Consumer complaint received 2020-03-15
Company: Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., L.P.A.
State: RI
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Private student loan debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was result of identity theft

Complaint:
This is a NEW Complaint in regards to a letter received XX/XX/XXXX from the previous " Third Party '' Organization, Weltman, Weinburg & Reis Co., LPA ( Representing XXXX XXXX XXXX ). This firm was notified to stop all illegal harassment in regards to the " Officially deemed fraudulent loan from XXXX XXXX ''. I am again requesting all contact regarding this issue cease. The following are statements and letters sent to the CFPB, Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., LPA as well as responses from the previous third party XXXX XXXX XXXX , XXXX. 


XXXXWeltman , Weinberg & Reis Co.. , LPA has the necessary documentation submitted previously***** *** This statement was sent on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX*** In response to my Cease and Desist Order, it seems that the second third party debt collector, ( Bear in mind, that the that former third party, XXXX XXXX XXXX  ( Amending the word from XXXX  to the accurate name XXXX  ), XXXX   representing XXXX  ( Who purchased the account from XXXX XXXX ),  has responded with a specific Cease and Desist " all communications '' solely. I am now clarifying my request. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX , XXXX, responded on XX/XX/XXXX through CFPB with this assessment : " Ms. XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX takes these complaints seriously. After careful review of your concerns, reviewing calls made from our office and notes on the account, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX has closed your account as a Cease & Desist/Fraud. We are a 3rd party collection agency for XXXX ( who now owns your XXXX XXXX account ), we have notified XXXX  via email as well as sending them your documentation. We have asked them to close your account out on their end as well. Shall you have any questions or concerns at this point, please contact me directly at XXXX. Thank you XXXX XXXX Compliance Manager ''. 

I am clarifying my request to follow in accordance with XXXX, XXXX 's assessment of the legitimacy of the loan, and that a Cease and Desist any and all actions ( both Communicative and Legal ) now and in the future regarding this termed " Fraudulent '' loan. This Loan has been closed due to fraud. It was XXXX XXXX 's responsibility to accurately assess whether a loan, while processing, is valid. 


" XX/XX/XXXX Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., LPA XXXX XXXX XXXX . 
XXXX XXXX, OH XXXX To Whom It May Concern : I just received your correspondence dated XX/XX/XXXX in regards to case # XXXX received on XX/XX/XXXX. Be advised that this loan has already been closed and has been officially been deemed Cease and Desist/Fraud by a former third party company and the CFPB. I have submitted a new complaint to the CFPB, you should be hearing from them if not already. Please cease all further attempts to contact me. 



Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX *** What Happened*** On XX/XX/XXXX my father XXXX  XXXX XXXX applied for a Smart Option Student loan to pay for XXXX College ; he did this without my knowledge or consent. My father told me that all of my school 's tuition will be taken care of and kept me out of the details, and he asked me to hand him all letters pertaining to financing my education. My father, XXXX XXXX died on XX/XX/XXXX of XXXX. Before he died, he and his then wife XXXX XXXX ( " Spouse '' on the loan ), told me what I was to receive when he died and what I was responsible for. They told me to pay the last semester of the spring of XXXX ( I personally paid {$22000.00} to XXXX and additionally I paid one other loan belonging to XXXX XXXX ). I was never informed of any additional loans. On XX/XX/XXXX of XXXX, I received an email from XXXX XXXX stating that I owed a loan for {$26000.00}. This email was a reminder sent to my school 's email address, however, prior to that I received advertisements only from XXXX XXXX offering me new loans and to consider a Smart Option Student Loan in the future. My father previously took out a Federal Loan from XXXX XXXX to pay for my previous school XXXX XXXX College. This same advertisement from XXXX XXXX was delivered to my school address at XXXX several times starting in XXXX. I do not have an email regarding a specific loan from XXXX XXXX between XXXX, XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, only advertisements. Only a notification later that a password was changed and that a new document was available, again my father handled everything. XXXX XXXX is stating that a specific email was sent to confirm that a specific loan was approved to my XXXX address, I have no such document. From the latest email regarding this conflict, " When an online account is created we send notifications to the borrower and cosigner at their email addresses, when correspondence or documents are available for viewing online '' ; this is generic. What I did receive on XXXX ( this was the first time I saw this ) was an email stating that " Dear Valued Customer, You have a new document available online. You must log in to view this document. Please use the same user ID and password you created for your XXXX XXXX online account. '' Again, my father previously had an account with XXXX XXXX and I assumed this was from that since I did not personally create a loan with XXXX XXXX. If the document was created in XXXX of XXXX why wasn't I notified then? I believe the burden of proof falls to XXXX XXXX to establish that this loan was mine and that I knowingly knew of it's existence. The information on this loan was completely falsified by my late father, which makes the document illegal and invalid. If he were alive he would have been prosecuted for fraud according to the law. I also believe he wasn't in his right mind ( there are mistakes in the loan ) because he was on serious debilitating medication at the time for his XXXX treatment. XXXX XXXX KNOWINGLY approved a loan they new to be false. 1 ) I  was not the originator of the loan. I would like to see the IP address of the computer used to create the document. 2 ) XXXX XXXX voluntarily approved a loan document that they knew was fraudulent. A ) Only my name, address, SS # and an electronic signature was used to link me to this loan. ALL information under my name and my fathers name was my fathers information. i.e, where he worked, how much he made, that he was married etc. I've already proved that I worked for an XXXX XXXX ( sending them pay stubs ) and not XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX as listed on the form. I am not and never have been married. I did not make XXXX as my salary, etc. 3 ) I had no real established credit at the time to warrant the approval of a {$26000.00} loan. 4 ) What criteria was used to establish a loan with XXXX XXXX? According to XXXX XXXX 's Website using " Credit worthiness and other factors ''. I believe only my fathers information was used to determine the " worthiness '' of this loan 's approval. 5 ) Neither my Aunt, XXXX XXXX ( letter was sent from her ) denying the knowledge of this loan even thought she and my uncle were listed as references and neither did my father 's second wife XXXX XXXX, have any knowledge ( accorder to her ). Can they prove that they did know or was informed. 6 ) I have no knowledge of the accompanied password and user ID used to create the loan, only ( I assume ) my father knew this information. I was able to access this " account '' in XXXX of XXXX. I needed to call them to access this loan by giving them my SS #. If I knew about the loan, I would would have been able to access this myself online. Proving that I had no knowledge. 7 ) A Letter ( in  supporting evidence ) and address to me, was in the mail from XXXX XXXX sent to my address, however, I never saw this letter until It was in a folder given to me by XXXX XXXX as part of my father 's effects. Included in this folder were also medical records and named " College ''. Since I paid the two specific bills ( which was requested by him and XXXX XXXX ( aka Spouse ) while he was alive ), I had no reason to look further and I was grieving. The letter states : That notification will be sent to the borrower by email OR mail. XXXX XXXX 's insistence that they sent me an email ( that I could actually open ) was false. This was sent to my home and my father reviewed everything. XXXX XXXX 's statement as my name and address, SS # and an electronic signature was enough to prove my responsibility according to them. Anyone can then take out a loan, pay for something ( even though it was for my benefit ) default and claim that I am responsible because of an electronic signature. My father signed my name, his information was used to determine approval. I am asking that XXXX XXXX acknowledge that the loan was approved by mistake and the responsibility falls to my late father 's estate. I have met my responsibilities and paid what I was asked to pay. XXXX XXXX made a mistake they need to acknowledge this. I am also not ( If I knew I would been prepared previously to pay this ) in a position now to pay for a debt that was done again, without my knowledge or consent. The burden of proof falls to XXXX XXXX. ****On XX/XX/XXXX my Grandmother, who is XXXX, received a call form a XXXX XXXX representing XXXX XXXX XXXX asking for me. I do not live with her and have no idea how they got her number. She was a bit shaken when she informed me of this call. Their number is ( XXXX ). ******* 1 ) Acknowledging that the majority of the information used to secure the loan was XXXX XXXX 's. I had absolutely no knowledge of this loan 's existence. 2 ) According to XXXX XXXX 's Website " Credit Worthiness '' is used to determine whether a loan is approved or not. I had no credit at the time of origination and ALL the information used was his in making that determination of approval. 3 ) My IP address wasn't used for this loan. 4 ) That XXXX XXXX take full responsibility for their mistake in approval of an illegal document. 5 )  That the Smart Option Loan used to pay for XXXX College belonged to XXXX XXXX alone and created while he was under heavy medication from XXXX XXXX XXXX. 6 ) Because of his death, the Estate of XXXX XXXX is responsible, and or the loan needs to be forgiven because of his death and the reasons stated above. That my name, address, SS # and an electronic signature is not enough to associate me with this document. 7 ) That Predatory Lending Practices ( much like the mortgage crises in XXXX ) are in play and that harassment needs to stop. 

** New addition*** Much like XXXX  XXXX XXXX , a new company ( or firm ), Weltman , Weinberg & Reis Co. , LPA has contacted me servicing XXXX XXXX XXXX ( Case # XXXX ) in the attempts to collect on a now officially deemed Fraudulent Loan ( See company response sent on XX/XX/XXXX ). Case # XXXX a Closed Complaint Case. They are already calling me on a daily basis. I am concerned that they will, like the previous company, attempt to contact family members. I am concerned that these continual " Predatory Lending Practices '' will not stop. 


That XXXX XXXX acknowledge that they approved an obvious fraudulent loan from XXXX XXXX nine months before he passed away. They made the determination to go forward, and should take the responsibility for their decision. This loan has already been closed and is in Cease and Desist status. I am asking that any and all further and future correspondence regarding this loan also be deemed Cease and Desist. I am in the process of responding to the new company with all documentation pertinent to this case including the CFPB response sent on XX/XX/XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation