Consumer complaint received 2023-05-19
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: WA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened to sue you for very old debt

Complaint:
A debt collector is violating my rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by issuing me a Notice of Intent to sue and threatening to serve me a court summons at my place of work for a supposed debt ( that I do not acknowledge ) from 20 years ago, long past any statute of limitations. 

Yesterday, XX/XX/2023, at XXXX XXXX, I received a voicemail from a person who identified himself as XXXX XXXX of XXXX  ( or XXXX  ) XXXX. He said I would be served a court summons between XXXX XXXX XXXX  that day from an officer at my residence for a claim made against me, and that if I wasnt at my residence, they would show up at my work to serve the papers. He gave me a case number that resembles court case numbers within my county of residence. 

He also said that if I didnt want to be served at work, I could call the legal administrator and have the papers rerouted elsewhere as long as I had proof of ID on me when the papers were served. He gave me a number for the legal administrator, but it was different from the number he called from. 

The number he called from : XXXX The number he gave me for the legal administrator : XXXX The voicemail sounded very legitimate. He identified my full name, date of birth, and the last four digits of my social security number. Even so, in an attempt to further verify the authenticity of the call, and also to learn more about the court summons, I called the number he gave me for the legal administrator ( the XXXX number ) and left a voicemail asking them to call me back. I did not give any personally identifying information other than my name and phone number. 

The legal administrator did call back shortly after, a call which I answered, though I failed to ask him his name, as I was still in a state of shock and confusion. He knew all of my personal information, including my residential address, without me giving him any identifying information. He had it all on file. It made me secure that it was not a scam, so I asked him what the court summons was for. 

The legal administrator clarified that it wasnt a court summons but a Notice of Intent to sue. He said it came from XXXX via Citigroup. He said I was in default for around {$1100.00} but that they were suing me for around {$2100.00}. I told him it couldnt be right because I havent had or used any credit cards in almost 20 years. He said they were allowed to collect the debt by reason of tolling and also said that all banks were collecting on defaulted debts right now due to the banking crisis. He ended the phone call soon after that, but he was cordial throughout. 

At no point during the phone conversation did I acknowledge that specific supposed debt or offer to make payment arrangements. Quite the opposite. Soon after the call ended, after I had time to process and research what tolling was, I called the legal administrator back and left a voicemail saying that I did not acknowledge the debt and that if they were going to serve me legal paperwork, they would need to do so at my residence and not at my work. He never returned the call. 

Before talking to the legal administrator, I had also called the number that the initial voicemail had come from ( the XXXX number. ) Each time, an operator, a man, answered the phone as XXXX XXXX and, after taking my case number, forwarded me on to what he referred to as the legal department, but each time except the last the call was forwarded to a voice messaging system. 

The final time I called I did get put through to an actual person in the legal department. I repeated to him what I had in my voicemail to the legal administrator, that I did not acknowledge the debt and that if they were going to serve me legal paperwork, they would have to do so at my residence, not at my work. The man I spoke to, whose name I also failed to ask, became aggressive with me and said that a processor would still be going to the HR department at my place of work to serve a Notice of Wage Garnishment to my employer. I told him he couldnt do so until after any potential court hearings. He told me it was only a Notice of Intent and they could serve it to my work at any time, and then he hung up on me. That was my last interaction of the day with the debt collector. 

All of the above interactions occurred on XX/XX/2023, the same day I received the initial voicemail. 

At no point in the last 20 years have I ever made any contact or agreement with any credit card company to make arrangements to pay off any defaulted debt. Therefore, the debt collectors use of tolling as a viable reason to collect the supposed debt ( which I do not acknowledge ) is false and a purposeful attempt to misinform me. By purposefully trying to mislead me, by threatening to serve me legal paperwork at my place of employment, and by trying to intimidate me by delivering a Notice of Intent to sue for a supposed debt that, by their own admission, is long past any statute of limitations, they are violating my rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. 

Curiously, when I called the general number back this morning ( the XXXX number ), instead of answering the phone as XXXX XXXX as he had the day before, the operator answered as XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. I hung up immediately after the operator answered due to the name change. Because they had all my identifying information on file, I still believe this is an actual debt collector and not a scam, but that they are definitely using illegal means to harass people. 

I have saved the original voicemail for any officials who would like to hear it. I also have the full case number provided to me in the voicemail.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation