800-353-9070 is one of several phone numbers used by Midland Credit Management. They're calling because they think you owe a debt they acquired from a different company.
MCM doesn't extend credit or offer credit cards, they acquire old debts from banks and creditors for pennies on the dollar and then attempt to collect the full amount from you.
If you've received multiple calls from this number, you have plenty of company. RoboKiller reports over 38,000 calls from 800-353-9070 with 320 consumer reports, and Nomorobo identifies it as a confirmed robocall with high activity. Fortunately, federal and state laws provide you with specific tools to dispute the debt and stop the calls.
Company Information
Full Name: Midland Credit Management, Inc.
Company Type: Debt buyer and collector
Parent Company: Encore Capital Group (publicly traded)
Headquarters: 350 Camino de la Reina, San Diego, CA 92108
Industry: Credit card, auto loan, telecom, and consumer debt
Scale: Over 7,350 employees, $1.3 billion in annual revenue
Geographic Footprint: Operates in all 50 states with 24 office locations
BBB Rating: A+ (not accredited); 1,051 complaints in last 3 years
Original Creditors: Chase, Citibank, Capital One, Synchrony Bank, Comenity Bank
A History That Caught Regulators' Attention
MCM is far from a fly-by-night operation. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) describes Encore Capital Group and its subsidiaries as the largest debt collector and debt buyer in the United States, and it's drawn significant regulatory attention as a result.
In 2015, the CFPB observed MCM making more than 20 calls to consumers in a two-day period. A 2020 follow-up found the company had sent approximately 425,000 letters attempting to collect time-barred debts without the required disclosures. These aren't isolated anecdotes, they're the exact calling patterns that consumers report experiencing from 800-353-9070 every day.
Why Is Midland Credit Management Calling Me?
Understanding the Debt Buying Process
The MCM business model is straightforward but aggressive. They purchase charged-off consumer debts—accounts that the original creditors (e.g., Chase, Capital One) have written off—at a cost of about 3% of face value. This means a $5,000 credit card balance costs MCM roughly $150.
Once they own the debt, they'll try to collect the full balance from you. They won't send any of the money to your original creditor. Every dollar they collect is pure profit to MCM, which is why their publicly traded parent company collected over $2 billion in 2024 alone.
This high-volume debt buying approach relies on consumers feeling compelled to pay now. Collectors create a sense of urgency by suggesting legal repercussions or using language that sounds official. People have a tendency to defer to authority, which is why MCM representatives are trained to sound authoritative over the phone.
The Paper Trail May Not Have Made the Trip
When a debt is sold from the original creditor to a debt buyer like MCM, the supporting documentation often doesn't make the journey. This can include the original account agreement, payment records, and even the signed contract.
This isn't speculation, this was the specific issue that prompted the CFPB's 2015 enforcement action against MCM. The lack of documentation is important because FDCPA requires a collector to verify a debt when it is disputed.
If MCM cannot provide documentation on the original account showing that the debt is your debt, the balance is correct, and it is within the statute of limitations, you can dispute and request removal of the account.
What Consumers Are Reporting About This Number
Daily Calls, Dead Air, and No Voicemails
The complaints on the consumer websites are eerily similar. A consumer on 800notes summed it up like this: "I keep getting calls from 800-353-9070, 'account services' but they never leave a voice-mail and usually call once a day. If it is legit, why don't they leave a message?"
A couple of CallFilter.app users noted that when they answered the call, there was no one on the other end. A December 2023 complaint says simply: "Silent when answered." This is a sure sign of predictive dialing.
Wrong Numbers and Calls to the Wrong People
Several consumers have reported that MCM is calling the wrong person. A RoboKiller user complained: "They asked for my dad who is in his mid 70s. Caller had an Indian accent."
A different consumer on 800notes reported calling the number back and talking to a "female with a Hindi accent" who indicated that she worked for Midland Credit Management.
MCM has call centers in India operated by a wholly-owned subsidiary called MCM India Private Limited. When the debt portfolios they purchase have old phone numbers that have not been scrubbed, calls will be made to the wrong person. Those calls will continue.
Where MCM Operates, and Why Your State Matters
A National Operation with Regional Pressure Points
MCM is operating in all 50 states, but their behavior is not equally aggressive everywhere. Some states have laws that make it more difficult and riskier for debt buyers to operate.
For example, Massachusetts law says that debt collectors can only make two calls in a seven-day period. MCM violated that law so badly that in 2022 the Massachusetts Attorney General was able to secure $12 million in relief.
In 2018, the attorneys general of 42 states and the District of Columbia reached a settlement with MCM after it was discovered that the company was filing robo-signed court affidavits. As a result, Tennessee consumers got $7.3 million in debt relief on 4,472 accounts. South Carolina consumers got $1.4 million.
Some states have laws that make wage garnishment more difficult. In Texas, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, for example, wages are garnishment proof by state law. That means that MCM has less leverage because even if they get a court judgment, they may not actually be able to collect.
This is something many consumers do not understand about their rights.
State Laws That Shift the Balance of Power
The fact that the laws are different from state to state provides some real opportunities for strategy. Some states require debt buyers to be licensed in order to collect. If they are operating without a license, that can invalidate the whole thing. In Maryland, MCM was fined nearly $1 million for operating without proper licensing.
Other states have a shorter statute of limitations. MCM may be calling you about debts that they are no longer legally able to sue you over. If a debt is past the statute of limitations, making any kind of payment on it (even a small payment) can revive it and make you vulnerable to a lawsuit.
This is also why immediately responding to a debt collector without being aware of the specific legal protections in your state can sometimes cause more problems than it solves.
Consumer Rights Can Be Used as a Sword, Not a Shield
The FDCPA and FCRA Provide Consumers with Offensive Options
Many consumers view federal consumer protection law as something that is only useful after a debt collector has done something to violate their rights.
The truth is that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) are just as much offensive tools as they are defensive ones. Both laws provide consumers with options for challenging and removing debt collection accounts. The FCRA requires that everything on your credit report be both accurate and verifiable.
When you dispute a debt through the credit bureaus, the collection agency has a month to respond by providing verifying documentation.
For a debt buyer like MCM, which did not originate your debt but instead purchased it from someone else, providing documentation to verify a debt can be challenging if not impossible. The FDCPA imposes additional requirements. MCM has five days from the time it first contacts you to provide written validation of your debt.
If you dispute the debt in writing within 30 days, the company must cease all collection activities until it has provided verifying documentation. Failure to comply with the law can result in statutory damages and attorney's fees, meaning that in some cases consumers are able to turn the tables on debt collectors and force them to pay.
The Statute of Limitations Clock Has Already Started for Consumers
For most debts, the credit reporting statute of limitations is seven years. This clock begins from the time that you first became delinquent on your original debt. For most consumers, that means the clock started ticking well before MCM purchased your debt and long before the company placed information about that debt on your credit report.
This is important because some consumers assume that when a debt collector adds a new debt to their credit report that it somehow restarts the seven year clock. That is simply not true. If your original debt became delinquent four years ago, MCM can only report it for another three years regardless of when the company purchased it.
How to Keep Midland Credit Management from Calling You Again
The best way to get Midland Credit Management to stop calling you is not to call the company back. In fact, calling MCM in response to unwanted calls will often simply encourage the company to call you again. Instead, the best course of action is to dispute the debt that MCM has placed on your credit report.
When you initiate a formal dispute through one of the three major credit reporting agencies, you will force MCM to verify your debt by providing documentation. If the company is unable to do so, it must remove the information from your report.
This approach is helpful because it shifts the burden from you (where it often seems impossible to get the debt collector to leave you alone) to the debt collector (who must meet a burden of proof with the credit reporting agency). Given that debt buyers like MCM often lack the documentation to verify many of the debts in their portfolios, this can be a particularly effective strategy.
Have the Team at FightCollections.com Help You Fight
If you are receiving unwanted calls from 800-353-9070 or if you have noticed Midland Credit Management on your credit report, the team at FightCollections.com can help.
We assist consumers who are being contacted by debt collection companies like MCM and help them dispute debts on their credit reports. We understand both the weaknesses that often exist in purchased debt portfolios as well as the procedural hoops that debt buyers must jump through in order to comply with federal law.
You do not have to go up against the nation's largest debt buyer on your own. Instead, contact us today for a free consultation. We can evaluate your situation and handle every step of the dispute process on your behalf.
