Harris & Harris: find out whose bill it is before you pay

Harris & Harris describes itself on its dispute page as a collection agency: it collects for other organizations rather than buying debts. Harris & Harris was founded in 1968 by Samuel J. Harris, starting in the basement of his home on Chicago's South Side. It says it is licensed in all 50 states and has more than 750 employees.

The notice must name the creditor the debt is owed to. That client matters. A hospital has itemized bills and a financial assistance policy; a toll authority has plate photos and dates; a city has the ticket or fine record. Ask for that record, not just a balance.

In May 2026 Harris & Harris announced that it had acquired Frost-Arnett Company, so letters about accounts that Frost-Arnett handled may now come from Harris & Harris.

In February 2024 Harris & Harris agreed to pay $1 million to the Washington Attorney General to resolve a lawsuit saying it sent 294,652 first collection notices to 166,872 Providence hospital patients without the disclosures about financial assistance that Washington law requires; it also agreed to include them in future notices.

Tax-exempt hospitals must offer financial assistance, and you can often still apply after a bill has gone to collections. Write to the hospital as well as to Harris & Harris, ask for an itemized bill, and ask whether you qualify. If you do, the balance may be reduced or written off.

For a hospital or doctor's bill, the rules are friendlier than for most debts: see what happens if you do not pay medical bills, and how negotiating a hospital bill can reduce it.

Harris & Harris runs a text-to-pay program, so a genuine text from it is possible. Many people report its genuine collection texts as scams; one review of 163 BBB Scam Tracker reports found the payment sites in them belonged to Harris & Harris.

So a text can be genuine, but do not pay through a link you cannot check. Its own website links to its payment login at harriscollect.payweb360.com, and its notices mention payharris.com. Type the address yourself, or call 312-251-2300 and quote the reference number. Its 8-digit reference number is printed in the top right of its letters.

You do not have to deal with it by text. You can ask Harris & Harris to contact you only by mail.

If Harris & Harris has reported the account, our guide on how collections affect your credit covers the special rules for medical debt, and disputing a collection entry covers the rest.

Harris & Harris's dispute page gives this mailing address: Harris & Harris, Ltd., Attention: Consumer Assistance, 111 W. Jackson Blvd, Suite 650, Chicago, IL 60604. Some websites still show an older Suite 400 address.

Its consumer website also gives a P.O. box for mailed dispute forms: 111 W. Jackson Blvd, P.O. Box 186, Chicago, IL 60604. Either reaches the company, but the dispute page address is the one it names for correspondence. A written dispute inside the validation period makes it stop collecting until it mails verification.

You also have rights over how Harris & Harris contacts you: our guide to stopping debt collector calls explains the seven-calls-in-seven-days rule and how to limit contact.

Say Harris & Harris mails a notice on Friday, November 19, 2027 about a $1,214.60 hospital bill.

1. Thanksgiving (November 25) and the weekends do not count, so the fifth working day after mailing is Monday, November 29, 2027.
2. The dispute period can end no earlier than Wednesday, December 29, 2027.
3. Mail your dispute by certified mail to Suite 650, naming the hospital as the creditor and asking for an itemized bill.
4. Write to the hospital too, asking whether you qualify for financial assistance.

The time limits and garnishment rules for this example are in our Illinois debt collection guide.