How To Deal With CCS Offices
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CCS Offices is a debt collector that focuses on consumer debts, including unpaid healthcare invoices and credit card bills. If CCS Offices contacts you, don’t panic. Given how the debt collection business works, there could be a mistake or error. The first thing you should do is have CCS Offices validate the debt. If they do, you can decide to dispute the debt, negotiate a debt settlement, or do nothing. Read on to learn more about these options and what they mean for you.
Written by the Upsolve Team.
Updated August 21, 2024
What Is CCS Offices?
CCS Offices (also known as Credit Collection Services or CCS) is the consumer debt collection arm of CCS Companies. CCS Offices is one of multiple companies that operate under CCS Companies, which is based in Massachusetts.
Specifically, CCS Offices collects consumer-related debts, such as those relating to medical and utility bills, tolls, credit card balances, and personal loans. Sometimes CCS Offices collects debts on behalf of an original creditor. Often, CCS Offices purchases debt from an original creditor (such as a bank, utility company, or credit card company) and then tries to collect the debt itself.
Original creditors will often sell their debts to debt collectors like CCS Offices to more quickly convert unpaid accounts into cash. Original creditors aren’t typically in the business of collecting unpaid debts, so they’d rather spend their resources on core business operations instead.
Why Is CCS Offices Contacting Me?
If you receive letters or phone calls from CCS Offices, it means they’re trying to collect a debt you incurred with another company. Most likely, CCS Offices purchased this debt from the original creditor and is now acting as a third-party debt collection agency. It’s also possible the original creditor still owns the debt and hired CCS Offices to collect the debt.
Is CCS Offices Legit?
Yes, CCS Offices is a legitimate company. That being said, many people have filed complaints against them. For example, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has a Consumer Complaint Database with five complaints involving CCS Offices specifically. But there are more than 8,600 complaints when searching “CCS.” It’s not clear if the greater number of complaints involves CCS Offices or additional debt collectors with a similar name.
The complaints include allegations of CCS Offices impersonating an attorney, law enforcement officer, or government official; trying to collect a debt that belonged to someone else; and continuing to contact the consumer even after being told to stop. If these complaints are true, they could indicate violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
If you believe that CCS Offices has violated the FDCPA while trying to collect a debt from you, you can report them and even file a lawsuit against them. If you win, you may be entitled to compensation in the form of monetary damages.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) doesn’t have a business profile for CCS Offices, but does have one for CCS Companies. Unfortunately, it’s in the process of being updated, so there’s not much information available.
On a final note, some scammers may use CCS Offices’ name to try to steal your identity or money. This is why it’s so important to validate the debt (more on this below) and to ask questions if something seems like a possible scam.
Do I Have To Pay CCS Offices?
Maybe, but before you answer that question, you need to confirm that the debt is legitimate and yours. Debt collectors often make mistakes. For instance, they might mix up who owns the debt or miscalculate the amount owed. Before you pay CCS Offices, make them validate the debt. You can do this by sending a debt verification letter. If CCS Offices can’t prove you owe the debt, tell them in writing to stop contacting you.
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Step 1: Send a Debt Verification Letter
Debt collectors like CCS Offices will often send a debt validation letter (sometimes called a validation notice) as their first contact with you. If they use another method, the law requires they send you this letter before or within five days of their first contact. If you never receive a debt validation letter, you may send a debt verification letter to verify the details of the debt account.
After you receive a debt validation letter or CCS Offices responds to your debt verification letter, you have 30 days to dispute the debt. If the debt is under dispute, CCS Offices can’t try to collect the debt from you until it’s resolved.
After 30 days, if CCS Offices can’t verify the debt, you don’t need to pay it. It’s also a good idea to check your credit score and credit report for errors. If the company verifies the debt, you have some options about what to do next.
Step 2: Decide What To Do Next
After CCS Offices sends you a debt validation letter or responds to your debt verification letter, you have three options:
Dispute the debt.
Negotiate a debt settlement.
Ignore the debt (not recommended).
Option 1: Dispute the Debt
If you don’t think you owe the debt or disagree with the amount, you have the right to challenge the debt. If you’re successful, you’ll want to check your credit history to make sure it’s accurate. If not, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) gives you the right to dispute credit report errors. Under the FCRA, you can use a 609 letter to ask credit bureaus like TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian to remove the incorrect entries from your credit report.
Option 2: Negotiate the Debt and Make a Settlement Offer
If you agree that you owe the debt, the simplest thing to do is to pay it, although this isn’t usually a realistic option. What if you can afford to pay part of the debt? In this case, you negotiate with CCS Offices to settle the debt for less than what you owe overall.
In many instances, debt collection companies will settle a debt for 40% to 60% of the original collection account amount. This is possible because debt agencies will often buy debts from other debt collectors or original creditors for pennies on the dollar. This means if they get 40 or 50 cents on the dollar from the consumer, they still make a healthy profit.
If you decide to negotiate a debt settlement, you can offer to pay 25% to 30% of the total debt. Because this is a negotiation, there will be some back and forth, and you can expect to meet somewhere in the 50% area. To learn more about making the most of this negotiation process, read Upsolve’s Guide to Beating CCS Offices.
Can You Negotiate Every Past-Due Debt?
As promising as debt negotiation is, it won’t work for all past-due consumer debts. For instance, you can’t usually negotiate car loans or mortgage debts because these are backed by collateral. If you default on the debt, the lender can repossess your car or foreclose on your home to pay off the debt.
Federal student loans aren’t negotiable either, although student loan forgiveness programs may be an option. Tax debts with the IRS are sometimes negotiable, although the IRS has its own process for that.
Option 3: Ignore the Debt (Not Recommended)
Though this is technically an option, it’s not recommended because it often causes more problems for you. For many people, ignoring the debt leads to more stress and anxiety about money, in addition to damaging your credit score and having to deal with continued debt collector calls.
What Happens if I Ignore CCS Offices?
Several things could happen if you ignore CCS Offices’ attempt to collect a debt from you. Here is a list of some of the more likely scenarios:
It’ll lower your credit score.
It could result in a higher debt due to interest, fees, and legal costs.
You could get sued. If you lose the case, CCS Offices could take additional steps to collect your debt, such as garnishing your wages.
It won’t make the debt go away or stop collection calls; debt collectors don’t easily give up.
Some people choose to ignore debt collectors and hope that the unpaid debt will get removed from their credit report after seven years. However, a debt collector can still try to collect the debt from you as long as it’s not past the statute of limitations. Even if the statute of limitations deadline passes, a debt collector may still try to collect the debt from you or sue you (although they’re not allowed to sue you).
All of this sounds bad, but it just shows why ignoring the debt is a bad idea. Find hope in knowing you have options. Debt collectors like CCS Offices rely on the fact that most consumers don’t know or understand what these options are.
Can CCS Offices Sue Me?
Yes, getting sued by CCS Offices is possible. But lawsuits are expensive, so this won’t be their first move. When debt collectors are trying to figure out whether to sue or not, they’ll consider:
The age of the debt and the statute of limitations
How much you owe
Whether there is a written contract backing the debt
Applicable state laws relating to the debt collection lawsuit process, interest rates, wage garnishment, and breach of contract claims
Whether CCS Offices officials may have violated the FDCPA or state debt collection laws
How much it’ll cost to hire a local lawyer and file a legal complaint
How many unpaid debts you have
If you get sued by CCS Offices, you’ll receive official court papers, such as a summons and a complaint. Someone may serve you these papers in person or mail them to you. If this happens, you should respond to the lawsuit. To learn more about how to do this, read Upsolve’s Guide to Beating CCS Offices.
If you're worried about responding on your own, but you can't afford a lawyer, you can draft a answer letter for free or a small fee using our partner SoloSuit. They've helped 234,000 people respond to debt lawsuits, and they have a 100% money-back guarantee.
Let’s Summarize…
CCS Offices is a legitimate company in the business of collecting consumer debts. If they contact you, they may be trying to collect a debt they purchased from an original creditor or an original creditor may be paying them money to collect a debt from you. Either way, if you have unpaid debts CCS Offices is trying to collect, you have a few options for handling the situation, especially if CCS Offices makes a mistake or breaks the law trying to collect the debt.
