Consumer complaint received 2021-04-12
Company: Lewis, McDonnell & Associates
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Impersonated attorney, law enforcement, or government official

Complaint:
In XXXX, I checked my credit report and noticed that a collection had been added to my account. I had received no prior correspondence from this company which us required by law under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Since I had not received any information on the account prior to it being added to my credit report, on XX/XX/2021 I mailed a letter requesting information that validates this debt. I received a letter dated XX/XX/2021, without this information stating they could not further investigate this information unless I sent in a copy of my ID and a police report. Not sure why a police report would be required since I did not state this account was due to fraud. Regardless, I sent another letter on XX/XX/2021 requesting a detailed ledger of the balance due since the charged off amount and the balance due was such a huge difference. As of XX/XX/2021 I still had not received that information, so I decided to call and ask for this information. On XX/XX/2021, this information was sent by email along with a request for my signature. After receiving this information, I replied to the email and let them know that an interest rate is not in my contract, therefore they can not charge me that. I also inquired about what the {$200.00} in fess were that was simply listed as Cost/Fees. On XX/XX/2021, I received a call from someone from the company to go over the fess. She attempted to fast talk me and said that the interest rate was in Section 3 and the other cost and fees where in Section 9. I asked her to slow down and went back to Section 3 and informed her that Sales Tax is not the same as Interest Rate. This company is using the Sales tax rate of 8.25 % and charging me interest on this account and reporting it to the credit bureaus every month. This was not removed from my account. I then moved on to the other cost/fees which she stated was for attorney cost and that they are a law firm so they can charge that cost. She also stated they have not gone to court because of COVID. I was attempting to work with this company, but they amount I was being charged was excessive and I felt they were attempting to take advantage. I hung up the phone and said I would be calling back as I wanted a chance to go over Section 9 in my contract. Section 9 states that they are able to charge attorney fees once and attorney has been retained that is not a employee of the company. After reading this I contacted the company again and asked for the attorneys name that had been retained for my collection. The same person that I spoke with before stated no attorney has been hired due to COVID. I then asked how they can charge me for an attorney that has not been hired. She then proceeded to yell over me and said wait on litigation then. I have attempted to work this out with the company, but they are attempting to get over by committing fraud. This company is NOT a law firm only a debt collector. They are committing fraud and creating scare tactics by lying about being a law firm.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation