The phone number 440-735-5100 is a number used by McCarthy Burgess & Wolff, a debt collection agency.
The company is trying to reach you because you owe an outstanding debt that has been placed in their care. This could be a legitimate debt, an expired debt or a debt that does not belong to you at all. Either way, the phone calls will continue until you take action to get them to stop calling you.
If you are reading this article, chances are you already know this. You have probably received a few voicemails already that sound like they are from a law office, and the tone of the calls gets progressively aggressive the longer you avoid calling them back. Before you take any action, you need to know who you are really dealing with.
Below is a brief overview of the company.
McCarthy Burgess & Wolff is a third-party debt collector. The company was originally called The Greiner & Wolff Company and was founded in 1980. The name was changed to McCarthy Burgess & Wolff in 2000.
The company is a private company with an estimated 100-200 employees and an estimated annual revenue of $29-$35 million. The company has a variety of different clients in the telecom, financial services, utilities, insurance, retail, and technology industries.
Some of the most notable clients of the company include: AT&T, Verizon, Wells Fargo, Capital One, Home Shopping Network, and GoDaddy.
The company has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has been accredited since 2011. In the past three years, there have been over 100 complaints filed with the BBB regarding the company’s business practices. The company also has a rating of 1.3 stars on Google based on 164 reviews.
In recent years, there have been approximately 446 complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding the company’s business practices. 18 pages of complaints about this agency have been logged on the website 800notes. EveryCaller reports 218 reports of this number from consumers and 362 calls from this number have been blocked.
In the North Carolina class action case Jones v. McCarthy Burgess & Wolff, the company settled after allegations were raised that they had improperly shared information about consumer debts with an outside vendor without permission. The settlement applied to more than 84,000 consumers who were affected.
There have been multiple class action suits against the company alleging that they did not properly disclose to consumers that they had the right to dispute the debts the company was trying to collect.
Why is McCarthy Burgess & Wolff calling me?
This company did not lend you any money. They are a third-party debt collector, which means that another company hired them to try to collect money from you that you supposedly owe. The original creditor (e.g. AT&T, Verizon, Capital One) has transferred your debt to McCarthy Burgess & Wolff.
This transfer of debt is where the problems can start. Information can get lost in the transfer, extra fees can be added onto your debt, or debts that you have already paid can be transferred over as new. This is because the collection industry is based on volume, not accuracy. The goal is to collect as much money as possible without taking the time to verify that it is accurate.
In some cases, people who are being called by this company do not even owe the debt. Some people have reported being called about debts in their ex-spouses’ names, debts in the names of family members who have passed away, and debts in the names of complete strangers.
One man reported that the company was trying to collect a debt from a retail store that went out of business when he was seven years old. Another reported that the company was calling to collect a debt from someone who had been deceased for almost five years.
These are not isolated incidents. The collection industry is based on people being afraid and paying debts they do not owe, rather than taking the time to verify that the information is accurate.
Their tactics
McCarthy Burgess & Wolff has been accused of posing as a law office in order to intimidate people into paying debts. Multiple people have reported receiving calls from the company in which representatives said they were calling from “the law offices of Burgess and Wolff” and provided fake case numbers and threatened to sue if debts were not paid.
One consumer reported that an MB&W agent said, “This agency tries to scare you into thinking you’re dealing with attorneys, by mentioning case numbers and pending lawsuits.”
A former employee of the company reported on a complaint website that the company claims to have signed contracts for debts and says it is a law firm. “All these representations are false. We are just a commercial collection agency.”
A debt collection company is not allowed to misrepresent itself as a law office, nor can it misrepresent itself as a government entity or law enforcement. If someone threatens you with arrest or jail time, this is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
In addition to posing as a law office, McCarthy Burgess & Wolff agents have been accused of verbally abusing consumers. People have reported that when they spoke with agents from the company, the agents called them names and personally attacked them.
One consumer reported that when he questioned why he owed money to the company, the agent he spoke with threatened to beat him up and have him arrested. When the consumer asked to speak with a supervisor, he reported that the supervisor told him that this behavior was acceptable.
Another consumer reported that an agent called her and her husband and told them to “get ready to get sued” because “people like you never win in court.” This agent made this threat while the couple was trying to make arrangements to pay a debt.
Another consumer reported to the BBB in 2025 that an agent from the company called her and pushed her to withdraw money from her 401k to pay an outstanding debt, because the $25 per month she was already paying was not enough.
Threatening someone’s physical safety or making fun of them is not an acceptable way to collect a debt.
Why you should not pay
If you have been getting calls from this company, your first thought may be to just pay what they say you owe in order to make the phone calls stop. This is probably what the company is hoping you will do. But this is the wrong move for a couple reasons.
First, you do not know whether you actually owe this debt. As mentioned above, it’s possible that this is not even your debt. Or it may be a debt that is no longer collectable.
Second, even if you do owe the debt, you do not know whether you owe the full amount the company is asking you to pay. Often, collection companies will add fees onto debts in order to make more money. If you pay a debt without verifying whether it is legitimate and whether the amount is correct, you may end up paying more than you owe.
The economics of the debt collection industry are based on this phenomenon. Debt collection companies pay just pennies on the dollar for debts. A debt with a face value of $5,000 may have cost the debt collector only $0.03 on the dollar, or $150. If you pay $1,000, the company will make $850 in profit.
Often, you do not need to pay the full amount you owe. Ignoring the debt and verifying it before you pay can help you negotiate a lower amount.
Do not let the collection company dictate your actions
It is not your fault that you are being contacted by this company. Based on their history of complaints, it seems that this company may be engaging in some questionable activities.
Do not allow yourself to be pushed around by their phone calls and threats. Instead, call a credit repair professional for help. This professional can assist you in verifying the debt the collection company says you owe and determining whether you actually owe it. They can also help you negotiate a lower payment if the debt is legitimate.
The professional will work with you every step of the way to ensure that your rights as a consumer are respected.
How to make the calls stop
The best way to get this company to stop calling you is to file a dispute with the credit reporting agencies.
The credit reporting agencies are required by law to investigate any debt that you dispute. The collection company must verify the debt with documentation in order to continue trying to collect it. This can be an effective way to get the calls to stop, especially if you are not sure whether the debt is legitimate.
In some cases, the collection company may not have the documentation it needs to verify a debt, especially if the debt is old. This is because the debt may have changed hands multiple times, and the documentation may have been lost along the way. If the collection company cannot verify the debt, the credit reporting agency must remove the debt from your report. This means the collection company will not be able to collect it anymore.
If you are able to get one debt removed from your report, this is a sign that you should review all of the debts on your report carefully to make sure they are accurate.
Over time, errors can creep onto your report, so it is a good idea to check it every once in a while to make sure everything on it is correct. In fact, studies have consistently shown that a significant percentage of credit reports contain material inaccuracies.
If you suspect that an error on your report is causing McCarthy Burgess & Wolff to call you, a credit repair professional may be able to help you get the error removed and the calls to stop.
What to do next
The calls from 440-735-5100 can be scary and intimidating. Based on the history of complaints against McCarthy Burgess & Wolff, it seems like the company may be engaging in some activities that are not in the best interest of consumers. Do not allow the company to push you around and dictate your actions. Instead, take the following steps:
Do not call the company back. Do not make a payment to the company or give the company any of your personal or financial information.
Pull a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax). Review the report carefully to see what McCarthy Burgess & Wolff is saying about you.
Contact a credit repair professional for assistance in verifying any debt McCarthy Burgess & Wolff says you owe.
Credit Repair Professional
A credit repair professional specializes in helping consumers who are being called by collection agencies. They can help you verify that any debt a collection company says you owe is legitimate and help you negotiate a fair payment. Here is what they can do for you:
Help you obtain a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies.
Identify any errors on your report, including collection accounts from companies like McCarthy Burgess & Wolff.
Dispute any errors they find with the credit reporting agency, including any collection accounts that are not valid.
Help you negotiate a fair payment with any collection companies that are pursuing you, if necessary.
FightCollections.com
FightCollections.com is a website that provides information to consumers about dealing with collection agencies. On the website, you can find a variety of different resources to help you deal with McCarthy Burgess & Wolff, including:
Information about your rights as a consumer when it comes to collection agencies. A description of common tactics collection agencies use to try to get consumers to pay debts. Instructions on how to dispute a debt with a credit reporting agency and how to negotiate with a collection agency. Information about how credit repair professionals can offer services to consumers who are being pursued by collection agencies.
If you suspect that McCarthy Burgess & Wolff has made an error on your credit report or is pursuing you for a debt you do not owe, you can contact FightCollections.com through the website for assistance. They can help you identify any errors on your report, dispute them with the credit reporting agency and negotiate with the collection agency if necessary.
Contact FightCollections.com today for a free consultation.
