Midland Credit Management, Inc. is an American

debt buyer A debt buyer is a company, sometimes a collection agency, a private debt collection law firm, or a private investor, that purchases delinquent or charged-off debts from a creditor or lender for a percentage of the face value of the debt based on t ...

and

debt collection Debt collection or cash collection is the process of pursuing payments of money or other agreed-upon value owed to a creditor. The debtors may be individuals or businesses. An organization that specializes in debt collection is known as a coll ...

company headquartered in

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, California, and has offices throughout the United States as well as in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Encore Capital Group (). It is one of the largest debt collectors in the United States.

History

Midland Credit Management, Inc., was founded in 1953 and incorporated in 1953. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Encore Capital Group. In 1998, an investor group led by

Nelson Peltz Nelson Peltz (born June 24, 1942) is an American billionaire businessman and investor. He is a founding partner, together with Peter W. May and Edward P. Garden, of Trian Partners, an alternative investment management fund based in New York. He i ...

, Peter May and

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

acquired a majority interest in its operations. That year, the company announced plans to double employment in its East

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

call centers, with the end goal of employing 2,000 people in the region. In 1999, Midland Credit Management became part of a publicly traded company when its parent company, MCM Capital Group, Inc. completed its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

. In 2002 ,MCM Capital Group, Inc. was renamed Encore Capital Group, Inc., and Midland Credit Management is now a

wholly owned subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

of Encore Capital Group.

Operations

Midland Credit Management is a purchaser and collector of debt in the United States. According to

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, as of 2021 more than 7 million consumers had paid off debt to Midland Credit Management.

Lawsuits, fines and controversies

In 2013, the Southern District Court of New York ruled that Midland had the right to charge the same interest rate as charged by the bank that made the loan, finding that the terms of the loan were legally "valid when made". In 2015, the

Second Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory covers the states of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont, and it has appellate jurisdic ...

overturned the Southern District Court's decision, ruling that Midland Credit Management did not qualify for usury protection. After the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

refused to review the case in 2016, the Second Circuit Court ruled in 2019 that Midland Credit Management was not protected under the

National Bank Act The National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 were two United States federal banking acts that established a system of national banks chartered at the federal level, and created the United States National Banking System. They encouraged developmen ...

. The

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that was established by the National Currency Act of 1863 and serves to corporate charter, charter, bank regulation ...

(OCC) issued a final rule to address the legal uncertainties caused by the Second Circuit Court of Appeal's decision and codified " valid when made". In September 2015, Midland Credit Management entered into a consent order with the

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, Payday lo ...

(CFPB) regarding violations to the Consumer Financial Protection Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In 2020, the CFPB filed a suit alleging the company violated the terms of the consent order. The suit was settled with a $15 million civil money penalty. The company was one of the debt collectors investigated in the book B''ad Paper'' by Jake Halpern. In 2016,

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British and American comedian who hosts ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' on HBO. He started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom and came to wider attention for his work ...

mentioned Midland Credit Management as part of a segment on debt collection on his show ''

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' (often abridged as ''Last Week Tonight'') is an American news satire late-night talk show hosted by comedian John Oliver. The half-hour-long show premiered in the end of April 2014 on HBO and currently has ...

''.

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.midlandcredit.com/ Debt buyers Debt collection Collection agencies 1953 establishments in the United States