Consumer complaint received 2023-09-02
Company: Ability Recovery Services, LLC
State: TN
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged

Complaint:
I answered a call on XX/XX/XXXX in in which the number was not familiar. I have seen the number on my phone before but it was a missed call. I answered the phone and a representative from ability Recovery Services let me know that I had a debt that was outstanding I'm at let them know that I am not received any letter or information about a debt. They said they had sent the letter in XXXX and I told him that if they accept the letter it may have not reached me or may have gotten lost or in the wrong mailbox because I've had that happen. They let me know that they said I had a building a bill outstanding for {$530.00} for a old medical bill I let them know that I have not seen a letter for medical bill and I said that there was their final call to let me know that if I didn't pay this bill that they would put it on my credit report and I let them know that I needed to work something out with them because I did not have the total amount to pay. They told me to pay in {$200.00} a month for 3 months even though that first they said the bill was XXXX and also said the bill was another amount from another representative. I let them know that the bill could have been as long as 2 years ago and I had paid on a bill and the amount disappeared. This was after they gave me a hospital date but they insisted that they want me to pay but made it so difficult to send me a verification letter for who the bill was from and the details of the bill. If they had a hospital date, I would think they had all of the details that they could supply me with over the phone but they did not. They told me that they had sent the letter and if I didn't pay or make a payment plan that they would put it on my credit I told them that I needed to talk to someone to see if I can get the money to pay because I was going through medical issues and it was going to be difficult to pay the whole amount. I also asked him for a verification of debt letter to know who they were and who bought the debt from and they told me that if I wanted that letter, it was going to take them 6 weeks to send me that letter which I have not seen I don't know if I missed it but they were supposed to send me a letter. The first individuals I spoke to on the XXXX were out of an XXXX call center out of XXXX for Ability Recovery Services and by that XXXX they had already placed the derogatory claim on my credit report. I called on the XXXX to speak to another individual this time within the United States by a number obtained on their website. The first number that called was XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX, the number I called after the derogatory claim was XXXX. During the call about the derogatory claim the representative said that he was going to suppress the claim but the claim is still on my credit report they have done nothing about it. I also let him know that I wanted a verification that is to verify that I had that debt and who the debt was from and he also told me they will take up to 6 weeks to get a verification letter. I let them know that if it was a medical debt that the state of Tennessee had passed a law that a company could not place medical debt on an individual 's credit report. He said that the company knew the laws of Tennessee and that they could proceed with it and I told him that it was only a few days after I answered the phone that they put this claim on my credit report. I also informed him over the company reviews that even after paying a lot of consumers had still not getting the mark removed from your credit reports and he told me that it would be removed after the whole amount was paid. After doing some research about the company this company has a habit of almost extorting consumers by marking their credit reports and trying to collect debts that may or may not even belong to them, mostly older debts that may or may not have been settled. This claim on my credit report is already cost me up to XXXX points on my credit report for one XXXX  score. 
Their website is ( www.abilityrecoveryservices.com ). There have been many lawsuits and rulings against this collection service.

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