A debt buyer has been fined $5,000 — $4,000 of which was stayed — by the Minnesota Department of Commerce after purchasing 178 charged-off accounts for collection purposes despite not having a collection agency license in the state.
A copy of the settlement in the matter against Shepherd Outsourcing can be accessed by clicking here.
The company was notified it had a right to a hearing and to appeal any adverse determination from that hearing, but waived its right in exchange for the informal disposition that was ultimately reached. The company was ordered to pay $5,000, but $4,000 of that amount was stayed, leaving the company to pay a fine of $1,000. The stayed portion of the fine will be lifted if the company commits any further violations of the law before the stay is vacated on August 29, 2025.
The state did not indicate how it came to learn that the company had purchased the accounts or whether it undertook any collection efforts to recover the unpaid amounts. The state did not indicate the type of debt that was purchased or the face value of the debt that was purchased.
