alleges that we are attempting to collect a debt on which the consumer has filed bankruptcy.  I want to take a moment to address each of the consumer's concerns. 
 First, there are multiple debts (7 in total) on which we were contacting Ms. [redacted] for payment. The dates of service on these accounts range from 2005 through 2010.  It is true that the statute of limitation for written contracts in the state of Nebraska is 5 years.  However, that statute only bars us from initiating legal action to collect these debts, which we have no intention of doing.  It does not prohibit us from contacting a consumer to request that they pay their obligations.Secondly, Ms. [redacted] indicated she filed bankruptcy on a debt from 2007.  Unfortunately, KCI has never been contacted previously by Ms. [redacted], by any attorney she has retained, or by the federal bankruptcy court to notify us of any filing(s) under which these debts would have been included. In our last conversation with her, on April 8, 2015, Ms./ [redacted] provided a name for an attorney, but no contact information.  The account was notated and coded properly so that she would receive no further calls now that she is represented by counsel. KCI
always has every intention of adhering to the FDCPA and Bankruptcy law, as well as protecting the rights
of the consumers with whom we communicate.  For these reasons, Ms. [redacted]'s
accounts have been removed from active collection, and will receive no further
telephone calls from our representatives. 
We would greatly appreciate it if she would have her attorney contact our office and provide her bankruptcy case number, and verify any discharge(s) for these debts so that they can be appropriately code and close them.
I want to personally thank Ms. [redacted] for her correspondence, and I appreciate the opportunity to
alleviate her concerns. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to have her attorney call
me at [redacted].
   Sincerely, [redacted]Director of ComplianceKansas Counselors of Kansas City, Inc.

[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]

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

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

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].

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.

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

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

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

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]
Director
of Compliance