Midland Credit Management is a collection agency and a subsidiary of Encore Capital Group. They collect on credit cards, automobiles, unsecured consumer debt, and telecom accounts.

They are located in Minnesota, Phoenix, and San Diego. Encore Capital Group the parent company is even traded on NASDAQ.

They purchase debt from creditors and other collection agencies. They claim to work with the customer to set up re-payment plans or lump sum settlements.

However other individuals state that they often uses arbitration. This means they will try and get a court to place a judgment against you for the account they are trying to collect on.

A judgment is a very severe mark that you should avoid if possible. If you have a mark from them I suggest disputing this mark with the credit bureaus.

A dispute can be done yourself or if you prefer you can hire a professional firm to do it for you. A dispute letter must be written and sent to the credit bureaus.

In the dispute letter you must provide the details about the negative listing and why it is incorrect and should be removed. Then you must mail this letter to each credit bureau.

If you have multiple negative marks on your credit report then you should consider a professional credit repair service. However if you only have one or two marks you will be better suited to dispute these marks yourself.

A credit repair service will compose the dispute letter on your behalf. Then they will track and monitor and cut through the stall tactics that credit bureaus engage in.

It is frequent for credit bureaus to respond to a dispute letter by asking for more information about the dispute. The bureaus do this in an attempt to frustrate the individual into giving up on the process.

The bureaus want you to give up on the process because otherwise it will cost them money to investigate a dispute. This money would otherwise be profit for the credit bureaus.

The credit repair companies frequently get the bureaus to hold an investigation faster than an individual can. This is probably due to the companies having credit attorneys that are well versed in credit laws, and the bureaus being fearful of being sued.

The bureaus must be compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This act made it law that credit bureaus must investigate disputes and delete any listings that are unverifiable or inaccurate.

In sum, your elected officials have put laws in place to protect your rights. You do not have to live with bad credit, it can be removed and your credit score can be repaired.