LVNV Funding and Resurgent Capital Services

LVNV Funding is a debt buyer. When a lender charges off an account and sells it, LVNV becomes the new owner (LVNV Funding company site, opens in a new tab). It does not usually contact you itself.

Resurgent Capital Services does. It calls itself a servicer of accounts (Resurgent company site, opens in a new tab) for buyers of charged-off debt: it writes, calls, takes payments and reports to the credit bureaus. Both sit in the Resurgent family of companies (Resurgent company site, opens in a new tab), with buyers such as CACH and Resurgent Receivables.

Both are real companies. LVNV lists its California and Maryland licenses (LVNV Funding company site, opens in a new tab) and calls Resurgent a licensed debt collector. Resurgent warns of scams aimed at collection accounts (Resurgent company site, opens in a new tab), so check any message yourself.

In 2012 LVNV and Resurgent settled with a Maryland licensing regulator, paying a $1 million penalty (Maryland State Collection Agency Licensing Board (copy hosted by NCLC), opens in a new tab) and dismissing 3,564 pending court cases. We found no CFPB enforcement action against either company.

Usually because an account you once had, often a credit card, store card or loan, went unpaid and was sold. You never borrowed from LVNV, but the right to collect passed to it with the sale.

The credit report shows the owner, not the servicer. Resurgent explains that the tradeline carries the account owner's name (Resurgent company site, opens in a new tab), so you may see LVNV (or Resurgent Receivables) on your report while Resurgent writes to you.

The federal rules follow the servicer. Every Resurgent message states it is from a debt collector (Resurgent company site, opens in a new tab), which brings in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Regulation F, and the same limits bind any agency partner it uses.

Check, then choose. An LVNV account has been sold at least once, so confirm it is yours, that the balance matches your records and that your state's time limit has not run. A letter left unanswered can lead to a lawsuit.

LVNV does sue. A Maryland appeals court noted that Resurgent typically files an action in court (Maryland Court of Special Appeals, opens in a new tab) on debts LVNV owns.

In that 2017 class action, the court upheld a jury's finding that LVNV broke Maryland collection law by collecting on judgments won while it was unlicensed. It also vacated the damages award and sent the case back for a new trial on damages.

How often does LVNV show up to court? No figure is published. Across all collectors, Pew found more than 70 percent (The Pew Charitable Trusts, opens in a new tab) of debt suits end in a default judgment, entered when the person sued does not respond.

Often, yes. Resurgent's own site says it may be able to help you resolve your debt (Resurgent company site, opens in a new tab) for less than you owe. How much less depends on the account, and nothing is certain.

The CFPB's baseline: accurate negative items generally stay (CFPB, opens in a new tab) on your report, most for seven years. Resurgent states its own policy instead, in its FAQ (Resurgent company site, opens in a new tab):

If your unsecured debts reach $10,000 or more in total, an LVNV Funding account can go into the program with the rest. We would first ask Resurgent to validate the debt, then negotiate with Resurgent as LVNV's servicer. You approve any settlement before money is paid1.

If LVNV has already sued you, speak to an attorney about the case. We do not give legal advice, and a settlement does not end a lawsuit on its own.