Consumer complaint received 2023-08-11
Company: ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC.
State: TN
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Communication tactics
Sub-issue: Called before 8am or after 9pm

Complaint:
Good Morning, Please be advised that I have already filed a complaint ( # XXXX ) against Midland Funding and you have closed the complaint. My follow-up complaint is of the same nature as the first complaint. One of your agents confirmed for me that you have regulatory authority over Midland Funding. I am reporting what I believe to be violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act as a public service. I am not asking you to do anything on my behalf. I called the CFPB yesterday and spoke to one of your agents and he advised me to file an new complaint under these circumstances, and to contact XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX about my complaint to see if they would also take it up. 
Midland does not give satisfactory answers to the issues I raised in my complaint. I allege that they knowingly slow-walk documents to me, and perhaps every consumer, as a way to pressure that consumer into settlement immediately before their court date. Midland maintains that they produced a letter on XX/XX/XXXX that got mailed XX/XX/XXXX, that I received on XX/XX/XXXX, 1 business day before my court date. Hmm, what a coincidence? Of course, there happens to be no time for legal counsel to review that document before having to appear in court. Please note that they could very easily e-mail these documents to you but elect not to for some reason? Hmm, I wonder why that is? And then when you call them and ask them to speak with you about what has been mailed they won't give you any detail on the documentation that's in the mail. 
Once the documentation is received in the mail, it says in big bold letters ( sent as an attachment in prior complaint ) " Action Required ''. I called them to ask them if I need to sign the Consent Judgment as a part of the payment plan agreement and they would not answer the question. I have since learned that I was under no obligation to sign the Consent Judgment, and am thankful that I did not do so. Additionally, when you file a complaint with the CFPB they unilaterally terminate your payment plan agreement until you withdraw your complaint from the CFBP and will not even have a conversation with you until you withdraw your complaint. I wonder about the legality of this action? Again they are using deceptive and intimidating debt collection practices to collect a debt, something explicitly forbidden by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. And they know this, because they are unwilling to go on record in writing ( On-line Chat ) with these statements. XXXX XXXX, Lead Corporate Counsel, Legal and Regulatory Affairs for Midland Credit, wrote a letter to the State of Tennessee, Division of Consumer Affairs advising them that I wrote a similar complaint to the CFPB. See attached letter. She then proceeds to send them 46 pages of documents that are supposed to be dispositive that we somehow owe Midland Funding {$4000.00}. That letter is dated XX/XX/XXXX. Could it be a material fact that Midland Funding lost their court case against me on XX/XX/XXXX and yet knowingly chose to omit this fact in the letter? Hmmm, why does XXXX XXXX choose to omit that fact, a fact that can have some bearing on how you respond to her answer to my complaint. Why does XXXX XXXX lie about Midland 's actual response to my complaint to the CFPB? She says that my complaint " inactivated '' the previous payment plan. That's not the word that they use when you call into them. They say that you payment plan has been deleted and that they will not consider a new plan until I withdraw my complaint. Can this really be legal-deleted an agreement and requiring the withdraw of a complaint in order to pay off a debt? I can not see how this could be allowed under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. She says to call " Internal Legal '' to confirm terms of a new plan. But make no mistake about it, I called internal legal department multiple times and each time they told me the same thing-you must withdraw the complaint for a new payment plan to be considered. Why don't you request recordings of the phone calls to confirm what i am saying to you is true? If you have regulatory authority you should do so. At this point, I am only asking Midland Funding, to confirm my account of the facts. If any detail of my account can be factually disputed ( such as internal recordings of my conversations ) I ask Midland to provide transcripts of those phone calls. Thank you in advance for reading my complaint and responding in a way that is in the best interest of every consumer.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief