Are you getting calls from 888-884-4896? That’s the phone number for Coast Professional Inc, a third-party debt collection agency contracted by the IRS and the U.S. Department of Education.
The messages are from debt collectors, giving their names and IDs, with a request to call them back at a different number (888-928-0510) with a “reference code.” If you’re fielding calls from this number, you’re in good company. Tens of thousands of calls have been reported on consumer complaint websites, with descriptions of repeated, often daily, calls from Coast Professional Inc.
Before you respond to the call, you need to understand who’s calling and what they want.
Who are Coast Professional?
Business type: 3rd-party debt collector and government contractor
Services: IRS tax debt, Department of Education student loans, municipal and government, and 200+ college and university higher education debt collection.
Coast Professional Inc Headquarters: 4273 Volunteer Road, Geneseo, NY 14454 (Additional locations in: East Aurora, NY; West Monroe, LA; Winchester, KY; Voorhees, NJ)
Company size: Privately held; 500-1,000 employees; estimated $83.5 million in annual revenue
Government clients: IRS; U.S. Department of Education
College clients: 200+ colleges and universities
Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating: A+ accredited (since Sep 2018), but customer review rating of 1/5 stars
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) complaints: 322+ complaints filed against Coast Professional
Federal lawsuits: 120+ federal lawsuits filed against Coast Professional
A brief history: Coast Professional isn’t a fly-by-night debt collection agency. They are one of three PCA’s (Private Collection Agencies) approved to collect tax debts owed to the IRS.
In February 2015, the Department of Education canceled its contract with Coast Professional, along with four other debt collection companies, for repeatedly deceiving borrowers about their loans. Coast Professional’s agents were found to have misrepresented to borrowers the benefits to their credit reports of making voluntary payments on defaulted debts, and about the fees associated with those payments.
They also face over 120 federal lawsuits, including class actions alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
What debts does Coast Professional collect?
Coast Professional collect on two major government debt types:
Federal tax debt: Coast Professional is one of the few third-party debt collectors approved by the IRS to collect back taxes owed under the FAST Act, which became law in 2017.
Federal student loan debt: They collect on student loans referred to them by the U.S. Department of Education.
Coast Professional also collects debts owed to over 200 colleges and universities, and various municipalities and government agencies. If you have an outstanding debt with any of these, they may have passed your contact information to Coast Professional without sending you advance notice other than a single letter.
Government debt: Coast Professional collect on debts owed to the IRS and the Department of Education, which is what makes them different from other debt collectors. Many consumers assume these calls are from the IRS and may share financial information or agree to pay a debt they can’t afford. According to a complaint filed with the BBB:
“Called by a debt collector claiming I owe a tax debt to the IRS. Spoke to the IRS directly, as well as accessed my IRS account online, and there is no tax due, no notices have been sent, and no forms have been filed. Coast is calling me anyway. I feel that being contacted by a debt collector on behalf of the IRS when you do not owe any taxes is fraudulent.”
Coast Professional voicemails
Coast Professional voicemails all follow the same script:
“My name is [first and last name] and my ID number is [employee ID number] and I am calling from Coast Professional Inc, a contractor for the Internal Revenue Service regarding a debt. Please call me at [888-928-0510] with your reference code [insert code]”
According to the CallerSmart website, the most common time of day for calls from this number is 10:00 AM EST, and 70% of calls are reported as robocalls. The names of some of the Coast Professional debt collectors making these calls include:
Esmeralda Harrow (Employee ID 1355)
Destiny Alvarado (Employee ID I 097)
Jessica Meyer-Huett
Elizabeth Hacupari
They use employee ID numbers to sound official and build trust. According to reports on CallerSmart, calls from this Coast Professional number are most likely to occur at 10 AM EST.
Red flags with Coast Professional
Coast Professional debt collectors can be uncooperative or even hostile. According to one complaint filed on the BBB:
“I tried to set up a payment arrangement and she told me I had $2900 a month in disposable income. I told her that was not correct at all. I then asked to file for hardship and she told me I did not qualify.”
According to another:
“I asked her to please just tell me who the creditor is and how much I owe. She proceeded to talk for several minutes about how making payments will help rebuild my credit. I asked her again to please just tell me who the creditor is and how much I owe. She told me that is not how this works and she was not going to tell me who the creditor is or how much I owe.”
Any debt collector refusing to tell you who the creditor is or how much you owe is a major red flag. If someone is calling you demanding money, they must tell you who they are collecting for and how much you owe.
Why is Coast Professional calling me?
Debt collector red flags
If someone is calling you demanding money, here are some red flags to look out for:
Threatening you with immediate payment
Demanding that you pay immediately over the phone
Making threats of lawsuits
Using abusive language
Ignoring your requests to stop calling
All of these behaviors contravene the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
According to one complaint filed on RoboKiller:
“A voicemail from Coast Professional with an employee ID but does not leave any details about the debt.”
Another complainant on RoboKiller reported that they get:
“Daily calls from this number with no voicemail. They call every morning around the same time.”
What to do if Coast Professional is calling you: How to fight back without returning the call
Protect your data
Don’t respond to these calls. Don’t return calls to either 888-884-4896 or 888-928-0510. Do not confirm or deny you owe any debt over the phone. Do not give them any information about yourself, including:
Where you work
Your bank details
Your social security number, or any other information
Don’t provide them with any updated contact details. It’s not that you’re avoiding them: you’re strategizing.
Credit report disputes
Instead of engaging with Coast Professional, you should dispute the debt where it really counts: on your credit report. If Coast Professional has placed a collection account on your report, you have the legal right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to dispute it.
Credit repair through systematic credit report disputes isn’t a one-size-fits-all, hit-or-miss affair. There’s a tried-and-true process to follow. Whenever you dispute a debt on your credit report, the credit bureau legally has to respond within 30 days. If the debt collector can’t validate the debt properly, the account must be removed from your report.
Hundreds of consumers have complained that Coast Professional is collecting on debts they do not owe. In many cases, this is because the debt collector can’t provide documentation to prove the debt.
Patience is key
Keep in mind that credit repair takes time. A collection account can stay on your report for up to seven years from the original delinquency date. But that doesn’t mean you’re at the mercy of debt collectors in the interim. By disputing accounts strategically and understanding your rights under the FDCPA and FCRA, you can regain the upper hand over time.
The reason that federal law mandates 30-day investigation periods is to ensure that collectors and credit bureaus can prove the information they’re reporting is accurate. When they can’t, you win. That takes patience, but the results add up over time in a way that making a panic payment over the phone never will.
Take action
You have more power than Coast Professional want you to believe. Receiving these calls doesn’t mean you have no options. It means they think you’re an easy target. The calls, the voicemails, the employee ID’s, and the mention of the IRS are all designed to get you to act before you think.
You don’t have to play their game. You have legal rights under the FDCPA, FCRA, and TCPA that are designed specifically to protect consumers against the high-pressure tactics that hundreds have reported Coast Professional using.
The question isn’t whether you can fight back. The question is whether you’re ready to begin.
The next step…
Visit FightCollections.com today to learn how our experts can help you systematically dispute inaccurate collection accounts on your credit report and start taking control of your financial future. The process works. All it takes is one step.
