What to Do If MRS Associates is Collecting from You

January 13, 2024

What to Do If MRS Associates is Collecting from You

MRS Associates, also known as MRS BPO, is a debt collection agency that will use unethical tactics to get you to pay off your debts. You can ZumaZip to force MRS Associates to validate your debt and beat them in court.

If you have been sued for a debt by MRS Associates, use ZumaZip’s Answer form to respond in just 15 minutes and win your lawsuit.

MRS Associates Inc. is a debt collection company well-known for its unappealing business practices. After a call from them, consumers are usually left feeling annoyed, confused, and angry. MRS debt collectors often want to dictate the conversation and may come across extremely disrespectful.

This article will tell you everything you need to know about MRS Associates, your rights, and how to respond to MRS debt collectors when they contact you about a debt.

What is MRS Associates?

MRS Associates, also known as MRS Innovative Solutions and MRS BPO LLC, is a debt collection company that is popular for mistreating consumers. You may be wondering, who does MRS collect for? The work of MRS collection agency is to collect money owed to their clients from various industries, including commercial, e-commerce, parking, road tolls, financial services, technology, telecommunications, utilities, education, auto, and retail.

Companies from these industries hire MRS Associates to follow up on overdue debt. They give MRS collections an agreed percentage of the money they succeed in collecting. Alternatively, they may also buy your debt account from their clients, the original lender. The client could be a creditor or another debt collection agency that has failed to collect.

MRS has been in business for over 31 years and is Better Business Bureau (BBB) accredited with a poor customer review of 1.12 starts out of 5 due to their unprofessional and unfriendly collection methods. Their contact information is as follows:

Physical Address:
1930 Olney Ave
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003-2016
Phone Number: (888)-334-5677
MRS Associates website: https://www.mrsbpo.com

As we mentioned in the opening, MRS Associates dubious collection practices have made them a thorn in the side of those who owe money. They have countless complaints about how they do business.

MRS primarily uses debt collection agents to contact debtors by phone or mail. They violate consumers’ rights by calling or emailing multiple times daily for one debt, often before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. In addition, they are aggressive in their approach, making debtors feel uncomfortable and disrespected. Some consumers have reported that they feel like they are being stalked due to the unrelenting nature of MRS Associates’ business practices.

MRS Associates has bad reviews and many complaints

MRS Associates has had to change its name because it received so many complaints. So, if you’re feeling frustrated with MRS, you’re not alone.

As of 2022, As of 2022, MRS Associates has received 256 complaints on its BBB profile. Even worse, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has reported 137 complaints against MRS in the same time period. These complaints mention the following:

MRS Associates calls multiple times a day to discuss a debt.
MRS reports fraudulent debts to the credit bureaus.
When consumers try to pay off a debt, MRS does not mark the debt as paid and keeps requesting the same amount.
MRS sends settlement letters to bait consumers into calling them to pay off the debt, but when consumers do so, they’re told the settlement offer has expired. MRS does this to get more money out of the consumers.
MRS does not remove negative credit reports, even after consumers have paid off the debt in full.

Let’s take a look at a real example from the MRS Associates BBB profile.

“Keep calling at least twice a day and refuse to identify self or state reason for business on a message so I called in more than once. I am more than capable of establishing they are trying to collect a debt from someone who is not me, but they will not remove my phone number or cease contact unless I give them my first and last name, and other information to “verify me” in their system. I don’t have anything on my credit report from this company, I don’t know what they claim another guy owes, but never once could they tell me anything or even acknowledge that I requested to not be called because I “refused to verify myself.”

If you have experienced any of these tactics when dealing with MRS Associates, you should learn more about your consumer rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act so you can protect yourself.

The FDCPA regulates MRS Associates

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was established to protect people, like you, from debt collection agencies that harass and mistreat consumers. Ironically, many debt collectors don’t abide by the FDCPA, including MRS Associates. Like any debt collection agency, MRS must also adhere to debt collection laws laid out by the Fair Trade Commission,.

Dealing with debt collectors can be confusing, especially when you don’t know which methods they can legally use to collect debt. You must know your rights are under the FDCPA so you can protect yourself against abusive debt collectors.

A debt collector is in violation of the FDCPA if they:

Call you at work when your employer prohibits such communications.
Call you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
Lie about who they are.
Threaten to harm you or members of your family physically or financially.
Use obscene or profane language during phone calls or other communications.
Discuss your debt with your friends, family members, or coworkers.
Threaten to take legal action against you that they cannot, or do not plan to, take.

If MRS Associates has used these tactics to get you to pay off a debt, you may think that you are the only one being mistreated. But, MRS calling at odd hours and countless times a day is a situation most consumers go through. MRS Associates frequently disregards the FDCPA in favor of their interests.

If MRS collections have violated your consumer rights, report them to FTC online, submit a complaint on the CFPB platform, or report it to your state’s attorney general.

Use these options to fight MRS collection agency

When a debt collection agency attempts to collect from you, the debt is often entered into your credit report. For instance, your credit report will reflect that your creditors assigned MRS Assocaites to collect debt from you. Fortunately, you have options that can help remove this information from your credit report.

DIY credit repair

Many DIY credit repair how-tos and guides can show you how to remove debt and other negative entries from your credit report. These entries include collections, charge-offs, and judgments.

When you invest in a repair guide, you will be taught how to remove unwanted entries on your credit report. The guide will explain every step needed to improve your credit score. These steps include:

Request your credit report: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax are required, by law, to send you a free copy yearly upon request.
Assess your credit report: Check to what level MRS collections entry and other negative records have affected your credit score.
Devise an action plan: Is it your debt to income ratio that has been greatly affected, or did the MRS collections debt significantly lower your score? Plan how you will implement challenges to repair your credit.
Dispute inaccurate entries: MRS debt collections may have entered wrong figures on your credit report or debt you do not owe on the report. Write a dispute letter to the three credit bureaus disputing the entries and requesting them to correct or remove the debt.
Pay down debts that belong to you: The best way to improve your credit score is to pay off your debts and request MRS Associates to delete the debt from your credit report.

The above steps can help repair your credit report and improve your credit score. Although it may take time to clear some debt, you can strike a deal with MRS collection agency to remove the debt once you pay the agreed amount.

.Keep accurate notes

Debt collectors usually call consumers in a hurry to convince them to make debt payments without confirming any information or tracking the communication. Hence, when a MRS debt collection agent calls you, ensure you keep a record of the conversation and:

The number of times they call
The agent’s name
The number used to contact you
The time of day
The length of your conversation

The more information you can log, the better your chances of winning a case in a lawsuit against MRS Associates.The same applies to any mail sent to you from MRS Associates. Never throw any of their mail away, no matter how aggravated you are with them.

Request a debt validation

Often, debt collectors try to collect a debt from a consumer using information from an old, outdated debt. They can do it intentionally to pull in extra revenue or unintentionally because the information was erroneously transferred from the original creditor.

The main aim is to be sure that the debt is valid. You have a legal right to request debt validation. So, how do you go about doing this? It’s actually easy and straightforward.

Send a Debt Validation Letter to MRS Associates

Send ZumaZip’s Debt Validation Letter to MRS debt collection agency requesting them to provide more details on the debt in question. Debt verification will help you avoid paying more than you owe or a debt that is not yours.

Debt validation can also help you avoid being sued for a debt.

You may discover that the harassment you are dealing with is unfounded. Just because MRS Associates has one of your old bills doesn’t mean you owe them money. If it is determined that the debt is invalid, the law dictates that MRS Associates debt collections must cease all further attempts to collect from you. To ensure the debt validation notice from MRS is legitimate, request that they send it via certified mail.

You also have rights under the statutes of limitations—the timeline a debt collector has to collect from a consumer before the debt is time-barred.

Every state has a different timeline for the statute of limitations on debt. In addition, the type of debt also determines the timeline for collection. For example, the statute of limitation for car loans in most states is four years, while the statute for credit cards is usually six years.

The statute of limitations clock starts when you fail to make a scheduled payment on a debt account. Every time you make a payment on the account, the statute of limitations clock resets. So, before you agree to pay a debt collector, check the statute of limitations to avoid resetting your clock.

Let’s consider an example.

Example: Steven defaulted on his auto loan, but there’s a crucial detail: the debt is set to expire in 25 days. Sensing urgency, the creditor hires MRS Collection Agency, bombarding Steven with calls and threats of legal action. Yet, even if MRS files a lawsuit via certified mail, the debt will expire before any legal proceedings can occur. Understanding the statute of limitations can protect against such tactics.

Negotiate a debt settlement

When you confirm the debt belongs to you, inform MRS debt collections that you want to settle through negotiation. The amount you want to arrive at should be one you can pay once or without defaulting. Once they agree, prepare yourself with the amount you want to begin negotiating with to the amount you are willing to accept to enter into a MRS Associates settlement deal.

MRS collections may have bought the debt for pennies on a dollar and can take a lower amount of up to 50% less. On other occasions, the creditor is happy to receive any amount from you, even if it is 30% of the entire debt.

For example, if you have a debt of $1100, start negotiating at $450. MRS collections may begin with $850. Give another counter offer of $550 as you explain your situation. They may counter again and stop at $600. Take the offer if they refuse to budge.

What if MRS Associates sues me for a debt?

The first step to beating MRS Associates in court is to respond to the lawsuit with a written Answer. Follow these three steps to respond to a debt collection lawsuit against MRS Associates:

Respond to each claim listed in the Complaint document. When you’re sued for a debt, you should receive two legal documents called the Summons and the Complaint. The Summons notifies you of the lawsuit, while the Complaint lists the specific claims MRS Associates is making against you. In your Answer document, respond to each claim from the Complain by admitting, denying, or denying due to lack of knowledge. Most attorneys recommend denying as many claims as possible.
Assert your affirmative defenses. An affirmative defense is any legal reason that MRS Associates should not win the case. For example, if the statute of limitations has expired, you should include this as an affirmative defense.
File your Answer with the court, and send a copy to MRS Associates. Be sure to send your documents via certified USPS mail and request a return receipt.

ZumaZip can help you draft and file an Answer in all 50 states.

What is ZumaZip?

ZumaZip is a convenient solution designed to streamline your response to a debt collection lawsuit. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect when you use ZumaZip:

Firstly, you’ll access our user-friendly web application, which guides you through the process step by step. You’ll be prompted to answer a series of questions related to your specific situation. Once you’ve completed the questionnaire, you have the option to either print out the finalized forms and mail them to the appropriate courts yourself, or you can opt to utilize ZumaZip’s services to file them on your behalf. Additionally, if you choose this option, an attorney will review your document for added peace of mind.

If you’re seeking guidance on how to effectively respond to a debt collection lawsuit, ZumaZip can provide the assistance you need. Feel free to explore our FAQs for more information on what ZumaZip has to offer.

What if I haven’t been sued yet?

If you’ve only received a collections notice, but not a lawsuit, the best way to respond is with a Debt Validation Letter. When a debt collector contacts you in any way, whether it’s by phone or mail, you can respond by formally requesting a debt validation with a Debt Validation Letter . This letter notifies the collector that you dispute the debt and forces them to provide proof you owe the debt. They can’t call you or continue collecting until they provide validation of the debt. This flowchart shows how you can use a Debt Validation Letter to win.

Get started with a Debt Validation Letter here.

How to Answer a Summons for debt collection in all 50 states

Here’s a list of guides on how to respond to a debt collection lawsuit in each state:

Guides on how to beat every debt collector

Hey there! Facing off against a debt collector can feel like a daunting challenge, but fear not! We’re here to help you navigate through it all with our handy guides designed to assist you in beating every debt collector you encounter. Whether you’re facing a new lawsuit or dealing with a persistent collector, we’ve got your back. Stay positive, stay informed, and let’s tackle this together!

Settle your medical debt

Having a health challenge is stressful, but dealing medical debt on top of it is overwhelming. Here are some resources on how to manage medical debt.

Stop calls from Debt Collectors

Do you keep getting calls from an unknown number, only to realize that it’s a debt collector on the other line? If you’ve been called by any of the following numbers, chances are you have collectors coming after you, and we’ll tell you how to stop them.