Consumer complaint received 2020-09-12
Company: ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC.
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was result of identity theft

Complaint:
After repeatedly explaining to Midland Credit Management Inc. employees that I was a victim of identity fraud, Midland Credit Management Inc. continued to engage in harassing phone calls and did not conduct an investigation in conjunction with the original creditor to find out if there was merit to my claims of identity fraud. 

The phone calls started coming in XXXX of 2019. The first one I received was from a gentleman who said that he was going to collect {$2900.00} On behalf of a credit debt I owed from a XXXX XXXX  Credit Card and that he wanted to know how I would be paying off the debt. Since I could not remember ever obtaining a credit card from XXXX XXXX  or running up a debt of {$2900.00} On a credit card, I said into the phone I had never taken out a credit card and let it go delinquent and that this was just a scam and hung up the phone. For the next few days, I received multiple phone calls every day from the same person saying that I owed {$2900.00}. I did not respond any more to these phone calls, but I started to wonder if something bad had happened because most scam artists do not keep calling. I went to check on my credit history and found that indeed someone had taken out a XXXX Credit Card in my name in XXXX of 2019, ran it up to the credit limit, and then let the payments slip into delinquency. 

Next, I reached out to an identity theft company called XXXX to help me figure out what was going on and what to do about it. Immediately, they helped me to find out how someone had stolen my identity. It turned out that someone had pretended to be me and simply used an old address of mine ( from over 10 years ago ) to obtain the credit card. XXXX is owned by XXXX   and they quickly removed the hard inquiry from my credit history. They also helped me to get a fraud alert placed on all 3 major credit agencies. Finally, they told me to contact XXXX XXXX and Midland Credit Management Inc. and let them know what had happened. 

Consequently, I reached out to XXXX XXXX  to let them know I had been a victim of identity theft. I told them that someone had used an old address of mine to obtain a XXXX Credit Card in my name and that they had run it up to the credit limit and not paid it off. The employee from XXXX XXXX  asked me for my current address and then told me they would get back to me in 30 days with the results of their investigation. I also contacted Midland Credit Management Inc.to let them know I had been a victim of identity theft. They told me they would conduct their own investigation and would let me know the results within 90 days. They did not ask me for any information pertaining to my identity theft case. 

Just this past week, I received two letters. One from XXXX XXXX  stating that they had conducted an investigation and found that I was indeed the victim of identity theft. They stated that they would be reaching out to the 3 major credit agencies to have them remove the XXXX Account tradeline from my credit report. The other letter was from Midland Credit Management Inc. stating that after reviewing the information you provided, our account notes, and information provided by the previous creditor we have concluded that our information is accurate. This was very strange to me since they had never asked for any information from me regarding my case of identity theft and if they had been working in conjunction with XXXX XXXX, then they would know that XXXX XXXX  had ruled in my favor and that this was a case of identity theft. 

In this situation, Midland Credit Management Inc, has shown itself to be grossly incompetent. Even after letting them know that I am a victim of identity theft, they have made my already difficult situation as a citizen and consumer much worse by continuing to insist that they have conducted a thorough investigation and worked with the original creditor which is simply not true. By filing this complaint, I seek relief from a company ( Midland Credit Management Inc. ) that has demonstrated itself to be a harm to the consumer by automatically deeming them guilty in a case of identity theft and not adequately investigating the matter as it rightfully should be investigated so as to not make a very stressful and worrying situation exponentially more stressful and worrying.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation