Performant Recovery

Complaints & Reviews on USAComplaints

USAComplaints currently maintains 70 historical complaints about Performant Recovery, published between 2003 and 2013. No approved complaints have been published on this site during the last three years. For a current reputation snapshot, see the independent sources below.

• Demanding a hugh payment for a past due student loanPublished Jan 12, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• Diversified Collection Services Harrasing Phone Calls, Lying About PaymentsPublished Jan 9, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• Melissa Whitely called to say owed 1033.13 in taxes and state has sent my account to collectionsPublished Oct 26, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Diversified Collections Services SneakyPublished Aug 20, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Lazy LiarsPublished Aug 18, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Aggressive TacticsPublished May 9, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• A performant company I received a letter from DCS Diversified Collection Services, saying I owned $127. To New Mexico Tax and revenue dept. I called them and I asked them what this was for and they didn't explain why t InternetPublished Apr 23, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Diversified Collection Services. Calling for a neighbor, gave me his personal info, did NOT identify themselves as a collection agencyPublished Apr 22, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• DCS a part of the performant corporation Unprofessional, sarcastic operators, unwilling to put anything in writing, poor business practicesPublished Dec 29, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Diversified Collection Services Seemingly invalid debt collection attemptPublished Dec 20, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Miranda Layton In of this year Miranda called me and told me that if i didnt pay this debt that she was going to garnish my wages and take all my taxes every year. I told her that i this wasnt even my loan that itsPublished Dec 8, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Consumer ReportPublished Nov 15, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Michael taylor, collection representative they repeatedly harassed me with calls at 6am and at night to collect on a student loan that was sent to collections. I spoke to a representative named Michael Taylor, 866-486-0885 extension 6328, anPublished Oct 20, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Diversified Collection services Unauthorized Credit Report Inquiry by DCS on a 35 year old student loanPublished Sep 10, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Hal Cox I am unemployedPublished Aug 26, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Diversified Collection Services, Inc False letter in the mail about taxes owed to VaPublished Jul 13, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• GREAT LAKES EDUCATION, SALLIE MAE They keep harssing me about my student loans that went to collections in 2005 n/aPublished Apr 30, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Refusal to accept paymentPublished Mar 6, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• NATIONAL COLLEGIATE TRUST This company harrassed, intimidated, and threatened me over a student loan debt that is guaranteed by the governmentPublished Mar 3, 2011 · Historical consumer allegation
• Diversified Collections... Called @ work, says I owe "a bill" and won't tell me what it is!Published Oct 19, 2010 · 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

• Company website (Performant Healthcare): https://performanthealthcare.com/
• General line (company site): (866) 256-0057 3 complaints mention this number
• General questions (company site): [email protected]
• Corporate site (performantcorp.com): https://www.performantcorp.com/
• Healthcare provider questions: (866) 201-0580

Locations

Performant Recovery: what to do after a call, letter or credit report entry (checked October 7, 2026)

Performant Recovery, Inc. is a California corporation, formerly called Diversified Collection Services, Inc. (“DCS”), that collected student loans, state tax debts and other receivables. Its parent’s SEC filing says the company exited student loan recovery “during 2021 and 2022,” and the CFPB’s December 2024 consent order requires it to stop servicing and collecting student loan debt. Today the Performant group describes itself as a healthcare payment-integrity business. This page lists what the company, the CFPB and the Department of Education say, plus the public record found on October 7, 2026. Nothing here says that any particular call or letter came from this company.

If you are contacted about a student loan.

• Federal Student Aid says defaulted federal loans assigned to the Department of Education are handled by its Default Resolution Group (myeddebt.ed.gov), and that if you do not know who your loan servicer is you can find out by calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243. Its rehabilitation FAQ adds that for most borrowers the loan holder is the Default Resolution Group, that a borrower unsure of the holder can check the “My Loan Servicers” section of the StudentAid.gov account, and that an FFEL Program loan held by a guaranty agency goes to that agency rather than the Default Resolution Group.
• If you received a check from the CFPB case against Performant Recovery: the CFPB says payments have been mailed to consumers identified as affected, that you can cash the check right away and do not need to send the CFPB any information. Questions go to the administrator, RUST Consulting, at 1-877-806-7866 or [email protected].
• Federal Student Aid also warns: “If you are contacted by a company asking you to pay ‘enrollment,’ ‘subscription,’ or ‘maintenance’ fees to help you get out of default, you should walk away.”
• On Treasury offset, Federal Student Aid’s collections page says that after a notice of intent to offset you must take one of several listed actions within 65 days (until the date printed on the notice), such as making a first payment under a payment arrangement or a rehabilitation agreement, or submitting a signed consolidation application. Its default FAQ table describes the options separately: a repayment agreement “avoids Treasury offset if first payment is made within 65 days” of the date the notice was sent, and a hearing request to dispute the debt must be “postmarked within 65 days of receiving a Treasury offset notification.” Check the current option table at studentaid.gov/articles/default for your own deadline.

If you do not recognize the debt or the caller.

• The CFPB says a debt collector must give you, in the first contact or within five days, information such as the creditor’s name, the amount and how to dispute the debt, and that “in certain situations, you only have 30 days” after contact to ask for certain information. It publishes sample letters, including one asking a collector to stop contacting you, and advises keeping copies of everything you send.
• The CFPB also says that a caller who cannot provide that information may not be genuine, and advises not giving sensitive financial information to the caller before confirming who it is.

Where to complain. The CFPB takes complaints about debt collection and student loans at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or (855) 411-2372 and says most companies respond within 15 days. Performant’s own site lists a general line, (866) 256-0057, and [email protected]; its separate line for healthcare providers is (866) 201-0580. On October 7, 2026 the old consumer address performantrecovery.com opened a domain-for-sale page, so do not rely on that domain for contact details.

A note about names. Complaints and records appear under “Performant Recovery, Inc.,” “Performant Financial Corporation” (the parent’s former name), “Performant Healthcare Solutions” and the older “Diversified Collection Services” or “DCS.” The abbreviation DCS is also used by unrelated businesses, which this site’s archive keeps separate.

CFPB consent order against Performant Recovery, Inc. (December 9, 2024)

What the CFPB says. On December 9, 2024, the Bureau issued an order against Performant Recovery, Inc. (File No. 2024-CFPB-0016). The CFPB’s enforcement page says that from 2015 to 2020 Performant “used its control over the rehabilitation process to delay borrowers’ loan rehabilitations so that collection costs would be added to their loans.” It explains that borrowers in default on Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans have a one-time right to rehabilitate a loan, and that a borrower who enters a rehabilitation agreement within 65 days of defaulting is not required to pay collection costs associated with the default. The Bureau says the conduct “constituted unfair and abusive acts or practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 and unfair and unconscionable means to collect or attempt to collect debts in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.”

The CFPB’s press release says that when borrowers called within 65 days of default they were routed to specialized agents, that managers told those agents “the objective is to delay as much as possible without getting Performant in trouble,” and that borrowers incurred costs amounting to 16 percent of the loans’ outstanding balances plus additional interest. These are the Bureau’s statements of its findings in the order.

What the order requires. The CFPB says the order “requires Performant to stop servicing and collecting on any student loan debt and to pay a $700,000 civil money penalty.” The press release says the penalty is paid to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

The company’s consent. In the stipulation filed the same day, Performant Recovery agreed to the order “without admitting or denying any of the findings of fact or conclusions of law, except that Respondent admits the facts necessary to establish the Bureau’s jurisdiction over Respondent and the subject matter of this action.” The stipulation also says the facts in Section IV of the order will be taken as true in any proceeding to enforce the order.

Status. The CFPB’s adjudication docket lists two filings (the consent order and the stipulation, both December 9, 2024) and the status “Post-order/Post-judgment.” Paragraph 79 of the order says it “will terminate on the later of 5 years from the Effective Date or 5 years from the most recent date that the Bureau initiates an action alleging any violation of the Consent Order” within 5 years of the Effective Date, and defines the Effective Date as the date the order is entered on the administrative docket (the order is stamped filed December 9, 2024). No later modification or termination was found in the sources checked on October 9, 2026.

Refunds. The CFPB’s payments page for the case (“Payments have been mailed to consumers who were identified as an affected customer”) says consumers “can cash their check right away, and they do not need to send the CFPB any information,” and lists the compensation dates as “May 29, 2026 - Ongoing.” Questions go to the administrator, RUST Consulting: 1-877-806-7866 or [email protected]. The order defines “Affected Consumers” as consumers who defaulted on a Federal Family Education Loan Program loan between July 1, 2015 and March 13, 2020, called Performant within 65 days following default, entered a rehabilitation agreement between 66 and 95 days following default, completed rehabilitation, and incurred collection costs on that loan. The CFPB page also says that under the order Performant Recovery “should no longer be collecting or servicing student loan debt.”

About Performant Recovery, Inc.: history, ownership and what it does now

History. Performant’s 10-K for 2015 says the business “commenced our operations in 1976 under the corporate name Diversified Collection Services, Inc., or DCS,” and that effective August 13, 2012 the subsidiary DCS was renamed Performant Recovery, Inc. The 10-K for 2024 describes Performant Recovery, Inc. as a California corporation founded in 1976 that does business as Performant Healthcare Solutions. Those are the company’s own statements; BBB’s page data also shows a 1976 start and incorporation.

Corporate family. According to the 10-K for 2024, Performant Recovery is a wholly owned subsidiary of Performant Business Services, Inc. (a Nevada corporation founded in 1997), which is wholly owned by Performant Healthcare, Inc. (formerly Performant Financial Corporation). A sister company, Performant Technologies, LLC, sits under the same subsidiary. On October 21, 2025, Machinify announced that it had closed its acquisition of Performant Healthcare, Inc. for approximately $670 million; Performant’s SEC Form 8-K of the same date says Continental Buyer, Inc. completed the merger and the company survived as its wholly owned subsidiary.

Student loan and tax collections (historical). The 10-K for 2021 says Performant’s recovery services “primarily” served the government-supported student loan industry, with clients that included several of the largest guaranty agencies, and also covered federal, state and municipal tax authorities and the U.S. Treasury. That filing says the Department of Education paused student loan recovery work through 2021 and the company did not renew or restart non-healthcare recovery contracts. The 10-K for 2022 says these markets “are no longer a focus of the Company,” and the 10-K for 2024 says the company “exited the student loan recovery business during 2021 and 2022” but that statutes of limitations on laws such as the FDCPA, FCRA, TCPA and CFPB rules had not all lapsed. The 10-K for 2018 records that the Department of Education announced new student loan recovery awards in January 2018 and then canceled that procurement on May 3, 2018, terminating Performant’s award.

Today. Performant describes its business as healthcare payment integrity: audit, eligibility and coordination-of-benefits, and recovery services for health plans and government programs, including a Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) role for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Its 2024 10-K reports about $123.0 million in revenue and says it holds eleven registered trademarks. Its headquarters are in Plantation, Florida.

Complaint record: CFPB database, BBB and this site’s archive

CFPB Consumer Complaint Database (as published, queried October 7, 2026). Under the name “Performant Financial Corporation” the database lists 682 complaints received from July 10, 2013 to January 10, 2022. The product labels are Debt collection (531), Student loan (121) and Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports (22), with a few others; the company response labels are “Closed with explanation” (511), “Closed with non-monetary relief” (169) and “Closed with monetary relief” (2). Under the name “Performant Recovery, Inc.” the database lists 3 complaints, received on February 24, July 16 and September 10, 2026 (two labelled student loan servicing, one labelled debt collection of federal student loan debt); the response shown for each is “Untimely response.” These are consumer submissions as the CFPB publishes them. They are not findings, the two names are separate database entries and are not added together here, and the 2026 entries are shown exactly as the database labels them.

BBB. The BBB profile “Performant Healthcare Solutions” in Livermore, California (alternate names Performant Financial Corp and Performant Recovery, Inc.) shows a rating of A-, says the business is not BBB Accredited, and gives as the reason for the rating “Failure to respond to 3 complaint(s) filed against business.” As displayed on October 9, 2026, it shows 3 complaints in the last 3 years, 0 complaints filed in the last 12 months, and 0 reviews (“This business has 0 reviews”). A second BBB listing, “Diversified Collection Service” in Lathrop, California (alternate name DCS, INC.), shows the same rating reason. BBB figures are not combined with CFPB or archive figures.

This site’s archive. usacomplaints.com has 71 published posts linked to this company, dated December 2003 to January 2013, almost all under the names Diversified Collection Services or DCS (70 are linked as primary; one that lists “NCO dba Diversified Collection Services” is linked as non-primary). The posts are anonymous consumer accounts that this site has not verified. A keyword count of the 71 posts (a post can match several themes): 37 mention a student loan, rehabilitation, the Department of Education or Sallie Mae; 19 mention Virginia or another state tax debt; 38 mention garnishment, tax refund offset, liens or levies; 23 mention calls to an employer, neighbor or other third party; 18 mention disputing the debt or asking for proof; 33 use words such as rude, harass, threat or abusive. Posts that only used the abbreviation DCS for other businesses, posts about NCO Financial calls, and machine-rewritten posts were not linked.

Lawsuits naming Performant: what the public dockets show

Volume. CourtListener’s search of federal dockets with “Performant Recovery” in the case name returned 302 results on October 9, 2026, the most recent filed in September 2021 (Mason v. Performant Recovery, Inc., W.D. Tex. No. 1:21-cv-00783, terminated January 20, 2022). Most are individual consumer cases; the count includes appeals and is not a count of class actions or outcomes, and it says nothing about the merits of any case.

Class action example. Glick v. Performant Financial Corporation, N.D. Cal. No. 4:16-cv-05461, was filed September 23, 2016 as a class action under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (the docket lists the cause as 47 U.S.C. 227). The parties filed a stipulation to dismiss on October 9, 2017, and Judge Tigar signed the stipulation and order on October 10, 2017. The order dismissed the named plaintiff’s individual claim with prejudice and the putative class claims without prejudice, and it names the defendant as Performant Recovery, Inc., “erroneously sued and served as Performant Financial Corporation.” No settlement amount appears in the order.

Performant’s 10-K for 2021 says its legal proceedings “generally derive from our student loan recovery services, and generally assert claims for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act or similar federal and state consumer credit laws,” and that it did not expect them to have a material adverse effect. That is the company’s own statement.

Is Performant Recovery Legitimate?

Performant Recovery, Inc. is described in its parent’s SEC filings (10-K for 2024, Note 1) as a California corporation founded in 1976, a subsidiary of Performant Business Services, Inc. and of Performant Healthcare, Inc., and Machinify announced in October 2025 that it had closed its acquisition of the parent, Performant Healthcare, Inc.. Its former name, Diversified Collection Services, Inc., was renamed in 2012. The same record includes a December 9, 2024 CFPB consent order, entered without the company admitting or denying the findings, that requires it to stop servicing and collecting student loan debt and to pay a $700,000 civil money penalty. BBB shows an A- rating with the reason “Failure to respond to 3 complaint(s) filed against business,” and the CFPB database lists 3 complaints under the name Performant Recovery, Inc. in 2026, each with a response label of “Untimely response.”

Because the company says it left student loan recovery in 2021–2022 and the order bars it from collecting student loans, a student-loan demand that cites “Performant” or “DCS” today is worth checking against the Department of Education before paying. Verify any caller through the contact details the company publishes, ask for written validation, and use the CFPB complaint route if the answers do not match.

Court & Public Records

Related Complaints

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

• Also named in this complaint: Collection on debt paid by judgement

Company Relationships

• Subsidiary of: Performant Business Services, Inc.
• Subsidiary of: Performant Healthcare, Inc.
• Affiliated with: Performant Technologies, LLC
• Formerly known as: Diversified Collection Services, Inc.
• Acquired by: Machinify
• Collects debts for: Student loan guaranty agencies (historical clients)

Frequently Asked Questions