How to Remove USCB America from Your Credit Report
If you're getting phone calls from USCB America, you likely have an unpaid debt that is hanging over your head.
Unfortunately, this means that it has opened a collection account on your credit report and is attempting to collect payment. Not only is USCB America unpleasant to deal with, but when it notifies the credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and Transunion), it can hurt your credit score for years to come. Having collection accounts on your credit score is incredibly damaging to your credit health.
When future lenders see any collection accounts on your credit report, they will probably deny you loans based on your history. It’s important to remove any negative entries so that you are able to make large purchases down the line.
For more information on USCB America and how to deal with it, check out our full article below.
What is USCB America?
Headquartered in Los Angeles, USCB America is a medium-sized debt collection agency, also known as an accounts resource management company, that has been in business since 1968. According to its website, it claims to be the largest privately held receivable and resource management solutions company in California. It specializes in debt collection on behalf of hospitals and other health care providers.
Is USCB America legit?
USCB America is a legitimate company — it is not a scam.
Even for a legitimate debt collector, USCB America is particularly unpopular with its customers. It has over 170 complaints filed against it with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and roughly 260 complaints against it within the past three years with the Better Business Bureau.
The complaints have to do with USCB America’s failure to respond to debt validation requests, harassment and inaccurate debt reporting.
Steps to remove USCB America from your credit
The process of removing a collection entry from your credit report may seem daunting, but it's entirely doable.
Here are the essential steps to take to get rid of your USCB America once and for all:
- Get everything in writing.
- Request debt validation.
- Make a pay-for-delete agreement.
- Hire a professional.
Get everything in writing
The first step when dealing with debt collectors is to request that they only communicate with you in writing. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Fair Credit Reporting Act, you’re allowed to do this, and USCB America must comply with your request.
In specific regards to USCB America, if it violates HIPAA laws when trying to collect medical bills or medical debts, there is a high likelihood you will be off the hook for payment. It’s not uncommon for debt collectors to make false promises over the phone. After all, it’s your word against theirs, and they aren’t bound to anything without proof.
The best way to hold USCB America accountable is to require it to communicate with you through U.S. certified mail. This will hold it to its word and prevent it from harassing you too heavily. When USCB America calls you, tell the company that you will not speak over the phone and want to receive all future communications through U.S. Mail.
If the company tries to argue with you, tell USCB America that it’s in violation of the FDCPA and hang up. This may take it by surprise because most people are not aware of their rights under the FDCPA. Don’t communicate with USCB America until it complies with your request.
Request debt validation
After you get USCB America to begin communicating in writing, your next step is to get it to validate your debt. It’s not uncommon for information to get lost in the transition from the original creditor to USCB America. In fact, it’s possible that the debt isn’t even yours. That is why it’s crucial that you send a request for debt validation as soon as possible.
A debt validation letter is a formal request for USCB America to verify the information associated with your debt.
This includes your name, the balance and the date of debt acquisition. If any of the information is inaccurate, you can file a dispute with all three major credit bureaus and request that they remove the entry. It’s important that you send this in the first 30 days of hearing from USCB America. If you wait beyond that, it may ignore your request entirely.
Make a pay-for-delete agreement
If the debt turns out to be yours, you should try to make a pay-for-delete agreement with USCB America. This is a long shot, but it’s worth trying if nothing else works. It can hold off wage garnishment or other legal measures.
We often get the question, "Will USCB America sue me to collect payment?" The answer is, unfortunately, "Yes, it’s very possible."
A pay-for-delete agreement is when you offer to pay a portion of your debt in exchange for the company to stop reporting your debt to credit bureaus. This is a situation that benefits both parties in some regard; you get the negative entry taken off your report, and it gets a portion of the balance paid.
Start by offering to pay USCB America half of the balance and negotiate from there. Once you come up with a suitable agreement, ask it to send you the agreement in writing.
If the terms of the agreement are consistent with what you came up with, make the first payment. After 30 days, check your credit score to ensure that it has removed their entry. If it’s still there, remind USCB America of their agreement.
Hire a professional
If you’re busy and would rather not deal with USCB America directly, you should work with a credit repair company to remove the entry for you. Credit repair companies help people remove inaccurate, incomplete or fraudulent entries from their credit reports. This can help you improve your credit score and get your financial goals back on track.
We recommend working with the Credit Saint firm to improve your credit report. With over 28 years of experience, it’s an expert in dealing with debt collection agencies and can challenge any entries dragging down your credit score.
USCB America contact information
How to get in touch with USCB America:
Address:
355 S. Grand Ave.
32nd Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90071
Phone number: 888-227-3398
USCB America is also known as USCB, Inc., USCB America Collections, USCBamerica.com or USCBinc.com.
Dealing with USCB America
No one wants to work with debt collectors, but dealing with them early in the process can prevent major damage to your credit later on. By taking the time to remove USCB America’s entry from your credit report, you’re setting yourself up for financial recovery and success.
Update: This article has been updated to reflect the current number of CFPB and BBB complaints against USCB America and the current contact information for USCB America has been updated.
Disclaimer: This story was originally published on August 7, 2020, on BetterCreditBlog.org. To find the most relevant information concerning collections or credit card inquiries, please visit: https://money.com/how-to-remove-collections-from-credit-report/ or https://money.com/get-items-removed-from-credit-report/