Consumer complaint received 2023-02-15
Company: RentDebt Automated Collections, LLC
State: MI
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account information incorrect

Complaint:
I had a lease contract with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, Al ) till XX/XX/XXXX. I had paid off all the rent till XXXX, except for last two months ( XXXX and XXXX ). I was severely ill and I left the country in mid XXXX, XXXX. I was staying in XXXX with my family. I came back in mid XXXX. During my stay in XXXX, I received emails from the apartment management that my rent was overdue. I promised to pay them back whenever I would come back since I did not have any means to pay them, honestly. The total I was expecting to pay was {$1500.00}. 

However, when I came back, I started receiving calls from XXXX XXXX ( collections agency ). They told me that I owe a total of XXXX. This is more than twice than what I was expecting to pay. I told them to send me a detailed letter on my email. I was told that it will take ten days for me to receive the email. I never received the email. The next time they called me, I just asked them to explain the charges, which were : {$750.00} XXXX Rent, {$750.00} XXXX Rent, {$380.00} Late Charges, {$750.00} 30 Day Notice Fee, {$670.00} Eviction Fee, {$170.00} Cleaning, - {$200.00} Deposit, Total : {$3200.00}. 

My first natural response was, this is not correct. The 30 day notice fee was wrong since I already had provided the notice to leave 30 days before the end of lease term. For eviction, the management did tell me that they will evict me, however, I did not receive any details afterwards. Besides, the Late Charges should have only been {$380.00} as per the lease agreement, not {$380.00}. I requested them to email me the detailed letter again but I never received their email. I went to the apartment management to discuss what was going on. First, they were reluctant to entertain me since the case was already with collections. Upon telling them that the charges mentioned are not correct, they printed ( attached ) out the details which are mentioned above. 

I showed the email correspondence where I had clearly stated that I will not continue my lease after XX/XX/XXXX and this email was sent out in time. When I asked about eviction, they did not have any proof to show me. I asked them to email me the details, an itemized bill for eviction, but I never heard back. If there was an eviction, where is the evidence? I am not well versed in law but I do know that eviction, in simple terms, means forcing the tenant and their property out of the apartment. I was already out of the apartment and I came back to the country after the end of my lease term. Moreover, the apartment was emptied by my friends, who were authorized by me to enter. There was some trash left but there was nothing really left to evict. I wish I could take legal action but I do not have the finances to do so. 

Moving onwards, after discussion with the management and while waiting for the correction to the bill, I found out that the account had already been reported to the credit bureaus in XX/XX/XXXX, and it had started affecting my credit score. I requested the collections agency to remove the account multiple times but they refused. Moreover, they added a duplicate account in XX/XX/XXXX, which stayed on my credit report for about two months. It affected my score and damaged my reputation with my current apartment management. They first denied my application saying that there is a balance of more than {$5000.00} on my report. My application for mortgage was also ongoing which I revoked it due to this. They deleted the duplicate account but I was never compensated for the loss I bore. 

In conclusion, my point regarding the original account is that if it was the right amount from the beginning, I would have paid it off right away and it would have never ended up on my credit report in the first place. My reputation is suffering because of their mistakes and carelessness.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation