320-207-5189 is a phone number operated by Midland Credit Management (MCM), a company that's been calling you in an effort to collect on a debt it bought from another company.
That's right - MCM is not the company you originally did business with. It's a debt buyer that purchases portfolios of defaulted consumer debts at a deep discount, then attempts to collect the full balance for a profit.
If you've been getting repeated calls from this phone number and have no idea why, rest assured that you're in good company. More than 36,000 calls from this phone number have been detected by RoboKiller, which has also received more than 314 complaints from consumers who received these calls. The calls are originating from MCM's call centers, and the company's website confirms that this is their phone number.
Here is some key information about this company:
Company Name: Midland Credit Management, Inc.
Type of Company: Debt buyer
Parent Company: Encore Capital Group, Inc.
Headquarters: 350 Camino de la Reina, Suite 100, San Diego, California 92108
Year Founded: 1953
Employees: Approximately 4,000 (MCM); 7,350 (Encore Capital Group overall)
Annual Revenue: $1.316 billion (Encore Capital Group, FY2024)
BBB Rating: A+ (not accredited); customer reviews average 1.04 out of 5 stars
States Served: National; MCM operates in all 50 states and has 24 U.S. office locations
MCM is not your average collection agency. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Encore and its subsidiaries (including MCM) are the largest debt collector and debt buyer in the United States. As you can imagine, that has attracted some unwanted attention from regulators.
In 2015, the CFPB entered into a consent order with MCM after determining that the company was filing affidavits in court that were being signed by employees who had no knowledge of the underlying debts. In fact, MCM employees were signing between 200 and 400 of these computer-generated affidavits per day. The consent order required MCM to provide up to $42 million in refunds to consumers, pay a $10 million civil penalty, and stop attempting to collect on more than $125 million in debts.
Just a year later, MCM agreed to settle a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class-action lawsuit after making unauthorized calls to consumers' cell phones using an automated dialing system. The lawsuit alleged that the calls were being made to as many as 41 million class members, and the settlement totaled $20.5 million. If it feels like MCM is calling you non-stop, that's probably because they have a history of this type of behavior.
So why is Midland Credit Management calling you?
MCM is calling you because it believes that you owe a debt that the company purchased from another entity. However, MCM is not attempting to collect debts that it has been hired to collect on behalf of your original creditor. Instead, MCM purchases portfolios of defaulted consumer debts through its subsidiary, Midland Funding LLC. In 2024 alone, MCM purchased nearly $1 billion in defaulted consumer debts. It then attempts to collect on those debts for its own profit.
In fact, MCM purchased more than 42 million consumer accounts between 2008 and 2012, for an average price of just 4 cents per dollar of the debts' face value. This business model can make it difficult for consumers to determine whether or not they actually owe money to MCM. Why? Because the debts that MCM purchases from other companies often come with little to no documentation.
According to the consent order filed by the CFPB, many of MCM's purchase agreements stated that the original creditor would provide documentation on the debt "if available." In some cases, the purchase agreements even indicated that no documentation existed. This means that MCM may be calling you about a debt that it can't even verify.
What types of debts does MCM buy?
MCM purchases a wide variety of consumer debts, including credit card debts, secured and unsecured personal loans, retail store credit cards, auto loan deficiencies, telecommunications debts, utility debts, and some medical debts. The original creditors whose debts are most often sold to MCM include JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Capital One, Barclays Bank Delaware, Synchrony Bank, Comenity Bank, and Credit One Bank.
MCM typically purchases debts in large portfolios of 15,000 to 25,000 accounts at a time. With so many debts being purchased at once, it's not surprising that consumers are often receiving calls about debts that they don't actually owe. In fact, MCM has been known to sue consumers for debts that they don't owe, using robo-signed court documents in the process.
What are consumers saying about 320-207-5189?
Consumers who have been called by this phone number have registered thousands of complaints with various websites and consumer protection agencies. Here's what some of them are saying:
Wrong number, wrong debt: "This company keeps calling. I'm not 'Shaun' nor do I personally have debt." - RoboKiller, March 2024
Wrong number, wrong debt: "Keeps calling I'm not the person they are looking for but they keep calling anyway." - YouMail, no date specified
Wrong number, wrong debt: "Keep receiving calls from tons of different numbers associated with this company. I have no bad debt. When you try to gather more info from them, they hang up on you. Considering legal action due to constant harassment." - 800notes, August 2022
Harassing phone calls: "It's harassment when you owe no debt and they keep calling. I'm even receiving calls at 9pm at night from this company." - 800notes, October 2024
In 2022, the Massachusetts Attorney General's office reached a settlement with MCM after determining that the company had been making as many as 15 phone calls to consumers within a 7-day period. Under Massachusetts state law, debt collectors are only allowed to make up to two phone calls to consumers within a 7-day period. As a result of the settlement, MCM agreed to provide $12 million in restitution and debt relief to affected Massachusetts consumers.
Why your credit report is more important than the phone calls
When a debt collector places a collection account on your credit report, it can remain there for up to seven years and negatively affect your credit score. That's true whether or not you actually owe the debt in question. In fact, many consumers who are being contacted by MCM don't actually owe the debts that the company is trying to collect.
Credit reporting agencies (CRAs) process millions of pieces of information every day. In order to keep up with the volume, they prioritize speed over accuracy. As a result, there are a lot of errors on consumer credit reports. In fact, one study found that up to 25% of consumers have at least one paid collection account on their credit report that doesn't belong to them.
If MCM has placed a collection account on your credit report, don't assume that it's accurate just because it's there. Instead, use the tools available to you under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to dispute the account and have it removed.
BBB complaints about MCM are telling
Despite having an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), MCM has received 352 complaints from consumers through the BBB website. In fact, the company averages just 1.04 out of 5 stars in customer reviews.
Don't just view these complaints as a warning to other consumers - also consider them to be documentation of a larger problem. When hundreds of consumers are complaining about the same issue (for example, that MCM is attempting to collect debts that they don't owe), it's a sign of a systematic problem that you can point to when disputing a collection account on your credit report.
Here are some of the complaints that consumers have filed with the BBB:
Attempting to collect debt not owed: "This company has been calling me for months. I asked them to send me something in the mail because I do not owe this debt. I have yet to receive anything from them." - BBB complaint, April 2022
Attempting to collect debt not owed: "Midland Credit keeps trying to collect a debt from me that is not mine. I keep telling them this is not my debt, and I need them to stop contacting me." - BBB complaint, June 2022
Failure to validate debt: "I do not owe Midland Credit Management any money. I have requested that they validate the debt and stop calling me, and yet I still receive calls every day." - BBB complaint, July 2022
Harassing phone calls: "They call constantly. It is harassment." - BBB complaint, August 2022
How to fight back without returning their calls
The good news is that you don't have to return MCM's calls or communicate with them directly in order to fight back. Instead, you can focus on disputing the collection account that they've placed on your credit report.
Under the FCRA, you have the right to dispute any information on your credit report that you believe is inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable. When you dispute a collection account, the credit reporting agency is required to conduct an investigation and verify the information with the collection agency. Often, this process results in the complete removal of the disputed information from your credit report.
The best part? You don't need to provide any documentation or evidence in order to dispute a collection account. Instead, the burden is on the collector to verify the account. Given that many of the debts that MCM purchases come with little to no documentation, it's often difficult for the company to verify the accounts when consumers dispute them.
Settlement offers are very telling
If you receive a settlement offer from MCM for less than the full amount of the debt that it says you owe, that's very telling. For one thing, it indicates that the amount of money that MCM is demanding from you is not set in stone and can be negotiated. If the company is willing to accept 40% or 50% of the balance that it says you owe, that means that the amount is not as concrete as the company is making it out to be.
Furthermore, if MCM is willing to accept less than the full amount, that raises questions about the validity of the amount that the company has reported to the credit bureaus. When the amount that you owe can change based on a phone call, that suggests that the information that has been reported to the credit bureaus may not be accurate.
A history of regulatory action that changes everything
MCM has been the subject of a number of regulatory actions over the years. In addition to the 2015 consent order and the 2016 TCPA settlement, the company was the subject of another CFPB enforcement action in 2020. At that time, the Bureau determined that MCM had violated the terms of the consent order by filing lawsuits against consumers without having possession of required documentation, attempting to collect on time-barred debts, and failing to include required disclosures in approximately 425,000 letters. As a result, MCM was required to pay an additional $15 million civil penalty.
In addition to these federal actions, MCM has also been the subject of a number of state settlements. For example, in 2018, 42 state attorneys general offices reached a settlement with Encore Capital Group and its subsidiaries (including MCM) regarding the company's use of robo-signed court documents in its collection activities. As a result of the settlement, MCM agreed to provide millions of dollars in debt forgiveness to affected consumers around the country.
In 2022, the Massachusetts Attorney General's office reached a settlement with MCM after determining that the company had been making as many as 15 phone calls to consumers within a 7-day period. Under Massachusetts state law, debt collectors are only allowed to make up to two phone calls to consumers within a 7-day period. As a result of the settlement, MCM agreed to provide $12 million in restitution and debt relief to affected Massachusetts consumers.
What does this mean for you?
The regulatory history of the company that's calling you from 320-207-5189 is highly relevant to your situation. In fact, it's one of the most important things to consider when deciding how to proceed.
Here's the bottom line: the company that's calling you has been found by state and federal regulators to have engaged in deceptive debt collection practices, filed false documents with the court, and attempted to collect debts that it can't verify. With that in mind, why would you simply accept the information that MCM has placed on your credit report at face value?
Instead, you have every right to challenge it and dispute the information under the FCRA. The fact that MCM has a history of this type of behavior only strengthens your case when challenging information on your credit report.
Conclusion
The bottom line
If you're receiving unwanted calls from 320-207-5189, the absolute worst thing that you can do is ignore the situation and hope that it just goes away. Sure, the phone calls may stop eventually, but the damage to your credit report will still exist.
Instead, the best thing you can do is take action where it matters most - on your credit report. You're dealing with the largest debt buyer in the United States, a company that has been penalized more than $100 million by state and federal regulators for its bad behavior. You don't have to simply accept what the company has put on your credit report at face value, and fortunately, you don't have to.
How FightCollections.com can help
FightCollections.com is a consumer advocacy website that specializes in helping people fight back against debt collectors like Midland Credit Management. We help consumers dispute erroneous and unverified collection accounts on their credit reports using the protections available to them under the FCRA and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Our goal is the complete removal of the collection account from our clients' credit reports.
You didn't ask for these phone calls. And you shouldn't have to put up with what MCM has put on your credit report. Visit FightCollections.com today to find out how we can help you take control of your credit report and put an end to the harassment once and for all.