What is the most common complaint against Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc.?

The most common issue consumers report about Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. is "Attempts to collect debt not owed", specifically "Debt is not yours". This is based on 394 complaints filed with the CFPB.

Are complaints against Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. increasing or decreasing?

Complaints against Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. have been stable. The company received 106 complaints in the last 12 months.

What is Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc.'s reputation grade?

Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. has a reputation grade of C (score: 57.3/100), PlainCollector's composite letter grade blending complaint volume, response timeliness, dispute rate, and complaint trend.

Does Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. respond to consumer complaints?

Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. has a 100% timely response rate to CFPB complaints. Consumers disputed the company's response in 9% of cases.

In how many states does Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. operate?

Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. has received CFPB complaints from consumers in 25 states, with the most complaints from California (197 complaints).

This data comes from the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database and reflects consumer complaints, not proven violations.

Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. - Debt Collector Complaint Profile

CFPB complaint profile across 25 states, reputation grade C.

Compiled by PlainCollector

Attempts to collect debt not owed

150
Written notification about debt

60
Took or threatened to take negative or legal action

52
False statements or representation

46
Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed

36
Communication tactics

28

Data updated September 2026

CFPB complaint disposition

CCDB record herbert-p-sears-co-inc Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc.

Grade C · 394 CFPB filings · 100% timely · lead issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed · vol #326 · compose #2889

VOL 394
GRADE C
12MO 106
STATES 25
TIMELY 100%
DISPUTE 9%
ISSUE Attempts to collect debt n…
RANK #326
COMPOSE #2,889

Volume peers

Nearest volume peer: American First Finance, Inc. (392 complaints)

CFPB complaint volume neighbourhood (this collector + nearest volume peers)

Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc.'s 394 CFPB complaints sit next to American First Finance, Inc. on the volume neighbourhood; peer NAMES stay, and disposition VALUES are this collector's. Grades compare collectors to each other - a complaint is a filing, not a proven violation. How to read a complaint count →

State-heavy filing map

50.0% of Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc.'s CFPB filings land in California

High volume does not equal a clean composite: Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. is volume #326 but composite #2,889, while California dominates the geography. Corpus placement method.

Dominant state: California 50.0%; 197 of 394 filings · 25 states touched
Seasonal peak: 2025-10 14.7%; 8–15% band · 11 filings
Divergent corpus ranks: #326 volume; #2,889 composite; Cleanest-composite ladder is 2,563 places worse than volume

How does Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. compare to its peers?

How does Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. compare? Versus a similar-volume peer and the national average (collectors with ≥50 total complaints), drawn from 10 collectors with a comparable complaint count

Herbert P. Sears Co., … National average

Complaints (last 12 mo)lower is better

106

268

Timely-response ratehigher is better

100%

99%

91%

Consumer-dispute ratelower is better

19%

Source: CFPB Consumer Complaint Database.

Complaint Trend (24 months)

2023-09 2026-01

Issue Detail Breakdown

Issue	Complaints
Attempts to collect debt not owed	150
Written notification about debt	60
Took or threatened to take negative or legal action	52
False statements or representation	46
Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed	36
Communication tactics	28
Disclosure verification of debt	13
Improper contact or sharing of info	4
Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly	3
Electronic communications	1

Where do complaints against Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc. come from?

Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc.'s own per-state count, not a national baseline.

California

197
Texas

80
Arizona

28
Florida

28
Georgia

14
Nevada

12
North Carolina

5
New York

4

Compare beyond geography

Nationwide peers by volume & timely response

Two PlainCollector-derived comparison paths for Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc.: nearest all-time CFPB complaint volume and nearest CFPB timely-response rate among collectors with at least 100 logged complaints. State breakdowns above stay geographic; these neighborhoods vary by metric.

Similar filing volume

Nearest collectors by total CFPB complaints. This record: 394.

4 peers

Similar timely response rate

Nearest collectors by CFPB 15-day timely-response %. This record: 99.72451790633609%.

4 peers

Know your rights before responding to Herbert P. Sears Co., Inc.: FDCPA rights guide · debt validation letter · rights library.

Data sourced from the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCollector

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Consumer Complaint Database, 1,139,236 debt collection complaints are represented in the current PlainCollector snapshot. See our methodology for how PlainCollector computes each company's reputation grade from this data.

Every figure on PlainCollector is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.