Shepherd Outsourcing Lawsuit: FDCPA Violations and Complaints

Shepherd Outsourcing, a Greenville, South Carolina debt collector founded in 2021, has been named in a string of federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuits and has drawn hundreds of consumer complaints alleging it tries to collect debts people do not owe, sends unwanted text messages, and refuses to properly verify what it says is owed. If the company has contacted you, federal law gives you specific tools to force it to prove the debt, stop the calls, and recover money if it has broken the rules.

Federal Lawsuits Filed Against the Company

At least five FDCPA cases have been filed against Shepherd Outsourcing in state and federal courts since early 2025, and the pace picked up through the year.

Crompton v. Shepherd Outsourcing LLC, a class action filed in St. Lucie County Circuit Court, Florida on January 23, 2025, alleges violations of the FDCPA and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act. As of late 2025 the case remained pending.¹
Hogan v. Shepherd Outsourcing, Inc. et al, filed in the Southern District of Texas in June 2025, was settled in August 2025. Terms were not disclosed.²
Hilts v. Shepherd Outsourcing, LLC (District of Oregon, Case No. 1:25-cv-01252), filed in July 2025, was dismissed with prejudice on October 1, 2025 after the parties settled.³
Hawthorne v. Shepherd Outsourcing was filed in the Northern District of Texas in August 2025, also alleging FDCPA violations.²
Dean v. Shepherd Outsourcing, LLC (Northern District of Illinois, Case No. 1:25-cv-14887), filed in December 2025 by consumer firm Edelman, Combs, Latturner & Goodwin, was terminated in May 2026. The resolution was not made public.⁴

No federal regulatory enforcement action by the CFPB or FTC against Shepherd Outsourcing has been publicly reported.⁵

What Consumers Are Reporting

The complaint volume against the company is substantial. As of mid-2026, the Better Business Bureau listed 339 complaints against Shepherd Outsourcing over the previous three years, 315 of them categorized as billing issues.⁶ The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had received 492 complaints as of June 2026, with “attempts to collect debt not owed” the single largest category at 151 filings.⁵

A few patterns come up repeatedly:

Wrong-number and mistaken-identity contacts. In its BBB responses, the company has often acknowledged that it believed a number belonged to someone else and said it added the number to an internal Do Not Call/Text list.⁶
Unsolicited collection texts from short code 91651, with some consumers saying messages continued after they replied “stop.”²
Refusal to validate debts when consumers asked for written proof, with some describing agents as hostile.²
Threatening statements. One consumer reported an agent saying, “I could take out a credit card in your name right now and you wouldn’t be able to stop me.”²
Requests for the last four digits of a Social Security number or a full date of birth before the company will investigate a dispute, which some consumers have called a phishing tactic.⁶

Shepherd Outsourcing has responded that it is “a third-party collection agency licensed and bonded in all applicable states” and “strictly prohibits any fraudulent activity, deceptive practices, abuse, or harassment of consumers.”⁶

What You Can Do If Shepherd Outsourcing Contacts You

Demand Written Verification of the Debt

Within 30 days of the first contact, you can send a written request for verification of the debt. Once you do, the collector must stop collection activity until it provides documentation supporting what it says you owe.⁷ If you don’t believe you owe the debt, a written dispute letter also forces the collector to record the debt as disputed and report that status to credit bureaus.⁸ You do not have to hand over your Social Security number or date of birth to trigger this right.

Send a Cease-and-Desist Letter

A written cease-and-desist letter requires the collector to stop contacting you. After receiving one, the collector may only reach out to acknowledge the request or to tell you about a specific legal action it plans to take.⁷

Know What the FDCPA Prohibits

Debt collectors cannot call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time, use threatening or abusive language, misrepresent what you owe, or contact you at work after you’ve told them not to.⁷ Continued texts after a “stop” reply, calls about a debt that isn’t yours, and threats about opening credit in your name all fall within the kinds of conduct consumers have already sued Shepherd Outsourcing over.

Sue for Damages

If a collector violates the FDCPA, you can sue for up to $1,000 in statutory damages per case, plus actual damages and attorney’s fees. In a class action, the statutory cap is the lesser of $500,000 or one percent of the collector’s net worth.⁷ The lawsuit must be filed within one year of the violation.⁸ The Hilts and Hogan cases both settled, and consumer firms like Edelman, Combs, Latturner & Goodwin have taken these cases against Shepherd Outsourcing on behalf of individual plaintiffs.⁴

File a Complaint

You can file complaints with the CFPB at consumerfinance.gov/complaint, with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, or with your state attorney general’s office.⁸ At least one consumer has also reported Shepherd Outsourcing to a state consumer protection board over a licensing question in Maine.⁹

Who Shepherd Outsourcing Is

Shepherd Outsourcing LLC was incorporated on March 1, 2021 and is based in Greenville, South Carolina. It describes itself as an “account resolution” and “account servicing” firm, though its website carries the federally required disclosure that it is a debt collector.¹⁰ The president and CEO is Jason Hinkle. The company became BBB-accredited in May 2024 and holds an A+ rating, a grade that reflects responsiveness to complaints rather than their absence.¹¹ It also received an industry certification from the Receivables Management Association International in August 2024.¹²

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Trellis.law. Scott Crompton vs Shepherd Outsourcing LLC
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Consumer Law Firm Center. Shepherd Outsourcing LLC Debt Collection Harassment
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PACER Monitor. Hilts v Shepherd Outsourcing, LLC
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PACER Monitor. Dean v Shepherd Outsourcing, LLC
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FreeNetLaw. Shepherd Outsourcing LLC Complaints
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FTC. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Text
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CFPB. What Is Harassment by a Debt Collector
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JustAnswer. Process of Rebuilding and Repairing Credit
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Shepherd Outsourcing. Shepherd Outsourcing
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