Consumer complaint received 2023-04-21
Company: Aargon Agency, Inc.
State: TN
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
I retrieved a copy of my credit report and immediately noted that Aargon Collection Agency had inserted a derogatory entry on my credit reports and had not sent me any correspondence ( dunning letter ) prior to doing which would have granted me 30 days as required by law to dispute the validity of the alleged debt. To that end, I communicated in writing ( see attached ), to the credit bureaus regarding this inaccurate, erroneous, unverifiable entry being placed on my credit reports. The credit bureau responded, see attached. The bureau responded that the company verified the information as correct. How so? A third-party collection company can only validate a debt. The original creditor is the only one able to verify a debt. Nonetheless, Aargon did not advise the bureaus to update the account status to disputed. This is a violation. The dispute with the bureaus was the first notification Aargon received and should have advised the bureaus at the time they allegedly validated the information that they should update the entry to disputed. 
Aargon did not and as you can see in the attached document, it does not denote it was in dispute. This violation in and of itself warrants Aargon to delete this entry. My continued efforts to remove this entry from my reports was with a direct dispute to the company, ( see attached ). The company responded, see attached. 
The ACA ( Affordable Care Act ) provides that a company should not report any alleged medical debt on a consumer report prior to six months. Aargon Collection Agency violated and blatantly ignored this law. See attached credit reports whereby reflect the account was opened XX/XX/2022, and they began reporting XX/XX/2022, see attached. This was a mere 5 months, which definitely demonstrates their negligence. Again, no dunning letter was sent and the company inserted this inaccurate entry on all three of my credit reports. This entry is continuously updated each month which further diminishes my creditworthiness and has caused me to be denied credit. It is puzzling to say the least, that Aargon Collection Agency can update a derogatory entry on my credit report but not follow the letter of the law as it relates to notifying consumers and inserting derogatory information on a consumer report. 
Aargon did not furnish an agreement reflecting their authority to collect on this alleged debt in the state of Tennessee. Aargon did not provide a copy of all terms and conditions of the account from its alleged inception. They did not provide the name and address of the bonding agent in case legal action becomes necessary. Aargon blatantly violated my consumer rights and continues to do so. This alleged debt lacks veracity and verification ; further since they are violating FDCPA mandates to provide me notification prior to inserting it on my credit report and ( XXXX ) failing to cease collection efforts and reporting when they received the letter of dispute, this entry should be deleted from my credit report immediately and Aargon should remunerate me for the violations.

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