Halsted Financial Services reaches people by text and email as often as by phone — which is why so many people search the name to find out whether it is real. It is: a debt collection company in Skokie, Illinois. And because it is a third-party collector, the debt it is contacting you about started with some other company.
What Halsted Financial is
Halsted Financial Services, LLC is an accounts receivable collection agency — that is its own Better Business Bureau description — located at 8001 Lincoln Avenue, Suite 500, Skokie, Illinois, in business since 2008. When it reports a collection account under its own name, “HALSTED FINANCIAL” or “HALSTED FINANCIAL SERVICES” is what appears on the credit report.
The errors to look for
Collection accounts are where credit reporting goes wrong most often, because the account has changed hands and the paperwork does not always follow. Look for: a debt that is not yours at all; a balance larger than what you owed; a debt you already paid or settled still reporting as open; a debt so old it should no longer appear; and the same debt reported twice, once by the original company and once by the collector, in a way that misstates what you owe. If the account is one you never had, start with our collection that is not yours page.
How to dispute a Halsted entry
With the credit bureaus. Dispute in writing with each bureau showing the entry. The bureau generally has thirty days to investigate, and the company that reported the debt must investigate what is forwarded to it. Keep copies and proof of mailing.
With the company. Halsted’s Better Business Bureau record lists its contact as 8001 Lincoln Ave Ste 500, Skokie, IL 60077, telephone 855-472-6628, and its own website maintains a consumer FAQ and contact channels. You can also demand validation of the debt itself; our free debt verification letter template covers how.
When the dispute fails
If a collection entry comes back “verified” and it is still wrong — not yours, the wrong amount, too old to report — the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you a claim against the furnisher, the bureaus, or both. Damages can include your concrete losses, the harm to your credit, and statutory and punitive damages for willful violations. The fee provision is written into the Act: in a successful action the costs and reasonable attorney’s fees are recoverable from the defendant, as determined by the court. That is why this work is handled on a contingency basis rather than billed by the hour.
You pay nothing unless we win.
Where your situation fits
Our guide to removing collections from a credit report covers the steps in order, our directory of debt collectors and furnishers lists the companies that report, and if a dispute has already failed, our FCRA lawsuit page sets out what comes next.
Have your report reviewed
The Kim Law Firm represents consumers in Fair Credit Reporting Act cases against debt collectors and the credit bureaus. Send us the report page showing the entry and we will tell you whether we see a claim. Our FCRA attorney page covers how these cases work.
Contact us to have your credit report reviewed.
Admitted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; available to appear pro hac vice in other federal courts.
This page is about credit reporting accuracy. The Kim Law Firm is not affiliated with Halsted Financial Services, LLC, and this page is not a complaint about that company. It describes how collection entries can appear on credit reports and the rights consumers have when an entry is wrong.