Independent profile — not affiliated with Financial Recovery Services (FRS)
Financial Recovery Services (FRS)
Financial Recovery Services, Inc. (FRS) is a third-party debt collection agency headquartered in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, collecting on behalf of creditor clients across auto loan and lease, bank-card, consumer-loan, deposit-account overdraft, and retail accounts. According to the Better Business Bureau, the company started business on February 1, 1996, was incorporated March 6, 1996, and has held BBB accreditation with an A+ rating since March 16, 2007.
Its complaint record is spread across several separate sources, which this page does not merge. The CFPB's federal complaint database logs 448 complaints against the company from July 18, 2013 through September 21, 2026, with the single most common issue being attempts to collect a debt not owed. The BBB shows 49 complaints in the last three years, and in 9 of the 10 it displayed publicly on September 27, 2026, FRS's own reply says it could not find a matching account and blames an unauthorized third party impersonating its name or spoofing its phone numbers. USAComplaints has 16 historical complaint posts (2004–2012) that editors matched to this company, in which complainants most often named Citibank, Resurgent Capital Services, LVNV Funding, Sherman Acquisition, NCO Financial Systems and a Conoco gas card as the underlying creditor or debt buyer. FRS is regularly a defendant in individual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuits; courts have ruled in its favor in several, including a 2018 Second Circuit decision. In 2025, FRS itself sued alleged impersonators of its name and trademark in federal court, a case that ended in a settlement, on terms not made public, and a stipulated dismissal that November.
Complaints & Reviews on USAComplaints
USAComplaints currently maintains 16 historical complaints about Financial Recovery Services (FRS), published between 2004 and 2012. No approved complaints have been published on this site during the last three years. For a current reputation snapshot, see the independent sources below.
- Financial Recovery Services, Resurgent Capital, LVNV Funding LLC, Citibank Company is billing me for a debt that I settled with Chase in2010 with a debt consilidation company Company claims they can't reach debt consoldation company on phone?
- Continuous and harrassing phone calls
- A complete and utter con jo
- Scam these people send a letter asking for $1029.76! Don't pay huge scam!
- After they bought charge off they made offer to settle for 330 and have con't to withdraw that "one time amount" every month
- When will I get through?
- Collection agency
- Had the wrong person harassed even my children were harrased
- Financial Recovery Services They say I had a credit card when I was 11 years old
- Financial Recovery Services, Inc. P. O This company send me an initial notification that I owe money from '88 Ripoff
- Financial Recovery Services, Fran Boyd, Resurgent Capital. LVNV Funding LLC, Citibank FRS-Financial recover Services KNOWINGLY attempts OOS Collections!
- Faudulent billing harassing for a debt that I do not owe Ripoff
- Services, Also Sherman ACQ Fake collection letter no actual debt Ripoff Minneapolis
- NCO Financial and Financial Recovery Service Rip-off! My debt was settled nearly a decade ago but now they're trying to collect
- Inc. Rip-off! False accusation and threat. Minneapolis
- NCO Financial Systems Inc. Or Financial Recovery Services, Inc. Harrassment, threating, rude, critical, un-professional, pushy. Rip-off!
Complaint Themes
Independent Sources
Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.
Contacts
- Official website: https://fin-rec.com/
- Consumer hotline (toll-free), Mon–Fri 8am–5pm Central, Sat 8am–12pm Central: 866-438-2860
- Local office number (Minnesota): 952-831-4800 1 complaint mentions this number
- Compliance / complaints email (per FRS state-disclosure page): [email protected]
Locations
| Type | Address |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 1345 Mendota Heights Road, Suite 100 Mendota Heights MN 55120 |
| Mailing address | P.O. Box 385908 Minneapolis MN 55438-5908 |
| Mailing address | P.O. Box 21405 Eagan MN 55121-1405 |
FRS is calling or is on my credit report — what now?
If you got a call, letter, or credit-report entry mentioning Financial Recovery Services, Inc. ("FRS"), the single most useful fact before doing anything else is this: on the Better Business Bureau's complaints page for FRS's Mendota Heights, Minnesota headquarters, in 9 of the 10 complaints displayed as of September 27, 2026, FRS's own reply said it could find no account matching the complainant and that the calls "were most probably made by an unauthorized third-party illegally impersonating our company name and/or spoofing our company phone numbers," adding that other businesses use a similar name and that FRS "do[es] not collect on any pay day loan accounts" (BBB complaints page). FRS has taken this pattern seriously enough to sue over it: in 2025 it went to federal court as the plaintiff, not a defendant, alleging that unidentified callers and a copycat website were impersonating FRS and "collecting debts that are unassociated with FRS" while using its trademark (Financial Recovery Services, Inc. v. Doe et al., D. Minn. No. 0:25-cv-02209); an amended complaint added MBG Financial Group, LLC and MBG Financial Corp as defendants, and the case ended in a settlement, on terms not made public, and a dismissal in November 2025 (court docket — see the Litigation section below for the full history). In short: FRS itself says that many of the calls people report as "from FRS" did not come from it — the sources reviewed here cannot say how many actually did. Either way, verify the caller before you do anything else. And if the name appears on your credit report: FRS states on its own terms page that it "do[es] not report to the credit reporting agencies," so the entry is more likely to have been furnished by the creditor or a debt buyer — check who is listed as the furnisher (details below).
How to verify a caller claiming to be FRS:
- Hang up and call back yourself using a number you look up independently — FRS's published consumer hotline is 866-438-2860, or its local Mendota Heights number is 952-831-4800 — never a callback number the caller gave you.
- Check the company's own site, fin-rec.com, and its account portal, "Resolv1n" at fin-rec.payd.it, rather than any link texted or emailed to you.
- Ask for the account details in writing — the current creditor's name, the amount claimed, and your dispute rights — before you pay or give out any personal information.
- Never pay by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency, and never give a Social Security number to a caller you haven't verified.
If the debt really is being handled by FRS: Under federal Regulation F, the validation period generally ends 30 days after you receive (or are assumed to receive) the validation information, which may be given in the first communication or in a separate validation notice; a written dispute within that window requires the collector to pause collection of the disputed debt until it mails you verification. FRS's own site says a dispute should be submitted in writing and that you can "mail it to our Mendota Heights, MN office," and that FRS "typically" sends the required validation notice — the current creditor's name, the amount owed, and your right to dispute — within five days of first contact (fin-rec.com/disputes-and-validation). Send your dispute in writing (certified mail is a good idea) within that 30-day window. FRS also has a dedicated page for asking it to stop phone calls (fin-rec.com/stop-receiving-phone-calls) and one for reporting fraud or identity theft (fin-rec.com/report-fraud-or-identity-theft); for text messages, its terms describe replying STOP to cease further SMS, with up to three days to process the request.
Is FRS licensed, and where do you write to it? FRS's own state-disclosure page says the agency "is licensed by the Minnesota Department of Commerce," lists NMLS Company ID 935742 in its Nevada disclosure, a New York City Department of Consumer Affairs license (1015506), North Carolina permits, and licenses in Tennessee and Wisconsin; it asks that "all correspondence and payments" go to P.O. Box 385908, Minneapolis, MN 55438-5908, and that complaints about how it collects be sent to that address, to [email protected], or to (866) 438-2860 (FRS terms and state disclosures). Note that FRS's Resolv1n payment portal gives a different box — P.O. Box 21405, Eagan, MN 55121-1405 (portal terms) — so for a written dispute the safest target is the headquarters street address its dispute page points to: 1345 Mendota Heights Road, Suite 100, Mendota Heights, MN 55120. The same disclosure page states that "FRS is not a credit reporting agency and we do not report to the credit reporting agencies" — so if a collection account appears on your credit report, it is more likely to be reported by the creditor or debt buyer than by FRS itself; dispute it with the credit bureau and with whoever is listed as furnishing it.
If, after verifying, you believe the call or letter was not from FRS, report the impersonation to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and to FRS itself through its fraud-reporting page above, since FRS filed a federal action in 2025 alleging impersonation and misuse of its trademark.
Complaints filed directly on USAComplaints (2004–2012) and the CFPB's federal database (2013–2026) most often describe attempts to collect debts complainants say aren't theirs, were already paid, or belonged to someone else — see "What complaints about Financial Recovery Services describe" below for the specifics.
What complaints about Financial Recovery Services describe
On USAComplaints, 16 complaint posts filed between 2004 and 2012 were matched by editors to this Minnesota debt collector (two additional posts, from 2005 and 2011, use "Financial Recovery Services" in the offender field but were not confidently matched to this specific company and are not counted here). By year: 2004 (3), 2005 (2), 2006 (1), 2007 (2), 2008 (3), 2009 (3), 2012 (2).
Complainants' most common themes: harassment or repeated calls (7 of 16), rude or threatening agents (5), being contacted about the wrong person (4), the debt already paid or not owed (4), a settlement or payment already made still being pursued (4), and validation requests complainants said were ignored (3). Two complaints also describe FRS contacting third parties — in one case mailing the complainant's mother after a request to stop, in another questioning the complainant's young children and babysitter. The creditors or debt buyers complainants named most often (their own attribution, not a client list FRS publishes) were Citibank (3), Resurgent Capital Services (2), Sherman Acquisition (2), NCO Financial Systems (2), LVNV Funding (2), and a Conoco charged-off gas card (2).
The CFPB's federal complaint database covers a later, larger, and more recent period: 448 complaints from July 18, 2013 through September 21, 2026 (140 in the last 24 months, 70 in the last 12). Most — 401 — are filed under "Debt collection"; 25 more under credit reporting and 14 under a related credit-repair category. The single most common issue is "Attempts to collect debt not owed" (149 complaints), with sub-issues "Debt is not yours" (84) and "Debt was result of identity theft" (40) the largest components; "Written notification about debt" (81) and "Communication tactics" (57) are the next most common issues. FRS's response was logged as "Closed with explanation" in 434 of the 448 cases, with only 2 closed with monetary relief. CFPB complaints are consumer reports, not agency findings against the company; the CFPB itself cautions that complaint volume should be read against a company's size and market share, and this count is kept separate from — never added to — USAComplaints' or BBB's own complaint totals.
Two more sources carry complaints, also kept separate and unmerged: the BBB's Mendota Heights profile shows 49 complaints in the last three years (4 closed in the last 12 months) (see the legitimacy section for the pattern in FRS's own replies to them), and the unclaimed ComplaintsBoard listing shows 4 complaints, none marked resolved, alongside a "1.0 Overall reputation rating" based on 2 reviews.
Is Financial Recovery Services (FRS) Legitimate?
Financial Recovery Services, Inc. is a real, operating third-party debt collection agency, not a fabricated name. Its own site describes it as "a professional debt collection agency dedicated to helping consumers resolve outstanding account balances," acting as "an intermediary between the consumer and creditor" for auto loans and leases, bank card, consumer loan, overdraft (DDA), and retail accounts (fin-rec.com/services). According to the Better Business Bureau, the Mendota Heights, Minnesota business started February 1, 1996, was incorporated March 6, 1996, its BBB file opened March 5, 1998, and it has held BBB accreditation, with an A+ rating, since March 16, 2007 (BBB profile). Its listed management is Brian Bowers (President), Wayne Kantola (COO), and Kelli Moes (Compliance Manager); the company also displays logos for BBB, ACA International, and the Receivables Management Association International (RMAi) on its About Us page.
FRS is regularly named as a defendant in individual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) lawsuits — a CourtListener docket search for its name returned more than 400 case captions on September 27, 2026 — and the reported outcomes are mixed. Courts have ruled in FRS's favor in at least three opinions we reviewed in full: Taylor v. Financial Recovery Services, Inc., 886 F.3d 212 (2d Cir. 2018), affirmed a summary-judgment win for FRS, holding it is not misleading under FDCPA §1692e for a collection letter to state a debt's balance without separately disclosing that interest and fees are not accruing; Sutton v. Financial Recovery Services, Inc., 121 F. Supp. 3d 309 (E.D.N.Y. 2015), dismissed a consumer's FDCPA claims over an FRS settlement-offer letter; and Feldheim v. Financial Recovery Services, Inc., 257 F. Supp. 3d 361 (S.D.N.Y. 2017), dismissed a putative class action with prejudice over an FRS "Tax Season Settlement Reduction Offer" letter. FRS has also lost procedural motions: in 2015 it asked the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to centralize four separate FDCPA suits — each alleging an FRS letter revealed an account number through the envelope window, a possible §1692f(8) violation — into one court; the Panel denied the request, reasoning that only five related actions existed (four already in one district), that the factual questions "are not sufficiently complex or numerous to warrant the creation of an MDL," and that informal coordination would suffice (order denying transfer, govinfo). A class was certified against FRS in an earlier case, Pawelczak v. Financial Recovery Services, Inc., 286 F.R.D. 381 (N.D. Ill. 2012), over allegedly non-compliant pre-recorded phone messages; class certification is a procedural ruling, not a finding on the merits, and the case's ultimate outcome was not confirmed in the sources checked for this page. Several more consumer suits against FRS remain open as of this writing: Dargavell v. FRS (S.D. Cal., filed August 17, 2026) is docketed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, White v. FRS (D. Idaho, filed July 17, 2025) under the FDCPA, and the Oklahoma and Delaware dockets (2025–2026) show no cause code; their specific allegations are not detailed here because only the docket captions were reviewed. See the Litigation section below for full case detail.
Notably, FRS has also gone to federal court as the plaintiff to protect its own name. In Financial Recovery Services, Inc. v. Doe et al. (D. Minn., No. 0:25-cv-02209, filed May 22, 2025), FRS alleged trademark infringement, false advertising, unfair competition, and deceptive trade practices against unidentified defendants it said were impersonating FRS and "collecting debts that are unassociated with FRS." An amended complaint later named MBG Financial Group, LLC and MBG Financial Corp. The case ended in a settlement and dismissal with prejudice in November 2025; the settlement's terms were not made public. FRS has asserted, in its BBB replies and in this lawsuit, that some reported contacts involved impersonation or spoofing of its name; the sources reviewed for this page do not establish how many reports actually involved third parties.
On licensing: FRS's state-disclosure page says it is licensed by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, lists NMLS Company ID 935742 and a New York City DCA license (1015506), and names permits or licenses in North Carolina, Nevada, Tennessee and Wisconsin (FRS terms and state disclosures); we did not independently open the Minnesota license record (the Department of Commerce lookup was behind a bot check). Searches did not turn up any CFPB, FTC or state attorney general enforcement action against Financial Recovery Services, Inc. of Minnesota; that absence is not proof of a clean record, only that none was found in the sources checked.
Financial Recovery Services overview
Financial Recovery Services, Inc. ("FRS") is a third-party debt collection agency headquartered at 1345 Mendota Heights Road, Suite 100, Mendota Heights, MN 55120 (fin-rec.com/contact). It collects on behalf of creditor clients across auto loan and lease, bank-card, consumer-loan, deposit-account overdraft (DDA), and retail accounts (fin-rec.com/services), and offers an online account portal, "Resolv1n," at fin-rec.payd.it.
According to the Better Business Bureau, the Mendota Heights business started February 1, 1996, was incorporated March 6, 1996, and has been a BBB-accredited business with an A+ rating since March 16, 2007; its alternate names on file are "FRS" and "Financial Recovery Services of Minnesota Inc." (BBB profile). Listed management is Brian Bowers (President), Wayne Kantola (COO), and Kelli Moes (Compliance Manager).
Complainants filing on USAComplaints between 2004 and 2012 most often named Citibank, Resurgent Capital Services, LVNV Funding, Sherman Acquisition, NCO Financial Systems and a Conoco gas card as the underlying creditors or debt buyers (complainants' own attributions). FRS is regularly named as a defendant in individual FDCPA lawsuits and, in 2025, also filed suit itself against alleged users of an "infringing" copy of its name and trademark — see the sections above and below for both.
Court & Public Records
| Case | Authority | Dates | Type | Outcome | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton v. Financial Recovery Services, Inc. Docket 15-CV-313 (RJD)(CLP) | U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York | — | Dismissed | Dismissed FRS sent the plaintiff, Sutton, a collection letter headed "PAYMENTS ARE AN OPTION," offering to settle for $25 a month over three months. Sutton sued under FDCPA §§1692e and 1692f, arguing the letter was misleading or unfair. Judge Raymond J. Dearie granted FRS's motion to dismiss on August 6, 2015: "Sutton has failed to allege plausible claims for relief, and this action is dismissed." A motion-to-dismiss ruling like this one addresses the legal sufficiency of the complaint, not a full trial on the facts. | Source |
| Feldheim v. Financial Recovery Services, Inc. Docket 7:16-cv-03873 | U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York | — | Dismissed | Dismissed Felix Feldheim brought a putative FDCPA class action over a January 2016 collection letter FRS sent regarding a Discover Card account, described in the litigation as a "Tax Season Settlement Reduction Offer." Judge Kenneth M. Karas granted FRS's motion to dismiss on June 29, 2017, and the case was dismissed with prejudice. | Source |
| Taylor v. Financial Recovery Services, Inc. Docket 17-1650-cv | U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit | — | Judgment | Judgment entered Barclays had placed defaulted card debts with FRS and instructed it not to accrue further interest or fees; FRS's collection letters stated the account balance without saying the balance was static. Christine Taylor and Christina Klein sued under FDCPA §1692e, arguing this was misleading. The Second Circuit (Leval, Calabresi, and Cabranes, JJ.) held that "such a notice complies with Section 1692e" and affirmed the district court's May 19, 2017 summary judgment for FRS (Judge Lorna G. Schofield, S.D.N.Y., No. 16-cv-4685). The ruling favored FRS at both the district court and on appeal. | Source |
| Financial Recovery Services, Inc. v. Doe et al. (MBG Financial trademark suit) Docket 0:25-cv-02209-LMP-DJF | U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota | Settled | Settled FRS itself was the plaintiff in this case, not a defendant. It sued John Doe, Doe Corporation, and Does 1-10 over an "infringing website" (an exhibit filed with the complaint is dated May 6, 2025), and, per Magistrate Judge Dulce J. Foster's May 28, 2025 order, brought "claims of trademark infringement, false and misleading advertising and promotion, unfair competition, and deceptive and unfair trade practices against the unidentified Defendants, whom FRS alleges have impersonated FRS and unlawfully used FRS's trademark while collecting debts that are unassociated with FRS." FRS's motion for expedited discovery — supported by declarations from President Brian Bowers (including an exhibit titled "Summary of Complaints") and Compliance Manager Kelli Moes (an exhibit of BBB complaints) — was granted in part, after FRS said it had traced the impersonators' phone numbers to carrier Telnyx, LLC and their website's registration to GoDaddy (via Domains by Proxy). An amended complaint filed August 18, 2025 added MBG Financial Group, LLC and MBG Financial Corp as named defendants. The parties filed a notice of settlement on September 12, 2025, and on November 4, 2025 Judge Laura M. Provinzino signed an Order of Dismissal disposing of all claims with prejudice per the parties' stipulation, "without costs or disbursements to any party." The settlement's terms were not made public. A settlement resolves a claim; it is not a court finding on the merits — but it is a documented instance of a debt collector suing over alleged impersonation of its name (see the consumer-action section above). | Source |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is FRS legitimate or a scam?
Financial Recovery Services, Inc. is a real, operating debt collection company, not a fabricated name — it has been a BBB-accredited business with an A+ rating since March 16, 2007. That doesn't mean every call claiming to be "from FRS" is genuine: on its BBB complaints page, FRS itself says that in 9 of the 10 complaints shown on that page as of September 27, 2026, it couldn't find a matching account and believes the caller was an unauthorized third party impersonating its name or spoofing its phone numbers. FRS has gone as far as suing alleged impersonators in federal court. Treat any specific caller as unverified until you confirm it through FRS's official numbers or site.
Someone called claiming to be FRS — how do I know it's really them?
Be cautious by default. FRS's own reply to 9 of the 10 complaints shown on its BBB profile as of September 27, 2026 says it couldn't find a matching account and that the call "was most probably made by an unauthorized third-party illegally impersonating our company name and/or spoofing our company phone numbers." Hang up and call back only using a number you look up yourself — FRS's toll-free line, 866-438-2860, or its Mendota Heights number, 952-831-4800 — and check its account status only through fin-rec.com or the fin-rec.payd.it portal, never a link the caller sent you. Don't pay or share personal information until you've verified the caller this way.
How do I dispute a debt with Financial Recovery Services?
Under federal Regulation F, the validation period generally ends 30 days after you receive (or are assumed to receive) the validation information, which may be given in the first communication or in a separate validation notice; a written dispute within that window requires the collector to pause collection of the disputed debt until it mails you verification. FRS's own site says to mail your dispute to its Mendota Heights, MN office (certified mail is a good idea, and supporting documents such as a police report can help if the debt is due to identity theft), and states that it "typically" sends the legally required validation notice — the current creditor's name, the amount owed, and your dispute rights — within five days of first contacting you.
Who does FRS collect for?
FRS describes itself as a third-party collector working "on behalf of our creditor clients" across five account types it calls "Credit Products Serviced": auto loans and leases, bank card, consumer loans, deposit-account overdrafts (DDA), and retail. Its Oregon state disclosure lists debt buyers that may appear as the "current creditor" on accounts it collects — among them Cavalry Portfolio Services, Midland Credit Management, LVNV Funding, Resurgent Receivables, Crown Asset Management, CACH, Pinnacle Credit Services, PYOD, Second Round and Cascade Capital (FRS terms and state disclosures) — and it states on its BBB complaints page that it does not collect payday-loan accounts. Complainants filing on USAComplaints between 2004 and 2012 most often named Citibank, Resurgent Capital Services, LVNV Funding, Sherman Acquisition, NCO Financial Systems and a Conoco gas card as the underlying creditor or debt buyer — this is the complainants' own attribution, not a client list FRS has published.
How do I stop FRS from calling me?
FRS has a dedicated page for this request at fin-rec.com/stop-receiving-phone-calls, and its Consumer Inquiries menu lists "I'd like to stop receiving phone calls" as an option. For text messages, its Terms of Use say replying STOP will stop further SMS, and that it may take up to three days to process any cease-communication request — so calls or texts may not stop immediately. Putting your request in writing (rather than only verbally, on a call) creates a record you can point to if contact continues. If calls continue after that window, or if you suspect the caller wasn't actually FRS, see the sections above on verifying a caller and on your dispute rights.