Have an issue with Southwest Credit Systems? Need help?
Are you being harassed by a debt collector by phone, mail, email, or Facebook? Is someone from Southwest Credit Systems threatening to sue you? We explain all about Southwest Credit Systems and whether they are legitimate and what to do if they contact you.
Southwest Credit Systems is a debt collector. The company is quite small and might show up listed as SW Credit Systems, Southwest Credit, or SWC Group LP.
Yes, if you owe them money you should pay Southwest Credit Systems. 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, Southwest Credit Systems is a legitimate company.
Southwest Credit Systems is not a junk debt buyer, they are a legitimate debt collection agency.
Don’t assume you can ignore Southwest Credit Systems. If you ignore them, Southwest Credit Systems can take legal action against you to get the money back. That said, even though they are a legitimate company, Southwest Credit Systems sometimes makes mistakes or violates the most recent FDCPA regulations about when and how they contact you. In fact, they have thousands of complaints lodged against them with the Better Business Bureau and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for inaccurate reporting, failure to violate a debt, and harassment. 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.
Southwest Credit Systems collects for cable companies, telecommunication providers, utility providers, property management companies, and government agencies.
If Southwest Credit Systems 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. What happens more and more often today is people get a new cell phone number, but that number belongs to someone else previously and is associated with an account sent to collections. 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.
In some situations you know the debt was yours at some point, but isn’t anymore. If you think you already paid the debt that Southwest Credit Systems is calling about, check your records and simultaneously ask Southwest Credit Systems to validate the debt by sending them a request for a validation letter. You have to do this within 30 days of your first point of contact. They might be operating with incorrect information from your credit report. So, take the time to double check your credit report as well. 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.
As a debt collector, some of the laws that Southwest Credit Systems 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 Southwest Credit Systems is calling about has expired, you want to check your records and at the same time, send Southwest Credit Systems 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 Southwest Credit Systems 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 is no minimum amount you are required to offer which means you can try to settle for less based on your current financial situation. One thing to keep in mind is that the company is often willing to settle for a percentage of the total debt you owe, on average 50%. The employees who call you are also more likely to work with you to settle for less if you are coming up on the end of the month because they get a bonus.
If you owe a legitimate debt, the best way to get rid of them is to settle with them. If you don’t think you owe any money, you can ask Southwest Credit Systems for a validation letter. You can try to settle for less if the debt is legitimate and if it isn’t, you can send the company a letter of insufficient validation.
If your debt is current, yes they can sue you. They often won’t use this route unless you completely ignore their attempts to collect. They are prohibited from suing or threatening to sue consumers for payment on a debt that is past the statute of limitations though.
Southwest Credit Systems LP owns Southwest Credit Systems.
The current CEO is Jeff Hurt which is ironic given how much the company hurts consumers according to the CFPB and BBB.
Southwest Credit Systems is headquartered in Carrollton, Texas.
Southwest Credit Systems collects for cable companies, telecommunication providers, utility providers, property management companies, and government agencies.
Employees are paid an hourly wage and they get a commission. Individuals who are calling you are financially motivated to help you reach a favorable settlement because it means they get a bonus.
If you have recently checked your credit score and saw something labeled “Southwest Credit Systems” on your credit report, you had an account that was sent to collections. The account gets labeled as delinquent. If you settle with Southwest Credit Systems, that delinquent account gets updated to “settled” with a zero balance, but it stays there for 7 years unless you negotiate for a “tradeline deletion” where you have the account removed.
You do not require an attorney. However, many people find that working with an attorney makes the process much easier and less frightening. Attorneys can communicate on your behalf, serving as an intermediary for all the phone calls and text messages you might have previously received. Attorneys understand the law, so if the company accidentally violates your rights, they will know and they will know how to follow up appropriately.
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 Southwest Credit Systems 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, Southwest Credit Systems then “validates” the debt on their end by providing you with this information. They cannot continue their collection attempts until they have verified the debt. If they cannot verify it, they have to stop collection attempts entirely. This process should take no more than 30 days.
How long it takes to reach a settlement is based on many factors like whether you use an attorney as part of your negotiations, how much you are able to offer as your debt settlement, how willing they are to accept that debt settlement, and so on. The process can take as little as a few weeks to a few months or even a year.
How much you offer Southwest Credit Systems is up to you. If you are working with an attorney you can also speak with them about what they would recommend. Different debt collectors have company policies that encourage their employees to reach the highest settlement possible because it means higher profits and higher bonuses for those employees but, most debt collectors are willing to accept between 40% and 60% of the total amount you owe.
Yes, creditors can sue you but they can’t just go in and take all the money from your bank account. They have to get a court order that allows them to liquidate assets and even then, they aren’t just allowed to take everything you have. There are limits on how much they can take so that you still have enough to live on.
You can ignore Southwest Credit Systems, but you shouldn’t. If you ignore them, they can eventually file a lawsuit against you, sue you, and take what assets you have to pay for your debt. If there is a problem or you don’t think the debt is legitimate, it’s important that you contact them immediately because you only have a 30-day window from the first point of contact to request validation and authenticate the account.
When an account is given over to a debt collector, it comes with all of the contact information associated with that account including the phone number.
Yes, you can pay Southwest Credit Systems with a credit card, but there might be additional charges. What’s more, paying with your credit card might not be the best option for you if all it does is move your debt to another account that has a higher interest rate.
Yes, paying off collections improves your credit. When an account is delinquent, it hurts your credit score. The longer you postpone reaching a settlement in paying off that debt, the longer that delinquent account remains on your credit report with a pending balance. However, once you reach an agreement with Southwest Credit Systems, it will show up with a zero balance, marked as “settled” for the next 7 years unless you negotiate for a tradeline deletion.
Debt goes away once it expires. That expiration date or statute of limitations varies based on the type of debt and the state. Once qualifying debt reaches its given statute of limitations, then it expires.
No, bankruptcy does not just make your debt go away. There are many types of bankruptcy for which you can file, and each type has a different set of rules and requirements. You still have to pay whatever you can. That payment might be a lump sum after liquidating your assets or a regular monthly payment that is simply more manageable for your financial situation. After meeting the terms of your bankruptcy case, any remaining debt you had prior to filing for bankruptcy could go away. Be advised that once you file for bankruptcy, any debt you take on thereafter isn’t included in your bankruptcy negotiations so you are still one hundred percent responsible for that.
If your debt has been paid in full before going to collections, is incorrect as currently listed on your credit score, or has expired, you can contact the credit reporting agencies to have it updated or removed. If your debt was sent to collections, that’s a slightly different story. Most people think that once they enter into a settlement with Southwest Credit Systems, and pay that settlement, it goes away, but it doesn’t. It actually stays on your credit score for another seven years unless you negotiate for what is called a tradeline deletion. A tradeline deletion is where Southwest Credit Systems contacts the credit reporting agencies to have the entire account removed from your credit score.
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