Have an issue with The CMI Group? Need help?
Has a debt collector harassed you? Is someone from The CMI Group contacting you every day, or multiple times per day by phone, mail, email, or Facebook? Are they threatening to sue? Is someone from The CMI Group threatening to sue you? We explain all about The CMI Group and whether they are legitimate and what to do if they contact you.
The CMI Group is a debt collector with three decades of experience. Based out of Dallas, they specialize in healthcare collections.
Yes, if you owe them money you should pay The CMI Group. They are a legitimate company and you should work with them. However, even legitimate companies have been known to sometimes act unfairly and violate things like the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). So if you have been harassed or treated unfairly, consider filing a complaint or working with an attorney.
Yes, The CMI Group is a legitimate company.
The CMI Group is not a junk debt buyer, they are a legitimate debt collection agency.
Don’t assume you can ignore The CMI Group. If you continue to ignore them, The CMI Group can take legal action against you. That said, even though they are a legitimate company, The CMI Group sometimes makes mistakes or violates the most recent FDCPA regulations about when and how they contact you. If this happens, you can share your complaints with outside attorneys or file complaints with the government. You can get legal help to sue the collection agency if that is insufficient.
The CMI Group collects for healthcare companies.
If The CMI Group is calling you and you don’t think you have debt, you need to send them a request for validation. You have 30 days from the first point of contact to ask the company for authenticity, verifying the legitimacy of the debt. You might not realize you actually have debt, or it might be a mistake. Even reputable companies make mistakes and this will give them the opportunity to recognize that mistake. If they can’t prove the legitimacy of the debt or they don’t abide by the law in their attempt to do so, you can send them a communication called insufficient validation.
If The CMI Group is calling about debt I’ve already paid, double-check your records and send them a request for validation. This will force The CMI Group to stop their collecting attempts and authenticate the debt. Do this within 30 days of your first contact. The CMI Group might have incorrect information and not know it. If you see that it has debt you have already paid, present your evidence to the credit reporting agencies and ask them to fix it. You can get help with this from an attorney.
As a debt collector, some of the laws that The CMI Group must follow include the FCRA, the FDCPA, and the TCPA.
That alphabet soup stands for the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which gives you rights to help ensure your credit report remains accurate; the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which protects you from being abused and deceived by debt collectors; and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which limits robocalls and other telephone spam.
If you think any of these consumer protection laws may apply to your situation, tell us about it.
If you believe the debt The CMI Group is calling about has expired, you want to check your records and at the same time, send The CMI Group a request for a validation letter. There is a different statute of limitations for each type of debt, so make sure the debt actually is expired. And make sure it has been legitimately removed from your credit score. If not, contact the credit reporting agencies to have it updated. Sometimes companies like The CMI Group think they are collecting on a legitimate debt when they aren’t, or they never bothered to check in the first place. If there was a mistake, they should be updated but if the debt has expired, you can send them a cease communications notice. These are all things that attorneys can help you with.
There are many ways you can settle for less. Understanding your current financial situation and using that to justify how much you are able to offer as a settlement is a good way to settle for less. It’s also important to remember that employees usually get a bonus when they reach a settlement with you, so if you are coming in at the end of the month, they might be more willing to accept a reduced settlement in exchange for getting a bonus.
If you owe the money, the best way to get rid of The CMI Group is to settle with them. You can always try to negotiate for a reduced settlement or a fraction of the total amount you owe given your financial situation.If you don’t think you owe any money, you can ask The CMI Group for a validation letter, something you should do immediately. If the company can’t verify the legitimacy of the account, then you can send them a letter of insufficient validation either on your own or with the help of an attorney.
If your debt is current and legitimate, yes they can sue you. They often won’t use this route unless you completely ignore their attempts to collect. However, debt collectors like The CMI Group are prohibited from suing or threatening to sue consumers for payment on a debt that is past the statute of limitations, although they can still ask for payment past that expiry date.
The CMI Group is unique because it is 100% employee-owned. .
The current CEO is Carrie Finney. She is also the president.
The CMI Group is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
The CMI Group collects for the healthcare industry.
Employees are paid an hourly wage and they get a commission or percentage of the settlement they get from you. So the people who actually call you have a financial incentive to settle with you.
If you look at your credit report and see the name “The CMI Group” listed, it means that one of your accounts was sent to a debt collector and labeled as delinquent. If you reach a settlement with The CMI Group, that account information gets updated to “settled” with a “zero balance”. It remains that way for seven years unless you negotiate for a “tradeline deletion”.
No, you do not require an attorney however, sometimes it’s easier to have an attorney to deal with debt collectors. Attorneys can negotiate on your behalf based on your financial situation. They usually have detailed experience working with these companies so they appreciate under which circumstances the collection agencies might be more willing to negotiate or settle favorably.
The FDCPA uses the word “verify,” but some other organizations use the word “validate.” No matter which word is used, it can mean two things. First, You “validate” a debt by sending a letter to The CMI Group officially asking them for information that would confirm the validity of the debt. You or an attorney must do this within 30 days from the first time they contact you.Second, The CMI Group then “validates” the debt on their end by providing you with this information. Once they get your letter they have to legally stop any attempts to collect on the debt until they have verified the debt. They should send a response within 30 days. If they don’t follow the law or they are unable to verify it, they have to stop collection attempts.
The length of time it takes to reach a settlement with The CMI Group is based on a lot of moving parts like how many accounts they have for you, whether you are contesting the legitimacy of the account, how much you can offer as part of your settlement for the debt, how willing they are to accept that settlement, whether you work with an attorney, and so forth.
You should offer The CMI Group whatever you can legitimately afford. Debt collection companies will try to get between 40% and 60% of the total amount that you owe, but they might be willing to settle for less if you are experiencing financial hardship and they know the alternative is getting nothing.
Yes, a creditor can sue you if you ignore their attempts to collect on an account. It’s up to you to verify the authenticity of that account so if there’s a mistake, don’t wait because they can sue you even if the account isn’t yours but they don’t know that. However, they have to get a court order to be allowed to liquidate assets like money in your bank account in order to repay the money you owe.
You can ignore The CMI Group, but you shouldn’t. You might think the debt isn’t yours, has already been paid, or has expired but, ignoring the company won’t make them leave you alone. It will however leave you susceptible to things like lawsuits. If there is a mistake, you only have a 30-day window to fix that mistake.
Your phone number is linked to your account so, when a debt collector gets a delinquent account they also get the phone number associated with it.
Yes, you can pay The CMI Group with a credit card. You don’t have any fees from the company but you will certainly have to pay the additional fees and interest from your credit card.
Yes, paying off collections will help your credit long-term. Any payment you make toward a debt you have will help improve your credit score long-term. Your credit score functions like a report card. It keeps track of a handful of different things which credit reporting agencies used to generate an average score. The sooner you pay off an outstanding debt, the sooner you can boost your credit score.
Your debt doesn’t necessarily go away after 7 years but it does go away once it expires. However, collections agencies like The CMI Group can still ask you nicely (or sometimes not so nicely) until you send a cease communications letter.
No, filing for bankruptcy isn’t a magic wand that makes all of your debt disappear. However, there are different types of bankruptcy for which you can file and depending on your circumstances, bankruptcy might give you an Avenue to reach a much more favorable settlement with your creditors. That settlement is much the same as what you could try to negotiate for from The CMI Group on your own or with an attorney: a percentage of the total amount you owe. For example, if you file for chapter 13 (the most common), you might come to an agreement where you pay $50 per month because that’s legitimately all you can afford and that $50 gets shared across all creditors to whom you owe money. But you have to pay that $50 every month for the next five years. Whatever amount of your debt that covers is what the creditors and lenders get back but anything else goes away at the end of that 5 year period.
If your debt was sent to collections, it will remain on your credit score for 7 years after you reach a settlement with The CMI Group unless you negotiate for a tradeline deletion as part of your settlement. A tradeline deletion is exactly what the name implies: The CMI Group has the entire trade line or account deleted from your credit score. If your debt has been paid, is expired, or inaccurate, you can contact the credit reporting agencies to have it edited or removed.
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