Howard Lee Schiff

Complaints & Reviews on USAComplaints

USAComplaints currently maintains 11 historical complaints about Howard Lee Schiff, published between 2008 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.

• Bank Account Levied Without Notice and Repeated CallsPublished Jan 17, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Bank Account Charged $100 Legal Fee Over Debt Claimed by Midland FundingPublished Sep 22, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Law Firm Sent Court Notice to Old Address to Obtain Default JudgmentPublished May 9, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Pressured Into Signing Judgment Without Being Told of Dispute RightPublished Feb 19, 2010 · Historical consumer allegation
• Harassed Over $65 Credit Card Debt and Arrest Warrant ClaimPublished Apr 28, 2009 · Historical consumer allegation
• Debt Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of LVNV Funding for Debt Not OwedPublished Jan 31, 2009 · Historical consumer allegation
• Bank Levy Over Debt of Brother With Same Last NamePublished Dec 10, 2008 · Historical consumer allegation
• Lien Threat, Inflated Payment Plan and Surprise Judgment From CollectorPublished Mar 11, 2008 · Historical consumer allegation
• Aggressively Pursued in Court Though Disabled and Judgment-ProofPublished Mar 4, 2008 · Historical consumer allegation
• Junk Debt Buyer Law Firm Uses Abusive Collection Practices, Seeks JudgmentsPublished Mar 3, 2008 · Historical consumer allegation
• Demands Payment Without Documentation and Now Threatens Court HearingPublished Mar 1, 2008 · Historical consumer allegation

Complaint Themes

Each tag reflects a complaint's single primary theme (not every angle it raised), and complaints outside any problem theme — a positive report, or one later retracted by its author — aren't tagged. Counts may total less than the full complaint count above.

Independent Sources

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

Contacts

• Main line (BBB-listed): +1 (860) 528-9991 3 complaints mention this number
• Website (hlschiffpc.com, BBB-listed): https://www.hlschiffpc.com/
• Other phone (BBB-listed): +1 (800) 288-9457
• Other phone (BBB-listed): +1 (860) 528-1645
• Fax (BBB-listed): +1 (860) 528-7602

Locations

Howard Lee Schiff collection letter or lawsuit: what to do and where to complain (checked October 14, 2026)

BBB classifies Law Offices Howard Lee Schiff, P.C. as 'Lawyers, Collection Attorneys' and says it 'provides consumer legal collections for corporations'. BBB's description does not say who the client is on any particular account, so the practical questions are which creditor the letter names, whether that creditor is the original creditor, and whether the debt is yours. Check the validation notice for the current creditor; if it differs from the original creditor, you can ask for the original creditor's name and address.

The CFPB lists what a validation notice must contain, including 'The name of the creditor you owe the debt to', and says that after you receive the validation information you have '30 days to dispute the debt in writing'. If you send a written verification request or a request for original-creditor information within that period, the CFPB says the collector 'must pause collecting the amount of the debt you are disputing' until it has adequately responded.

The CFPB's debt-collection page says: 'A debt collector is required to provide the name of the creditor, the amount owed, how to dispute the debt, and more.' It also advises: 'If you believe you do not owe the debt, you should tell the debt collector.' The CFPB's page links to guides on how to reply to a debt collector and 'What to do if a creditor or debt collector sues you'.

• Read the letter for the creditor's name, the amount and the dispute instructions; keep every letter and envelope.
• If you are served with a court summons, the CFPB says to 'respond to the lawsuit, either personally or through a lawyer by the date specified in the court papers' and that 'Responding doesn't mean you're agreeing that you owe the debt or that it is valid.'
• You can submit a complaint about a debt collector to the CFPB at consumerfinance.gov/complaint/ (the agency says it sends complaints to the company for a response; phone (855) 411-2372).
• The Connecticut Department of Banking's collection-agency complaint page says it accepts complaints, including about collectors that are not licensed in Connecticut; it lists 860-240-8170 and 1-800-831-7225 (option 2), and an online customer assistance form.

Contact details: BBB lists (860) 528-9991, (860) 528-1645 and (800) 288-9457 for the firm; these are BBB listings, not numbers we could confirm as working or current. BBB's listed offices in Hartford CT, Worcester MA, Providence RI, Nashua NH, Portland ME and Brattleboro VT. On October 14, 2026 the firm's website hlschiffpc.com did not load (HTTP 522, a Cloudflare 'connection timed out' response), so no company-published contact or payment page could be checked, and the Connecticut registry showed the corporation as Forfeited (see below).

Who Howard Lee Schiff is

Law Offices Howard Lee Schiff, P.C. is a Connecticut collection law firm. BBB labels its Hartford listing (111 Founders Plz) 'Headquarters', lists 'Business Management: Ms. Jeanine Dumont, Director', and shows raw profile dates of business start 1959-01-01 and incorporation 1977-04-01. Federal court filings from 2024 and 2025 in a Connecticut bankruptcy case list the firm at 510 Tolland St., East Hartford, Connecticut, as a creditor-side party.

BBB also lists branch addresses in Worcester MA, Providence RI, Nashua NH, Portland ME and Brattleboro VT; archive complaints on this site from 2008 to 2012 give the same Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut addresses. The firm's website was unreachable when checked, so the BBB-sourced details above are BBB's and the courts' descriptions.

Corporate status. The Connecticut Secretary of the State's July 2025 forfeiture report lists LAW OFFICES HOWARD LEE SCHIFF, P.C. with the filing date 7/14/2025, and the Connecticut Business Registry data (queried October 14, 2026) shows the corporation's status as 'Forfeited' for 'Failure to file Annual Report', with a registration date of April 1, 1977 and the address 111 Founders Plaza, East Hartford. The state explains: “A business entity that has been administratively dissolved is given the status 'forfeited.' If the business wishes to become active again, it must file a reinstatement.” The registry entry we read shows no reinstatement. BBB still carries the profile, and the BBB listings, phone numbers and website above are listings, not confirmation that the firm is currently operating.

One BBB reviewer wrote in October 2024 that the firm is 'no longer in business' and had 'sold their debt off'. We could not verify that statement from a primary source (a forfeiture is an administrative corporate status and does not itself say what the firm does with accounts); the firm still appears in court filings from November 2024 to January 2025.

Regulator actions

The CFPB's enforcement-actions page, filtered by title for 'Schiff' on October 14, 2026, returned 'no results'. The Federal Trade Commission's cases-and-proceedings search was opened the same day but the 'Schiff' filter could not be confirmed as applied, so no FTC statement is made here. Connecticut Department of Banking enforcement records, state attorney-general press releases and bar-disciplinary records were not searched; this is a scoped search result, not a statement that no such action exists.

Separately, the Connecticut Secretary of the State's July 2025 forfeiture report lists LAW OFFICES HOWARD LEE SCHIFF, P.C. with a filing date of 7/14/2025, and the state business registry data showed the corporation's status as 'Forfeited' on October 14, 2026 (reason: 'Failure to file Annual Report'). That is an administrative corporate-status entry, not a regulator enforcement order.

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

CFPB database (as displayed on October 14, 2026). Searching the company name 'Law Offices Howard Lee Schiff, P.C.' returns 84 complaints, received between July 10, 2013 and September 12, 2022; 80 are tagged 'Debt collection'. Most common issue labels: 'Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed' (17), 'Took or threatened to take negative or legal action' (14), 'False statements or representation' (13) and 'Disclosure verification of debt' (9). By state: CT 36, MA 20, ME 12, RI 6, NH 5. Company responses: 72 'Closed with explanation', 10 'Closed with non-monetary relief', 2 'Closed with monetary relief'. These are consumer submissions, not findings.

BBB (as displayed on October 14, 2026). The Hartford profile is not BBB Accredited, shows an A+ rating, states 'This business has 0 complaints', and shows 1/5 stars from an average of 4 customer reviews; the latest review is dated October 15, 2024.

This site's archive. Eleven complaints published here between March 2008 and January 2012 name the firm as the subject. They allege, in the writers' words, wrongful bank-account levies, collection of debts the writers say they did not owe, default judgments after missed court dates and missing debt validation. They are unverified allegations; the firm's responses, if any, are not part of these posts. The CFPB and BBB figures above are separate counts and are not added to the archive count.

Court record

A CourtListener case-name search for 'Howard Lee Schiff' returned 63 federal dockets on October 14, 2026; the first page of ten lists nine suits brought by individuals in the District of Connecticut, District of Maine, District of Massachusetts and District of New Hampshire between 2017 and 2019 (docket numbers 3:17-cv-01312, 1:17-cv-00721, 3:18-cv-00794, 2:18-cv-00205, 3:18-cv-00975, 1:18-cv-12166, 3:19-cv-00452, 1:19-cv-00191, 3:19-cv-00974), plus a 2020 Northern District of Illinois case in which a bank sued the firm. The Maine and Massachusetts dockets below were read in full (the Connecticut docket 3:19-cv-00452 also lists the Fair Debt Collection Act as its cause); the others were not reviewed individually, and the search also returns many bankruptcy filings in which the firm is only a listed creditor.

Garcia v. Law Offices Howard Lee Schiff, P.C. (D. Conn., 3:16-cv-00791, filed May 23, 2016) was decided on the merits: after a one-day bench trial, the court found in its August 15, 2019 decision that the firm 'sent a materially misleading letter' to the plaintiff 'in violation of the FDCPA', that it was not entitled to the bona fide error defense, and ordered judgment for the plaintiff with $500 in statutory damages. On November 4, 2019 the court awarded $50,085 in attorney's fees and costs (the plaintiff had requested $67,707.50). Later docket entries, including any appeal, were not reviewed.

Is Howard Lee Schiff Legitimate?

Public records show a Connecticut corporation, Law Offices Howard Lee Schiff, P.C., registered on April 1, 1977, whose Connecticut registry status was 'Forfeited' (administratively dissolved for failure to file an annual report; July 14, 2025 forfeiture-report listing) when checked on October 14, 2026, with no reinstatement in the entry we read. BBB still carries a profile in the 'Collection Attorneys' category with an A+ rating, as displayed; that listing is not confirmation of current operation. Federal courts have docketed the firm as a defendant, including a 2019 merits judgment under the FDCPA in Garcia, and as a creditor-side party in a 2024-2025 bankruptcy case, and the CFPB database holds 84 complaints about it.

Those records do not show whether any specific letter you received is accurate or who the creditor on your account is today. The CFPB's own advice is to use contact from a collector to 'find out about the debt and determine if you really owe it' and to dispute in writing where you disagree.

Court & Public Records

Related Complaints

Names this company in a role other than the primary subject — not necessarily current or complete.

• Named as the collector: Collection Payments of $400 Unaccounted For, Fees Bounced Checks
• Named as the collector: Affidavits Filed in Debt Case Were Signed by TSYS Employees

Frequently Asked Questions