Gurstel Law Firm

Complaints & Reviews on USAComplaints

USAComplaints currently maintains 2 historical complaints about Gurstel Law Firm, published between 2004 and 2010. No approved complaints have been published on this site during the last three years. For a current reputation snapshot, see the independent sources below.

• Judgment Letter Threatens Garnishment of Social Security IncomePublished Jun 25, 2010 · Historical consumer allegation
• Asked to pay 1,159.76 on Montgomery Ward account while disabledPublished Aug 11, 2004 · Historical consumer allegation

Independent Sources

Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.

Contacts & Payment

• Official website: https://www.gurstel.com/
• Account and payment line: 877-344-4002
• Consumer inquiries: [email protected]
• Compliance (footer): [email protected]
• Payment page: https://www.gurstel.com/resolve-your-debt

Locations

Gurstel Law Firm complaints: how to dispute a debt, pay, or complain

This page was checked on 2026-10-18. Gurstel Law Firm is a law firm whose own site says its primary business purpose is debt collection, so a letter, call or court paper from it is usually about a debt that the firm says a client (a creditor or a debt buyer) is owed. The firm is a separate business from the original creditor. Keep every letter, envelope and court paper, and note the date each arrived.

• Contact the firm. The firm's contact page lists 877.344.4002 (TTY 711), telephone hours Monday through Friday 8:00am-7:00pm Central, and consumer inquiries at [email protected]. Its Resolve your Debt page lists the same number with different hours in one paragraph (8:00 AM-5:00 PM Central), so confirm hours when you call. Payments are accepted through its online portal, by phone, or by mail to Gurstel Law Firm, P.C., 6681 Country Club Drive, Golden Valley, MN 55427, with the Gurstel file number on the check or money order. The Resolve your Debt page says not to mail cash and not to include any restrictive language on a check or money order, 'or we may not be able to process your payment'; it describes online payment as using 'your debit card or bank account information'. The contact page lists walk-in payment in (AZ, CA-Fullerton, IA, MN, NE, NV, UT, WI) during physical office hours of 8:00am-5:00pm local time, and a text channel ('Text JOIN to 59531') for messages regarding your file.
• Disputing a debt. According to the CFPB's page on debts you do not think you owe, a written dispute sent within 30 days of the collector's notice obliges the collector to provide verification, and collection contact pauses until it responds. The CFPB page was last reviewed in August 2023; read the current page before relying on it. The same CFPB page says the notice should state that, if you ask within 30 days for the name and address of the original creditor (if different from the current creditor), the collector will provide it, and that a validation notice specifies the end date of the 30-day period. Send disputes in writing and keep a copy. The firm's contact page says 'You can send written correspondence to any of our office locations' (listed in the company background section); BBB's profile lists a primary fax of (877) 750-6335.
• If you receive court papers. The CFPB's page on being sued by a creditor or debt collector says to read the lawsuit carefully and respond by the deadline in the court papers; the court may enter a default judgment if there is no response. Court deadlines are set by the court and the state, not by this page. A legal aid office or an attorney can advise on a specific lawsuit.
• Complaint routes. The CFPB accepts complaints about debt collection at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. BBB accepts complaints against the business through its profile. BBB's profile lists 'Minnesota Supreme Court Legal Professional Responsibility' (345 Saint Peter St Ste 1500, Saint Paul, MN 55102, phone (651) 296-3952) under 'Other Resources'. Your state attorney general's consumer office also takes complaints; we did not check each state's page.

Who Gurstel Law Firm is

BBB lists Gurstel Law Firm, P.C., a corporation, with headquarters at 6681 Country Club Dr, Golden Valley, MN 55427-4601 and the alternate name 'Gurstel Law Firm'. BBB's page data gives a business start of 1996-07-09, a file opened 2003-02-06 and accreditation since 2020-08-28 (read 2026-10-18). BBB's profile names Todd Gurstel as CEO and lists 320 employees as reported by the business; the firm's About page also lists Todd Gurstel as Chief Executive Officer.

The firm says on its About page that it was founded in 1997 in Minnesota and now serves clients in Arizona, California, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Its home page lists offices in Golden Valley (Minnesota, headquarters), Scottsdale, West Des Moines, Sacramento, Fullerton, Omaha, Las Vegas, West Valley City and Milwaukee, and says it holds commercial collection licenses in over thirty states.

The firm describes its work as consumer debt collection (credit cards, auto deficiencies) and commercial debt collection for banks, lenders, credit unions, insurers and finance firms. Its site footer states a California debt collection license number (10361-99), an NMLS ID (2249580) and a Certified Professional Receivables Company number, and says it is affiliated with industry groups including the Receivables Management Association International and the National Creditors Bar Association. Those are the firm's own statements; we did not check the license registries.

Archive posts, court opinions and other pages use names such as 'Gurstel, Staloch & Chargo' and 'Gurstel Chargo, P.A.' for a Minnesota debt-collection firm. We did not find a primary document in the sources checked on 2026-10-18 that states these are earlier names of Gurstel Law Firm, P.C., so this page does not treat them as the same legal entity.

Complaint record: BBB, CFPB, Trustpilot and this site's archive

BBB (profile for Gurstel Law Firm, P.C., headquarters and corporate-owned locations, as displayed on 2026-10-18): BBB Accredited, rating A+; the complaints tab shows '50 total complaints in the last 3 years' and '9 complaints filed in the last 12 months'; the reviews tab shows '1 /5 stars, Average of 36 Customer Reviews'. BBB states that the nature of complaints and a company's responses can matter more than the number, and that profiles generally cover a three-year period. Review text is customer-written and unverified by us.

CFPB Consumer Complaint Database (queried 2026-10-18 for the company name 'Gurstel Law Firm, P.C.'): 593 complaints in total, the first received 2013-08-23 and the latest 2026-09-29; 111 received since 2025-10-18. In that total, 550 are filed under the product 'Debt collection'. The most frequent issue labels are 'Took or threatened to take negative or legal action' (147) and 'Attempts to collect debt not owed' (143). The company response field shows 'Closed with explanation' for 573, 'Closed with non-monetary relief' for 10 and 'Closed' for 9, with 1 in progress. These counts are consumer submissions as the CFPB database labels them; they are not findings, and we do not add them to the BBB figures.

Trustpilot (as displayed on 2026-10-18): 3.2 from 1 review, unclaimed profile, no history of asking for reviews.

This site's archive. Two archive complaints are linked as complaints about the firm. A 2004 post, titled 'Ripoff', names The Gurstel Law Firm, P.A. in Minneapolis; its author writes that the firm is trying to make them pay a retail store account. A 2010 post about garnishment of Social Security income names 'Gurstel, Staloch & Chargo' (see the company background section). Both are consumer accounts and have not been verified. The 2004 post names the firm as 'P.A.' while BBB lists 'P.C.'; we have not matched the two names through a registry. With only two linked posts, this page lists no complaint themes.

Court dockets that name the firm

A CourtListener docket search for case names containing 'Gurstel' returned 162 results on 2026-10-18. The results include suits in which Gurstel Law Firm, P.C. is a named party. Examples among the newest results, with the filing dates CourtListener displays, are Trost v. Gurstel Law Firm, P.C. (D. Minn., filed 2026-02-09), Hess v. Gurstel Law Firm, P.C. (Bankr. D. Minn., 2026-02-02), Rudolph v. Gurstel Law Firm, P.C. (D. Minn., 2026-01-16), Moore v. Gurstel Law Firm P.C. (D. Minn., 2025-10-24), Petry v. Gurstel Law Firm, P.C. (D. Minn., 0:25-cv-03770, filed 2025-09-25, terminated 2026-02-23, cause listed as 15:1692 Fair Debt Collection Act) and Walker v. Gurstel Law Firm, P.C. (D. Minn., 0:25-cv-03774, filed 2025-09-25; CourtListener lists the cause as 15:1692 Fair Debt Collection Act and the case as terminated on 2026-09-29). We did not read the complaints or orders, so we do not state what each case alleges or how it ended. A lawsuit is an allegation, and the firm's position in each case is for the court to decide. A search count is not a measure of wrongdoing; a debt-collection firm that files many lawsuits for clients can be named in many suits.

Appeals-court decisions naming a similarly named firm. The Eighth Circuit's opinion in Demarais v. Gurstel Chargo, P.A. (No. 16-3173, decided August 29, 2017) reversed the district court's dismissal of a consumer's Fair Debt Collection Practices Act complaint against Gurstel Chargo, P.A. and remanded for further proceedings (Justia's opinion summary); at that stage the court was deciding whether the claims were plausibly pleaded, not whether the firm violated the law. In Scheffler v. Gurstel Chargo, P.A. (No. 17-2141, decided August 27, 2018) the Eighth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the defendant law firm; per Justia's opinion summary, the court held that the consumer voluntarily and knowingly waived his cease letter for the limited purpose of allowing the debt collector to answer a question he called to ask about the debt. These are listed for context; this page does not tie 'Gurstel Chargo, P.A.' to the current legal entity (see the company background section).

A search of the CFPB enforcement-actions page for 'Gurstel' returned no results on 2026-10-18. We did not complete searches of FTC or state attorney general databases, so this is not a statement about those agencies.

Is Gurstel Law Firm Legitimate?

BBB lists Gurstel Law Firm, P.C. as a corporation headquartered at 6681 Country Club Dr, Golden Valley, Minnesota, accredited since 2020 and rated A+, with 50 complaints in the last three years and a 1 out of 5 average over 36 customer reviews as displayed on 2026-10-18; the firm's own site states that its primary business purpose is debt collection and lists offices in nine locations. The CFPB database shows 593 consumer complaints naming the company since 2013, and CourtListener lists 162 dockets with 'Gurstel' in the case name. These are different sources with different methods and are not combined here.

A letter from a collection law firm is not proof that a debt is valid or that the amount is correct. The CFPB says a written dispute within 30 days requires the collector to provide verification. Compare any amount against your own records and the original creditor's statements, and respond to court papers before the deadline in them.

Frequently Asked Questions