If Credit Management LP is calling you, it is because a company you once did business with turned an unpaid balance over to them for collection. Credit Management LP, also known as The CMI Group or CMI, is a third-party debt collection agency based in Coppell, Texas. They do not lend money or provide services themselves. They contact consumers on behalf of original creditors, and the reason your phone is ringing is almost always an old account you either forgot about, disputed, or left behind when you moved or canceled a service.
Before you pay anything, or even confirm your identity to the caller, you have the right to make them prove the debt is yours and valid. You also have the right to make them stop calling. Here is how the process works and what to do next.
Who Credit Management LP Is and Why They Have Your Number
Credit Management LP is registered as a partnership with a corporate address at 631 S Royal Lane, Suite 100, in Coppell, Texas. They buy or contract to collect on unpaid consumer accounts placed with them by the original creditor. That original creditor is the company you actually owed — not Credit Management itself.
If a caller says they are from “Credit Management” but cannot give you a callback number, a mailing address, or a reference number for the account, treat the call as a possible scam. You can also check whether a debt collector is licensed to operate in your state through the NMLS Consumer Access database, which is free to search.
The Kinds of Debts They Usually Collect
Credit Management LP works mostly with service-based industries that bill monthly. A large portion of their portfolio is telecommunications: unpaid cable, satellite, or internet bills, often a final invoice generated after you canceled service or moved without paying the closing balance.
They also collect for utility companies and healthcare providers. Medical accounts often trace back to a balance left after insurance adjustments, an unpaid co-pay, or a bill sent to an old address. An overlooked utility bill from a previous home can surface months later under a collector’s name. Matching the caller’s account information to your own records will usually tell you exactly which old bill has come back around.
Make Them Prove the Debt Within 30 Days
Federal law gives you a 30-day window to challenge any debt a collector claims you owe. Within five days of first contacting you, the collector must send a written notice listing the amount of the debt, the name of the creditor, and a statement of your right to dispute it.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692g – Validation of Debts If that notice never arrived, ask for it. Do not pay or acknowledge the debt until you have it.
If you dispute the debt in writing within those 30 days, the collector must stop all collection activity until it sends you verification — documented proof, not just another letter repeating the same balance.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692g – Validation of Debts You can also use that letter to ask for the name and address of the original creditor if you don’t recognize the debt.
Your dispute letter should include your name, the reference number from the collector’s notice, and a clear statement that you dispute the debt and want verification. Send it by certified mail with return receipt requested so you have proof of the date it was received. Keep copies of everything — the collector’s original notice, your letter, the certified mail receipt, and any response. That paper trail is your best protection if the situation goes further.
How to Stop the Calls
You have the legal right to tell any debt collector to stop contacting you. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, once a collector receives your written notice demanding they cease communication, they must stop, with only three narrow exceptions.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692c – Communication in Connection With Debt Collection After receiving your letter, the collector may still contact you to:
- Send a one-time notice confirming that the agency is ending its collection efforts.
- Warn you that the collector or original creditor may take a specific legal action it normally takes.
- Notify you that it intends to pursue a specific legal remedy, such as filing suit.
Send your cease-and-desist letter by certified mail with return receipt requested. The signed return receipt is your proof that the agency received the demand. Under the CFPB’s Regulation F, you can also submit a cease-and-desist request electronically if the collector accepts electronic communications from consumers through that channel.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR Part 1006 Regulation F – 1006.6 Communications in Connection With Debt Collection Allow 10 to 14 days for postal mail to be processed, and log every incoming call during that period — date, time, and the phone number displayed. If calls continue after the collector receives your letter, those logs become evidence.
Silencing the Phone Does Not Erase the Debt
A cease-and-desist letter stops the calls. It does not stop a lawsuit. The collector or the original creditor can still sue to recover the balance, and if you are served with a lawsuit and fail to respond by the court’s deadline, the court can enter a default judgment against you.4Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 4 – Summons A default judgment can lead to wage garnishment, bank levies, or property liens depending on your state. If court papers show up, respond by the deadline even if you plan to fight the debt.
Rules the Collector Has to Follow
Two federal statutes control how collectors, including Credit Management LP, can reach you: the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
Under the FDCPA, a collector cannot call you before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. in your local time zone.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692c – Communication in Connection With Debt Collection The law also bars threats of violence, obscene language, calls made repeatedly to annoy or pressure you, and any attempt to hide the caller’s identity. These prohibitions come from 15 U.S.C. § 1692d, which broadly bans conduct meant to harass, oppress, or abuse a consumer.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692d – Harassment or Abuse The first time a collector contacts you, whether by phone or in writing, it must disclose that the communication is an attempt to collect a debt and that any information you provide will be used for that purpose.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1692e – False or Misleading Representations Every later communication must identify the caller as a debt collector.
The TCPA layers on rules about robocalls and autodialers. A collector generally cannot call you using an automatic telephone dialing system or a prerecorded voice message without your prior consent.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 227 – Restrictions on Use of Telephone Equipment If you never agreed, or if you revoked consent, each unauthorized robocall is a separate violation.
What You Can Recover If They Break the Rules
If a collector violates either statute, you can sue for money damages. The FDCPA lets you recover any actual financial harm plus up to $1,000 in additional statutory damages per lawsuit. That $1,000 cap applies per case, not per violation, and you do not have to prove financial harm to collect the statutory portion.8GovInfo. 15 USC 1692k – Civil Liability
The TCPA works differently. You can recover $500 for each illegal robocall or autodialed call, and if the violation was willful or knowing, a court can triple that to $1,500 per call.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 227 – Restrictions on Use of Telephone Equipment Because TCPA damages are per violation, repeated illegal calls add up fast.
Debt collectors must keep records of their collection activities, including recorded phone calls, for three years after their last action on your account.9eCFR. 12 CFR Part 1006 – Debt Collection Practices Regulation F Your own call logs and copies of correspondence give you independent evidence if theirs turns out to be incomplete.
What This Does to Your Credit Report
A collection account from Credit Management LP can stay on your credit report for up to seven years. The clock starts 180 days after the date you first fell behind on the original account, not the date the debt was placed with the collector.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports After seven years, the credit bureaus must remove the entry whether you paid it or not.
If the entry is wrong — the balance is off, you already paid, or the account isn’t yours — you can dispute it directly with each credit bureau. The bureau must investigate and remove or correct anything it cannot verify.
Medical collections follow special rules. Since July 2022, paid medical collections no longer appear on credit reports, and unpaid medical collections don’t show up until at least one year after being placed in collections. Since April 2023, the three major bureaus have stopped reporting medical collections with original balances under $500. A broader CFPB rule that would have removed all medical debt from credit reports was vacated by a federal court in July 2025, so these voluntary bureau policies remain the governing framework.11Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB Finalizes Rule to Remove Medical Bills From Credit Reports If your account with Credit Management LP is a medical balance under $500, check your reports to confirm it has been removed.
Old Debts and the Restart-the-Clock Trap
Every state sets a statute of limitations — a deadline for how long a creditor can sue you over an unpaid debt. For written contracts and service agreements, this period generally runs from about four to ten years depending on where you live. Once it passes, the debt is “time-barred,” and a collector cannot file suit or threaten to sue you over it.12eCFR. 12 CFR 1006.26 – Collection of Time-Barred Debts
Time-barred does not mean gone. A collector can still call you about it (unless you send a cease-and-desist letter), and it can still appear on your credit report for up to seven years from the original delinquency. The dangerous part is the reset: in many states, making even a small partial payment or acknowledging the debt in writing can restart the statute of limitations and give the creditor a fresh window to sue.13Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can Debt Collectors Collect a Debt Thats Several Years Old Before agreeing to pay anything on a very old account, find out whether the statute of limitations has already expired.
If You Are Sued
If the debt is still within the statute of limitations and a lawsuit is filed, you’ll receive a court summons with a deadline — typically 20 to 30 days — to file a written response called an answer. Missing that deadline almost always produces a default judgment, which gives the creditor legal authority to pursue forced collection, including wage garnishment within federal and state limits.14U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act Respond by the deadline even if you dispute the debt. Ignoring a lawsuit is far riskier than fighting it.
Where to File a Complaint
If Credit Management LP or any collector violates your rights, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which forwards complaints to the company for a response.15Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint The Federal Trade Commission also takes reports of abusive collection practices and uses them to build enforcement cases.16Federal Trade Commission. Debt Collection – Know Your Rights Filing a complaint doesn’t replace your right to sue, but it creates an official record and can prompt an agency investigation.