Stop Merchants Adjustment Service Phone Harassment!

Most people meet Merchants Adjustment Service, known as MAS, after a trip to the emergency room, an imaging center, or a hospital, when a bill they never saw suddenly turns into a collection call. This Mobile, Alabama agency built its business on medical accounts, chasing balances owed to radiologists, hospitals, and other providers. Because MAS collects for third parties, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act sets firm limits on what its callers may say and do.

Consumer Rights Law Firm PLLC has defended consumers against collector abuse since 2010, backed by an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. Phone us at (877) 700-5790 or begin a free case review. Nothing comes out of your pocket, because a collector that broke the law is the one who pays.

Quick Facts About Merchants Adjustment Service

Source: BBB Business Profile for Merchants Adjustment Service, Inc.

Why Is Merchants Adjustment Service Contacting You?

MAS pursues debts that other businesses turned over for collection, and in its case those businesses are overwhelmingly medical providers. Hospitals, emergency departments, and especially radiology groups that read your x-rays and scans hand unpaid balances to MAS, which then bills and calls you directly.

The pattern that trips up so many consumers is the separate radiologist charge. You may have paid the hospital, only to learn months later that the physician who interpreted your imaging billed independently, and that bill drifted into collections without you ever seeing it. When someone rings you about a doctor you never knowingly met, that surprise charge is usually the reason. You have every right to insist on documentation before you accept responsibility for a single dollar.

Are the Calls From Merchants Adjustment Service Legal, and When Do They Cross the Line?

A collector may lawfully reach out about a genuine medical debt, yet the FDCPA draws hard boundaries around how it does so. Conduct that turns a legal call into a violation includes:

• Phoning you before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. in your time zone.
• Ringing again and again to pressure or intimidate you.
• Announcing your medical debt to relatives, coworkers, or neighbors.
• Warning that the account will go to an attorney or to court when no such step is planned.
• Pressing forward with collection after you asked in writing that they stop.
• Reporting a balance to the credit bureaus that it has not verified.

In our practice, medical collection accounts carry an added layer of protection. One thing consumers often misunderstand is that health-related debt is now treated differently by the nationwide credit bureaus, which have removed paid medical collections and stopped reporting many smaller unpaid medical balances. If MAS placed a medical account on your report that should never have appeared, that reporting error can anchor a strong claim under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Is This Harassment, and How Often Can MAS Call You?

Repetition becomes harassment when the purpose of the calls shifts from informing you to wearing you down. The federal debt collection rule, Regulation F at 12 C.F.R. §1006.14, sets a measurable threshold: contacting you more than seven times about one debt inside a seven-day stretch, or calling again within a week of a live conversation, is presumed to be harassing.

We frequently see medical collection callers dial early in the morning or repeatedly across a single day, and the BBB record for MAS includes a consumer who described a threatening morning call warning that an unpaid balance would be handed to an attorney. Our attorneys treat that kind of timeline as evidence, because a documented sequence of calls speaks louder than any recollection of tone.

How to Verify a Merchants Adjustment Service Medical Bill

Medical billing is confusing by design, and that confusion is exactly why verification matters so much with an MAS account. Before you pay, take these steps:

• Request an itemized statement. Ask MAS for a line-by-line bill showing the provider, the date of service, and what each charge covers. A vague balance is not proof.
• Trace the original provider. Determine which hospital, imaging center, or physician group the debt came from, then compare it against your own records and your explanation of benefits.
• Loop in your insurer. Many MAS disputes trace back to a claim that was never filed correctly or an amount that does not match what your plan actually approved.
• Demand written validation. Send a certified letter requiring MAS to prove the debt and its authority to collect it. Collection must pause until it responds. Our debt validation letter page explains how.
• Check every credit bureau. Confirm whether the account appears and whether it complies with current medical reporting rules. Dispute anything inaccurate through our dispute a credit report guide.

Our attorneys evaluate the paper trail closely, because when a provider cannot connect a signature and a service to the exact charge, the collector’s position tends to collapse.

BBB Complaints Against Merchants Adjustment Service

The Better Business Bureau records 40 complaints against MAS over the past three years, with 2 closed in the most recent 12 months. The company carries an A+ rating and, unlike many collectors, tends to respond to complaints, though its responses frequently point back to a facility sign-in form as the basis for the charge. The dominant theme is unmistakable: consumers say they never contracted with MAS and were never shown the original documentation. Here are verified complaints from the live BBB page.

Source: BBB Complaints page for Merchants Adjustment Service, Inc.

Complaint 1: A threatening morning call over an unseen bill (July 23, 2025): A consumer wrote that MAS claimed to have mailed a bill after insurance was filed, though none ever arrived, and that a representative called in the morning warning the account would go to an attorney if it went unpaid. The consumer added that when they reached a manager, she grew defensive and insisted it was the consumer’s job to track their own insurance processing.

Complaint 2: A surprise radiology charge and no proof (April 1, 2025): A consumer disputed a $741 balance under account number ending 1338, writing that they never signed anything with MAS and that when they asked for a copy of the original application, the company did not provide it. MAS responded that the consumer had signed in at a facility on a 2019 date of service and that the charge was for the radiologist who read their imaging.

Complaint 3: A fraud claim met with a signature defense (February 13, 2025): A consumer rejected an MAS balance, writing that without validation of the debt, a full itemization, and the identity of who charged it, they could not confirm the debt was theirs. MAS answered that the charge related to a 2022 CT reading and offered to email verification, a pattern that repeats across its responses.

Consumer Reviews of Merchants Adjustment Service

Customer reviews on the BBB run sharply negative and center on debts consumers do not recognize. One reviewer, Zach M, described finding an MAS collection on his credit report and wrote:

“Literally just found a debt owed on my credit report for the same amount as multiple others. This company tried to tell me it is absolutely not the same as the others and I was lied to even though the same name, dates and debt owed (supposed to have been covered by the VA) and constantly spoke over me.”

Another reviewer, Cheryl H, kept it blunt about an account she could not place:

“I do not owe these people. Have no idea what this collection is for.”

What our clients describe tends to match these reviews closely: a collection that appears without warning, tied to a provider they cannot identify, for an amount no one will fully explain. When a veteran’s care that should have been covered ends up in collections anyway, as Zach M described, the reporting error itself often becomes the heart of the case.

Lawsuits Filed Against Merchants Adjustment Service

Despite its long history and high BBB grade, MAS has been named in federal consumer protection litigation. These are verified matters from public court records, and full documents require a PACER account.

Baucom v. Merchants Adjustment Service, Inc.: Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama under case number 3:22-cv-00039, this action placed MAS in federal court in its home state on consumer protection grounds. Suits filed where a collector operates are common when a consumer alleges the agency mishandled a debt or its validation.

Echols v. Merchants Adjustment Service, Inc.: Docketed in the Northern District of Alabama as case number 5:24-cv-01430 in 2024, this more recent filing shows that claims against MAS have continued into the present. Our attorneys pay attention when the same collector draws repeat federal filings years apart, because it can signal that certain practices have not changed.

A lawsuit on file is not a finding of wrongdoing, and each FDCPA claim rises or falls on its own facts, its own letters, and its own call logs. What matters for you is whether the conduct you experienced violated the statute.

Your Legal Rights When Merchants Adjustment Service Calls

• FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act): Your central protection against MAS as a third-party collector. It forbids harassment, empty threats, disclosure of your debt to others, and collection after a written stop request, and it entitles you to validation. Damages reach $1,000 plus actual losses and attorney fees.
• FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act): Especially powerful for medical accounts, it lets you dispute inaccurate or improperly reported balances, and furnishers must investigate within 30 days.
• TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act): Restricts automated or recorded calls to your cell phone without consent, at $500 to $1,500 per call.
• Alabama collection law: Because MAS is licensed and operates in Alabama, state oversight adds another avenue of accountability for abusive collection conduct.

FDCPA Violation Comparison for Merchants Adjustment Service

Can You Sue Merchants Adjustment Service?

You can. When MAS violates the FDCPA, TCPA, or FCRA, you may bring suit, recover damages, and shift your legal fees onto the collector. The FDCPA provides up to $1,000 in statutory damages plus any out-of-pocket harm, and misreported medical debt can support additional recovery under the FCRA.

A modest balance does not make your claim weak. A pattern of ill-timed calls, a threat the collector could not carry out, or a validation request that went ignored can each stand on its own. Since these laws make the offender pay, we advance your case with no cost to you.

What To Do Next: Steps to Handle Merchants Adjustment Service

Step 1: Keep a running record of every call. Log the date, the exact time, the number shown, whether a person or a recording spoke, and the substance of what was said. Hold on to voicemails rather than deleting them.

Step 2: Demand written validation and an itemized bill. Send your request by certified mail so MAS must prove the debt, name the provider, and show its right to collect before it continues. Keep the mailing receipt.

Step 3: Reconcile the bill with your insurer. Pull your explanation of benefits and confirm whether the claim was filed and what your plan actually approved, since medical billing errors are common.

Step 4: Dispute any credit reporting problem. If the MAS account is inaccurate, paid, or should not appear under current medical reporting rules, challenge it in writing with each bureau.

Step 5: Report the conduct and speak with an attorney. Submit a complaint to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and to the CFPB, then call Consumer Rights Law Firm PLLC at (877) 700-5790 for a free case review. If the law was broken, fee-shifting means you owe us nothing.

Consumer Rights Law Firm PLLC

Consumer Rights Law Firm PLLC is a law firm that specializes in helping clients who are facing harassment from debt collectors in any form, including telephone communication. We have helped thousands of clients and have extensive experience assisting thousands of individuals with debt collection and harassment issues. Our approach is to treat every client like friends, caring deeply about your peace of mind and well-being.

We are committed to maintaining a healthy and prosperous credit industry, supporting both consumers and creditors alike with integrity and fairness so all can prosper. Rather than suffer alone, contact our office to begin the process to stop their harassment. Our office has been assisting consumers since 2010. We have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

If you are interested in learning more about how to safeguard yourself and prevent even more harassment from Merchants Adjustment Service, call us at 877-700-5790.

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