Fraudulent Verizon Bill
Complaint
Larry F.
Country: United States
I received a letter from Afni Inc. claiming I have an unpaid bill from Verizon from 1995. It's 12 years ago. I've been with Verizon for the past 7 years, and never missed a bill, and certainly was not their client 12 years ago.
The phone number listed on the notice is not familiar to me. I called Afni, and a recording told me to give them my credit card number to settle the debt, and would not give me a real person to talk to.
This bill also never appeared on my credit report. I seriously doubt It's my debt. I searched the internet and found many complaints on Afni. I strongly suspect that it might be a fraud, because I don't recognize any information they gave me about this bill.
The phone number listed on the notice is not familiar to me. I called Afni, and a recording told me to give them my credit card number to settle the debt, and would not give me a real person to talk to.
This bill also never appeared on my credit report. I seriously doubt It's my debt. I searched the internet and found many complaints on Afni. I strongly suspect that it might be a fraud, because I don't recognize any information they gave me about this bill.
Comments
want to collect a debt going all the way back to 1992 for almost 800.00
I do remember the phone number but no way was my bills ever over 100.00 per month MAX.
I think it is a scam and if they could have damaged my credit after about 15 years they would have done it way before this.
I think AFNI gets this info and then relys on numbers.
They mail out enough of these bogus collections someone will
fall for it.
I receive a negative inquiry on my credit report from AFNI, INC for an original creditor Verizon. I have never had an account with Verizon. This company AFNI has made my life and credit score pure hell. This negative collection reporting has taken my credit score from 701 (good) to 573 (very poor) score rating. I am in the process of buying a house and I just keep receiving denials about my credit having a collection debt, which I knew this was not true. So I order my credit report to find out this company AFNI had put a collection of a bill for 1,846 from original creditor Verizon. I alert all 3 Credit Bureau of this company AFNI, reporting a delinquent account to my credit. Again I do not have an account with this company and further more I do not even own a cell phone or home phone number in my living area they do not even offer Verizon service. I spoke with a representative name Charlene with AFNI, per representative this was a bill in Lynchburg, VA for a phone number in 1994 I have not live at the address they provided nor had a phone number of 804 for Lynchburg VA. Lynchburg VA area code has been 434 for the past 10 years. When speaking to the representative she stated that Verizon brought out some company with this bill of 1,846.00 and they had the account open in January 2006 and recently reported the collection to the credit bureaus July 2007. Never once I had any type of collection nor any reporting to the bureaus about having any thing from Verizon or AFNI it all of sudden pop up on credit report; no statements, no itemized bill or nothing was sent to me. Speaking to about 10 representative of Verizon Wireless and Verizon as well as the fraud department they could not provide anything for the account number or my social security number. This company AFNI has made my life miserable as well as ruin my credit. The problem with Verizon they are allowing this company to use their name and to continue to practice fraudulent tactics using there company name. I have spent money and time just to clear my name and seem like I am not getting anywhere. Per Charlene she said the company take this information from a public record but would not provide me with the company that have such public record she stated it's only for collections agency. This is a complete fraud to consumers and ruining people credit reports and scores. Never once have I had a debt reported to the credit bureau in reference to any type of bill for Verizon or AFNI. Please Complaints.com let the publics know what this company is doing to people lives.
Thank You
John Banks, Virginia
I just received a notice from Afni that I owed $7952.16 on a disconnected landline Verizon phone located in NY, NY. Not only have I never had an account with Verizon, I've never been to New York city or state. I called Afni and they have my CORRECT SS# and birth date! I'm still trying to get through to Verizon. I'm now in the process of writing a "Cease and Desist letter" and will mail it ASAP to Afni, Verizon, to the state Attorney of both New York State and Virginia. Everything will be in writing and everything will be sent by U.S. post and by certified mail. My fear is that this could happen again. I'm not sure if someone indeed got hold of my SS# and birth date and opened a Verizon account in my name, ran up the bill and didn't pay it, or if the collections agency obtained my info, made up a bogus account and claim. After doing some research on Afni and Verizon, I don't know whom to trust now. I did a "google" search on the "disconnected" # and it came up with a name. How soon after a number is "disconnected" will Verizon assign a number to someone new? Especially a number that "supposedly" has an outstanding bill? Perhaps those of us with this problem can compare those telephone numbers. The number I'm dealing with is located in NY, NY with a zip code of "10001."
Good Luck everyone!
W. Early, Virgina
It appears that they would rather have you believe that someone stole your identity, however far-fetched that is in another state you never lived in, rather than that they are sending bills to anyone with any similar name, and "fixing" the SSN and DOB info. They want you to see this as a big paperwork hassle, the better to get you to accept some "discounted" settlement offer.
That is more than they are likely to get from the real debtor, who they probably can't locate, or can't sue if this is too old. Normally, this amount would have been sued upon within a couple of years, either by the original creditor, or by a junk debt buyer. If your SSN was actually on the original account information, do you really think the original creditor or a debt collector would not have been able to easily find you, just by pulling your credit reports, for $7K?
If the real debtor walked out on a debt this large, they either went bankrupt, or know the SOL has passed since they probably have a bunch of similar old debt they have been holding off for years.
How old does AFNI claim this $7952.16 alleged account is? If it has been delinquent less than 7.5 years they might legally report it on your credit reports. If it is less that state SOL, they might sue, or sell it to someone who might. In either of these cases, or if AFNI has illegally reaged and reported it anyway, a Cease Communication notice alone may not solve your problems. You might be better off sending a timely dispute and validation letter (sent certified return receipt requested, of course) first, to give them a little more rope to hang themselves as they weasle around evading validation.
If this is in fact a recent debt, say in the last year or two, and if Verizon actually has your SSN attached to the account, then you might actually have an id theft case. You cannot trust any "verification" that AFNI provides that you cannot independently confirm directly with Verizon.
If you fail to act immediately, you might find yourself paying a debt you do not owe, paying higher rates over the life of a loan even if you pay someone else's alleged debt, or seeing your offer collapse due to problems in obtaining financing in a skittish market, with possible loss of deposit, inspection, and other up front costs.
Contact an attorney with expertise in FDCPA and FCRA law immediately.
You might find one in your state thru: www.naca.net
Both laws allow for reimbursement of attorney's fees if you prevail, but even if you have to pay an attorney to get AFNI to act quickly without going to court, you would come out ahead.
The problem is that you must dispute thru the CRAs and have AFNI "verify" erroneous information to even sue them under FCRA, and you must dispute and request validation within 30 days of any collection contact to block their continued collection activities or be able to sue under FDCPA if they continue.
All these normal dispute processes are likely to be slow enough that AFNI may both damage your interests, and still get off scot-free, if you fail to act correctly immediately. You may be best able to get their prompt attention if your next contact is thru an attorney. Otherwise, you may find yourself trying to pick up the pieces and recover damages after they are done.
One other avenue you might try is to immediately contact the Illinois Attorney General.
What is the status of any disputes sent either to AFNI, or to CRAs showing their erroneous information?
At what point did you notice AFNI's information on your reports, and as of what date does it say it was put there?
Did you pull your reports before beginning to shop for a home and mortgage, and if so, was it there then?
If it didn't initially show up, did it show up on a later report, perhaps when your mortgage was being processed? What is its timing relative to the first mortgage inquiry that would have hit any of your reports?
The reason this may be important is to determine whether it is likely that AFNI is making use of "mortgage inquiry trigger lists" as a source for consumer information used to send collection letters and place erroneous collection accounts on credit reports. Consumers stuck with a last minute collection account appearing on their reports just as they are trying to close on a mortgage are likely to pay even alleged debts they don't owe just to be able to close, since there is generally insufficient time to dispute the alleged debt, and the costs of holding up the closing to do so may be substantial.
If the debt was from 2000, even if it was actually your husbands, it is too late (or just about too late) to report it. Under FCRA negative information can only be legally reported up to 7 years after initial charge off, at most 7 years and 180 days from the original date of delinquency (first missed payment date from which the account was never brought current).
If the last payment was in, say November 2000, missing the December 2000 payment, then it must be treated as charged off no later than June 2001, and can't be reported starting in June 2008. If payment was missed earlier in 2000, the date beyond which it cannot be reported slides correspondingly earlier, possibly including now. Also, if it was charged off earlier, or sold off to a debt collector earlier, then the latest it can be reported is 7 years after that date. It may already not be legally reportable. You might want to pull his credit reports and see if they show any collection accounts, since it sounds like you are coming up on 7 years from a period when he might have had some accounts in collection.
The first debt, from 1996, is NOT legally reportable, regardless of what they tell you. If they are claiming it is, they are already violating FDCPA for their deceptive statements.
Regarding the letter you have already received, send a letter disputing the first debt, and request that they send you proof that you owe it, validation obtained from the original creditor. Send it immediately, and send it certified return receipt requested.
You don't yet have a letter regarding the second alleged "debt". Since they talked to you about it, that was their "first contact" regarding the matter. They have 5 days to send you a letter about it, also notifying you of your FDCPA dispute and validation rights. When you get it, dispute it similarly.
How far back did you have the same address as your father?
It would not surprise me if they sent your father's bill to anyone else tracable as having once had his address. People have reported receiving bills for phones at addresses they once lived at 5 to 15 years before the account was opened. Not likely "id theft", but AFNI still sent them a bill for a phone number that was never theirs, in their name, claiming they owed it, and AFNI had obtained their SSN and DOB!
I do not mind saying that I have been up all night working on computer systems and I am in a mood for a fight. I can be inventive, under the right circumstances, too. I'm not letting this pass.
My husband received a letter from AFNI for a phone number he never had from Verizon/PA. He hadn't lived in PA for over nine years and changed his name once we got married 8 years ago. I wrote a letter on his behalf and he signed it. It said that we disputed the debt but they are collecting on a debt (not even his) that couldn't possibly be less than eight years old and listed the reasons why.
We didn't stop there. We sent a copy to the VP of Collections at Afni and the Attorney General of Illinois.
The VP is John O'Donnell and his information can be found here: http://afniupsourcing.com/about_us/executive_team.php#sub
404 Brock Drive
Bloomington, IL 61702-3427
Today, not five days later, we received a letter from Afni saying that they made a mistake and they will take no further collection action. Also any credit reporting would be updating removing it from his credit reports.
My only advice is do NOT call them and do not stop at one letter. Carbon copy John O'Donnell and the attorney general of Illinois Lisa Madigan (and let them know you'll be contacting the AG by putting CC: Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan).
Good luck.
They seem to be playing a massive game of chicken, thinking they can get away with billing and harassing anyone on the flimsiest of connections, but knowing the risk they take if they run into opposition. Even knowing this, their response to consumers calling in to dispute is to attempt to convince them it would be too much trouble, and easier to pay even if they don't owe the debt. Since the volume and nature of complaints has not changed, despite responding to AG complaints, and joining BBB in May, we can infer their tactics are not the independent actions of a few rogue employees.
From today's BBB report:
"The BBB processed a total of 932 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period.Of the total of 932 complaints closed in 36 months, 670 were closed in the last year."
That would be about 660 since the beginning of 2007.