cell phone bill.
Complaint
Garon Reese
Country: United States
I received a letter from Afni stating that I owe $143.37, which I don't owe them anything. I never had a Verizon account and I don't know where the got my name from. Then they stated, as discussion in the conversation on 7/26/2010, I never had a conversation with them so that is bogus. Please check this out because it appears to be a scam going on. If I continue to receive any letters from this company, I will sue them for everything that they own.
Comments
They are often reported to skirt the edge of the law, routinely evading their debt validation obligations through deceptive letters, deceptive "validations", or deceptive "suggestions" by their employees when consumers call regarding debts they never heard of. In addition, many other reports are consistent with knowingly attempting to collect on invalid debts, using deception to convince consumers that they no choice but to pay, even on old, unreportable, unproven and disputed alleged debts.
They are often reported to continue to attempt collection even when the consumer had disputed and requested validation, in violation of FDCPA. These are the same charges outlined in the 2008 lawsuit against them by the Minnesota Attorney General. Apparently, they were harassing Minnesota residents over unowed "debts", supposedly Verizon accounts, and failing or refusing to validate as required by FDCPA.
http://www.ag.state.mn.us/Consumer/PressRelease/080715AfniInc.asp
The Minnesota Attorney General reached a settlement with them in 2009, but they are being investigated again for the same types of problems, now over Qwest accounts. They have had to suspend all collection in Minnesota until they fix this "problem".
Their most common reported complaint is attempting to collect from the wrong person. It appears that they are just sending letters to anyone with a similar name or address to old accounts they purchase, probably by loose matching of names or addresses to skip-trace databases. They could be sending you a bill for some other person, maybe in your city, or even in another state. Or they may be sending you some bill tied to an address you once lived at, but from a different time.
They appear to be doing little to ensure their letters go to the correct person. Then when consumers call to dispute and request validation on "debts" they don't recognize, they offer deceptive "suggestions", such as "it must be your account, because we have your SSN", "you must have forgotten", "its a minimum pay state" (this one used when you question a "bill" when you actually have a current Verizon account in good standing. To telling what they will throw at you, but they appear to have a "playbook" of "suggestions" ready.
But they are notorious for their "id theft" game. "You must have let a relative or friend use your identity", "it must be id theft", or "obviously, one of your relatives must have used your identity". They particularly like to pull the "id theft" game, without even any basis for the accusation. Apparently they have convinced many people to pay these "id theft" accounts rather than "accuse a relative of a crime" (on often decade-old accounts). Or they demand a lot of "theft report" paperwork, police reports, proof of residence from years ago, to prove this "id theft".
Their "id theft" talk-off was so heavily used in collection of old Verizon accounts in 2007 that it actually skewed FTC's id theft statistics for that year, creating the appearance of a mini crime wave. For example, see Chris Hoofnagle's sample study of FTC id theft complaint statistics, 2006 through 2008:
http://www.luc.edu/law/activities/publication ... bank_safety.pdf
Consumer id theft complaints are logged based on what companies they are reported in connection to. Verizon and AFNI are high on the list, topping it in 2007.
See pages 171 and 172.
Note that Verizon and AFNI zoomed to the #1 and #2 slot in 2007, with AFNI standing out above all debt collectors for that year. The number of id theft complaints per month connected to AFNI in this sampling increased by 5.4 times, and connected to Verizon by 2.9 times, from 2006 to 2007, far more than any other company. No other debt collector or telecom company shows this anomaly.
Based on the 2007 sampling of 3 months, AFNI's yearly FTC "id theft" complaints can be estimated to be around 1500 for 2006, 8500 for 2007, and 6000 for 2008. Verizon shows similar effects, which is expected since it was their old accounts AFNI was collecting on during this period.
Also in 2008, they were sued in a 3 state class action lawsuit for sending a deceptive letter in response to consumer validation requests. Recently, in a rather scathing summary judgement, the Federal judge in that case found that letter to be deceptive.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2 ... _sdt=2&as_vis=1
From the Judge's decision:
"...
The insincerity of AFNI's explanation crystallizes with the revelation that AFNI sends its letter to consumers who have no disputes at all—e.g., a consumer who offered a partial payment and stated that he could not pay more because he was disabled and on state aid (id. ¶ 18(a)) and another who stated that he was in prison and was prohibited by prison rules from paying the debt (id. ¶ 18(e)). As these consumers do not dispute their debts, it makes no sense for AFNI to send them letters claiming to be "unable to investigate" their "disputes" and requesting more information. Finally, as discussed above, AFNI also sends its letter in response to consumers whose letters provided the exact information AFNI requests. The Court cannot but conclude that AFNI's explanation for the statements in its letter is disingenuous.
...
CONCLUSION
The Court finds that AFNI's statements in its form letter are "false, misleading, or deceptive" in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1692e, and AFNI is not entitled to assert the bona fide error defense under 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(c). Accordingly, Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability under § 1692e of the FDCPA is GRANTED and Defendant's motion for summary judgment is DENIED.
..."
What to do:
Send them a letter notifying them that you dispute this alleged debt, and demand that they send you proof from the original creditor that you owe it. Send your letter to AFNI certified return receipt requested, so you have proof of when you mailed it, and when they received it. Make sure you send it in less than 30 days from the date you received their first letter, which should have notified you of your right to dispute, as required by FDCPA. If so, under FDCPA, they are prohibited from engaging in any additional collection activity, including "verifying" to the credit reporting agencies, until they send you proof you owe the debt.
Then dispute any of their "erroneous" negative credit reporting with the credit reporting agency, in writing. If AFNI "verifies" their "error", rather than removing it, contact and file complaints with Illinois Attorney General, FTC, and your state Attorney General.
Then contact a consumer protection attorney with experience in FDCPA and FCRA litigation. Courts can award both damages and attorney fees if you win.
You might try www.naca.net