Consumer complaint received 2021-05-06
Company: Populus Financial Group, Inc. (F/K/A Ace Cash Express)
State: OH
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Payday loan debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Impersonated attorney, law enforcement, or government official

Complaint:
We have a very old XXXX XXXX XXXX  debt with Ace Cash Express. We have since declared bankruptcy in XXXX and that debt was included and my attorney has confirmed they were served with this information and had an opportunity to make a claim, which they did not. They call us all the time even during the day when we are at work even though I have told them repeatedly not to call during work hours and have also told them to contact our bankruptcy attorney it continues. They also tell us that a XXXX XXXX XXXX can not be included in a bankruptcy so it does not matter what our attorney has to say. Our attorney has called their office only to be hung up on. Our attorney has attempted to contact them atleast twice with no success, however the calls continue. Yesterday, XX/XX/XXXX I received a call from a man that stated he worked for the XXXX XXXX XXXX as a Process Server and needed to inform me of a pending case of garnishment giving me a case number and that although he did not have specific information about my case he had a phone number of the attorney 's office who had filed the claim and I should call them prior to my court date to tell them I was in a bankruptcy. I told him that I would have my attorney call the collection company. This man was VERY believable and even acted as if he was sympathetic and express his understanding of how awful these collection companies can be. He completely represented himself as a court employee for my county. I asked him how I could call him back and he gave me a phone number, which was also in my call log ( XXXX ) and stated that the courts had him working from home and this was a remote number the courts had set up for him and the other employees of the court and I was to ask for XXXX when I called his office back. I immediately called my attorney 's office who tried calling all numbers given to me and they also looked up the case number to find it was bogus. I also called the court directly this am and they told me that the case number given to me did not even have the same sequence as their case numbers and we had no pending cases. This collection company has cursed at my husband, they have harassed us non stop, they completely ignore that we are in a XXXX  XXXX bankruptcy, they refuse to speak to our attorney and have not provided us any paper work ever to explain this debt to us even though we have requested. I have also asked for copies of any court documents they have filed for my attorney and nothing has ever been received. Calling us and pretending to be a county court employee is our final straw and I feel like someone needs to intervene and investigate this company. It is causing me so much stress it is impacting my job and my ability to stay focused during the day putting my job in jeopardy. PLEASE help me any way you can. Collection company is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. The docket number I was given for my court case was XXXX, the Process Server imposter called me from XXXX and told me to call back on that some number and speak to XXXX. My XXXX XXXX is XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX. I hope your investigation will help others not fall prey to this awful treatment by this company. thank you for your time.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation