A-1 Collection Agency Phone Harassment?

A-1 Collection Agency works one lane above almost all others: Colorado medical debt. This Grand Junction agency collects hospital and clinic bills across the Western Slope, and if it is calling you, the balance almost certainly started at a medical provider. That matters more in Colorado than nearly anywhere else, because Colorado became the first state in the country to bar medical debt from consumer credit reports, and it licenses every collection agency through the state Attorney General. So a call from A-1 about a medical bill runs into a stack of protections that a collector is unlikely to walk you through.

Consumer Rights Law Firm PLLC has been ending collection harassment since 2010 and holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. Reach the office at (877) 700-5790 or open a free case review. If A-1 broke the rules, the fee is theirs to pay, not yours.

Quick Facts About A-1 Collection Agency

Are the Calls From A-1 Collection Agency Legal?

A-1 Collection Agency can contact you about a medical bill a provider placed with it, and it is a licensed Colorado agency, so the calls are not automatically unlawful. What sets the boundaries is the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and Colorado’s medical-debt rules, and A-1’s own complaint record shows several of those lines being tested.

Conduct that may cross a legal line, drawn from the company’s Better Business Bureau file, includes:

• Continuing to collect a medical debt the hospital itself has no record of.
• Ignoring a certified request for debt validation and an itemized statement.
• Placing telephone calls after you sent a written cease and desist asking for mail-only contact.
• Pursuing you for a bill that belongs to someone else entirely.
• Letting post-judgment interest and repeated court filings balloon a balance you have been paying down for years.
• Reporting medical debt in a way Colorado law no longer permits.

When clients come to us about A-1, our attorneys look first at whether the debt is even valid and whether a written cease and desist or debt validation request was ignored, because in A-1’s published complaints, both of those failures show up in black and white.

Who Is A-1 Collection Agency and Why Are They Calling You?

A-1 Collection Agency, LLC has operated out of Grand Junction since 1992, and it holds an active Colorado collection agency license, number CAR-1000323, issued through the state Attorney General. Its work centers on medical receivables, collecting for hospitals such as Community Hospital and other providers around western Colorado, which is why the bills it chases are overwhelmingly for care rather than credit cards or auto loans.

If A-1 is calling, a medical provider turned your account over to the agency. What the call tends not to explain is everything Colorado law now layers on top of a medical collection, from a right to demand an itemized statement and debt validation to a statewide ban on reporting the debt to the credit bureaus. We frequently see medical accounts that are disputed, misassigned, or simply wrong land in collections anyway, and A-1’s own complaint history includes a consumer whose hospital confirmed it had no record of the debt at all.

The Medical Debt Rules Colorado Actually Applies

This is where an A-1 Collection Agency case is different from an ordinary collection, so it is worth reading closely. In 2023, Colorado enacted House Bill 23-1126, which took effect that August and prohibits consumer reporting agencies from including medical debt on Colorado consumers’ credit reports. Colorado was the first state to do this, and it means a medical collection from A-1 generally should not be sitting on your Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion file at all. One of A-1’s own Better Business Bureau complaints describes a consumer who had a bill removed through the credit bureau and yet still received collection calls, which is exactly the mismatch this law is meant to prevent.

The credit-report ban sits on top of your ordinary tools. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act you can demand debt validation within 30 days, including an itemized statement of the charges, and A-1 must stop collecting until it provides that proof. When clients come to us with an A-1 medical account, the plan usually pairs a written debt validation demand with a check of whether the debt was ever properly reported, because Colorado gives you leverage on both fronts.

Is A-1 Collection Agency a Scam or a Legitimate Company?

A-1 Collection Agency is a legitimate, state-licensed Colorado business that has collected medical debt since 1992, not a scam, and its license can be verified through the Colorado Attorney General’s collection agency records. So a call tied to an actual medical account is a genuine collection effort rather than a con.

Being licensed, though, does not mean every account is correct or every tactic is proper. A-1 is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, and its published complaints describe a debt the hospital could not verify, a balance that grew despite years of on-time payments, and a consumer pursued for a bill that was not hers. Legitimacy is a starting point, not a reason to pay a medical debt A-1 cannot document.

A-1 Collection Agency BBB Complaints

Source: Better Business Bureau

The Better Business Bureau lists A-1 Collection Agency as not accredited, with three complaints over three years, and the specifics are unusually telling for such a small file. Each one points at a different pressure point in how the company collects medical debt.

In a 2026 complaint, a consumer disputed a medical debt in full, reported that the hospital confirmed it had no record of the account, and said that a certified letter requesting mail-only contact and full debt validation with an itemized statement went ignored while the calls continued; A-1 first said it never received the request, then agreed to obtain itemized statements from the facility. In a 2025 complaint, a consumer who had paid $150 a month for over four years on a hospital account said A-1 took it to court twice, and that with court costs and 8 percent post-judgment interest, they owed more than when the account first went to collections; A-1 responded that the balance stemmed from revived court judgments accruing interest. In a 2024 complaint, a domestic-violence survivor described being told to pay her abuser’s emergency-room bill because he was in jail, and said that even after the bill was removed through the credit bureau, the calls kept coming; A-1 said it had since moved the file to cease communication. You can also review complaints tied to the company in the CFPB consumer complaint database.

Consumer Reviews and What People Report

Tactics and Patterns Documented Against A-1

Drawing directly on A-1 Collection Agency’s Better Business Bureau complaints, here are the specific patterns tied to this agency:

• Collecting a medical debt the original hospital says it has no record of.
• Failing to provide debt validation and an itemized statement after a certified request.
• Continuing telephone calls after a consumer sent a written cease and desist requesting mail-only contact.
• Taking a paying consumer to court repeatedly and letting court costs and 8 percent post-judgment interest grow the balance beyond the original debt.
• Pursuing a domestic-violence survivor for her abuser’s medical bill.
• Continuing to call about a debt even after it was removed through the credit bureau.

If your situation matches any of these, the certified-mail paper trail you build is what turns a frustrating call into a documented violation.

Lawsuit Against A-1 Collection Agency

1. Fullmer et al. v. A-1 Collection Agency, LLC et al.

Consumers John Fullmer, Josh Burt, Sean McIntyre, and Sabrina Provo sued A-1 Collection Agency and Moab Valley Healthcare. They alleged that A-1 improperly disclosed confidential personal and protected health information during state-court debt-collection proceedings, asserting FDCPA, Utah consumer-protection, privacy, and negligence claims.

The case ultimately resulted in a class settlement, which the court granted final approval for on November 26, 2025.

Our Firm’s Observation: This is the stronger case for A-1’s litigation history because consumers alleged improper disclosure of private medical information in connection with debt collection, and the matter proceeded as a class action before settling.

Source: Justia

Your Legal Rights When A-1 Collection Agency Is Calling You

• FDCPA, debt validation: Within 30 days of first contact you can demand debt validation, including an itemized statement of the medical charges and proof the debt is yours. A-1 must stop collecting until it provides that documentation.
• FDCPA, cease and desist: You can send a written cease and desist, and A-1 must then limit contact to confirming it will stop or noting a specific legal step. One of A-1’s complaints alleges calls that continued after exactly this kind of written request.
• Colorado Medical Debt Credit Reporting Ban: Under House Bill 23-1126, medical debt generally may not appear on a Colorado consumer’s credit report. If an A-1 medical collection shows up on your report, that is grounds to dispute it.
• Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Licensing: Colorado licenses collection agencies through the Attorney General, and A-1’s license is CAR-1000323. You can verify the license and file a complaint with the state, and the Colorado act adds protections beyond the federal law.
• Colorado Statute of Limitations: The statute of limitations on most consumer debt in Colorado is generally six years. A debt older than the statute of limitations cannot be enforced by a new lawsuit, though existing court judgments can be revived and continue to accrue interest.
• TCPA and EFTA: Automated or recorded calls to your cell phone without consent are restricted at $500 to $1,500 each, and if any payment was drafted from your bank account without authorization, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act applies.

A-1 Collection Agency and Colorado Law Violations

The grid pairs prohibited conduct with the law behind it, informed by A-1’s own complaint record.

How to Stop A-1 Collection Agency Phone Calls?

• Step 1: Get an itemized statement and demand debt validation. Send A-1 Collection Agency a certified letter to PO Box 1929, Grand Junction, CO 81502-1929, within 30 days of first contact, requesting full debt validation, an itemized statement of the medical charges, and proof of assignment from the original provider. A-1 must stop collecting until it responds, and if the hospital has no record of the debt, that demand is where it unravels.
• Step 2: Put a cease and desist in writing. If the calls are unwanted, send a written cease and desist requesting mail-only contact, exactly as one A-1 complainant did, and keep the certified-mail receipt. Any telephone call after A-1 receives it can be a separate violation.
• Step 3: Check your credit reports for a medical entry. Pull all three reports and look for an A-1 medical collection. Because Colorado’s HB23-1126 bars medical debt from consumer credit reports, an A-1 medical tradeline generally should not be there, and you can dispute it in writing.
• Step 4: Scrutinize any court judgment and the interest. If A-1 has a judgment against you, request the case details and the running balance, and check how court costs and 8 percent post-judgment interest are being applied. A balance that grows while you pay on time is worth challenging, and the statute of limitations governs whether a new suit is even possible.
• Step 5: Report it and get advice. File complaints with the Colorado Attorney General’s Collection Agency Board, the FTC, and the CFPB. Or reach Consumer Rights Law Firm PLLC at (877) 700-5790 or open a free case review. A proven violation puts the legal costs on the company.

Consumer Rights Law Firm PLLC

Consumer Rights Law Firm PLLC helps Colorado consumers who are being chased over a medical bill they dispute, do not owe, or have already paid down, and who cannot get the collector to document its claim. The firm has handled Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases since 2010, holds an A+ Better Business Bureau rating, and knows how to force a debt validation, enforce a written cease and desist, and challenge a medical collection that Colorado law says should never have been reported. Because federal and state law make a violating collector pay the legal bill, getting help costs nothing up front, and clients frequently see a disputed medical account resolved and the calls stopped.

If A-1 Collection Agency is pressing you over a medical debt, call (877) 700-5790 or reach the office online for a free look at your situation.

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