Afni is a Scam! She never remembers Havin the phone anyway!
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tj
Numerous complaints against AFNI over the years indicate that they may be scamming consumers by billing for unowed account balances, then using deceptive letters or talk-offs to divert consumer disputes, or just failing to obtain validation to resolve the account, in violation of FDCPA.
Thousands of complaints in 2007 to 2008 showed a pattern of just billing anyone they could find in the country with a similar name so a batch of old Verizon accounts they had just bought.
They are reported to send their own "verification" letter, with no proof they ever actually contacted the original creditor, and numerous complaints from consumers who did and found their balance was $0 or they had no account at all. Their letters also often carefully leave out any information that might identify an account accurately and prove they have dunned the wrong person.
The Minnesota Attorney General caught them doing this with old Verizon accounts and sued them in 2008. They settled, but were caught doing the same thing a year later with old Qwest accounts. They were also sued in a 3 state class action lawsuit in 2008 over a deceptive letter they routinely sent in response to consumer disputes, A federal judge found their letter materially deceptive and in violation of FDCPA.
They may be redundantly billing based on old obsolete records that don't include your payment, even counting on people not keeping records for years to prove payments, as their usual strategy is to try to convince the consumer he has to disprove it, rather than what the law (FDCPA) requires, that they have to prove it.
This may be an "erroneous" rebilling of a paid account, or they might even be billing your MIL for someone else's account. They are reported to try to match up old accounts with people not even on the account, skip-tracing by address, which results in many fraudulent bills being sent to people who have no clue what is going on. When they call to dispute, AFNI will claim it's "identity theft but you have to pay us if you can't prove it". Their favorite variant of this gambit is to claim it is "id theft by yoru relative, so you either have to pay us or report your relative to the police". They typically have no proof of ANY id theft, and their cheap computer "skip-tracing" results in LOTS of erroneous bills. It's all a con.
Since this is supposedly your MIL's account, have her send them a letter, certified return receipt requested, disputing the debt and demanding proof from the original creditor. You can also obtain a copy of the check from your bank to prove the payment, since most bank's can provide such copies back 7 years.
They are also probably dinging your MIL's credit, so she should pull her credit reports and check. If you find any negative tradeline from AFNI, send a dispute to the CRA disputing the entry, but send it after AFNI has received your validation request. If you dispute with AFNI within 30 days of receiving their first letter, they are prohibited from further collection activity until they obtain proof from the original creditor and send it, so if they then fail to remove the negative erroneous credit information in response to your CRA dispute, they would be in violation of FDCPA.
Also check with T-Mobile directly, as AFNI might claim they "verified" the account as accurate, while T-Mobile may show the account as paid, as you expect. That would imply they are fabricating their "verification" from their own erroneous records.
If you have further problems, file complaints with FTC, your state Attorney General, and the Illinous Attorney General. Forget BBB, as they are a paid member, and BBB has been helping them cover up their little game for years.
They appear to be playing a game of "chicken", routinely using deception hidden behind the appearance of "errors", "mistakes", or confusion for plausible deniability.
If you catch them with proof they are collecting on a paid account, and they refuse to back down, contact a consumer attorney. FDCPA and FCRA allow consumers to sue for violations, and courts to award damages plus your attorney fees if you win, so there are attorneys who take these cases on contingency. You might try www.naca.net
Comments
Thousands of complaints in 2007 to 2008 showed a pattern of just billing anyone they could find in the country with a similar name so a batch of old Verizon accounts they had just bought.
They are reported to send their own "verification" letter, with no proof they ever actually contacted the original creditor, and numerous complaints from consumers who did and found their balance was $0 or they had no account at all. Their letters also often carefully leave out any information that might identify an account accurately and prove they have dunned the wrong person.
The Minnesota Attorney General caught them doing this with old Verizon accounts and sued them in 2008. They settled, but were caught doing the same thing a year later with old Qwest accounts. They were also sued in a 3 state class action lawsuit in 2008 over a deceptive letter they routinely sent in response to consumer disputes, A federal judge found their letter materially deceptive and in violation of FDCPA.
They may be redundantly billing based on old obsolete records that don't include your payment, even counting on people not keeping records for years to prove payments, as their usual strategy is to try to convince the consumer he has to disprove it, rather than what the law (FDCPA) requires, that they have to prove it.
This may be an "erroneous" rebilling of a paid account, or they might even be billing your MIL for someone else's account. They are reported to try to match up old accounts with people not even on the account, skip-tracing by address, which results in many fraudulent bills being sent to people who have no clue what is going on. When they call to dispute, AFNI will claim it's "identity theft but you have to pay us if you can't prove it". Their favorite variant of this gambit is to claim it is "id theft by yoru relative, so you either have to pay us or report your relative to the police". They typically have no proof of ANY id theft, and their cheap computer "skip-tracing" results in LOTS of erroneous bills. It's all a con.
Since this is supposedly your MIL's account, have her send them a letter, certified return receipt requested, disputing the debt and demanding proof from the original creditor. You can also obtain a copy of the check from your bank to prove the payment, since most bank's can provide such copies back 7 years.
They are also probably dinging your MIL's credit, so she should pull her credit reports and check. If you find any negative tradeline from AFNI, send a dispute to the CRA disputing the entry, but send it after AFNI has received your validation request. If you dispute with AFNI within 30 days of receiving their first letter, they are prohibited from further collection activity until they obtain proof from the original creditor and send it, so if they then fail to remove the negative erroneous credit information in response to your CRA dispute, they would be in violation of FDCPA.
Also check with T-Mobile directly, as AFNI might claim they "verified" the account as accurate, while T-Mobile may show the account as paid, as you expect. That would imply they are fabricating their "verification" from their own erroneous records.
If you have further problems, file complaints with FTC, your state Attorney General, and the Illinous Attorney General. Forget BBB, as they are a paid member, and BBB has been helping them cover up their little game for years.
They appear to be playing a game of "chicken", routinely using deception hidden behind the appearance of "errors", "mistakes", or confusion for plausible deniability.
If you catch them with proof they are collecting on a paid account, and they refuse to back down, contact a consumer attorney. FDCPA and FCRA allow consumers to sue for violations, and courts to award damages plus your attorney fees if you win, so there are attorneys who take these cases on contingency. You might try www.naca.net