The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered medical debt collection agency Commonwealth Financial Systems to cease operations and pay a $95,000 fine for illegally trying to collect unverified medical debts.
The CFPB said that Commonwealth, which specializes in collecting past-due medical debts and informs consumer reporting companies about consumer collection accounts, violated the law in several ways, These include a failure to conduct reasonable investigations after consumers disputed debts, a failure to inform consumer reporting agencies about disputes, and continuing to attempt to collect disputed debts without documentation proving the debts.
