Consumer complaint received 2020-03-16
Company: Sequium Asset Solutions, LLC
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
Collection Agency : Sequium Asset Solutions XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX GA XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX Original Creditor Name : XXXX Date Assigned : XX/XX/2019 Original Amount Owed : {$240.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX sent a fraudulent item to my credit report which hurt my credit score. I do not owe the debt that they claim and nothing was ever sent to collections as verified by the client ( XXXX/XXXX ).

We had canceled XXXX/XXXX  almost two years before this unpaid amount showed up on the credit report. Since I had received no bills or notifications for this including no calls or letters from collections, I called the day after it posted in XXXX as soon as I received notification from my credit monitoring service. It is also not possible that the bill could have gone unpaid considering we had auto pay on the account for many years. The final amount would have been deducted from my bank account automatically. 

I spoke with XXXX/XXXX  XXXX  several times and they confirmed that we had no unpaid bills with them and we were in good standing with a zero balance and that nothing was ever sent to collections. I spoke to multiple representatives on the phone and via chat who verified this for me. A cursory search online found that Sequium Asset Solutions is well known for perpetrating this kind of fraud. I have the following documentation to prove my assertions, including : 1. A transcript from XXXX/XXXX confirming that we have zero balance with them and nothing was ever sent to collections. XXXX/XXXX  does not have a mechanism for providing an email or letter stating this, but I have the transcript from my chat with one of their representatives.

2. XXXX/XXXX  was able to send me a final bill that shows XXXX  balance on my account. It has the XXXX logo on it because XXXX is the parent company for XXXX. 
3. I also have documentation showing that XXXX  bought out XXXX/XXXX  to validate the info on the bill.

4. I have documentation from the XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX  ) on Sequium Asset Solutions collections agency with accounts from other customers ( some of who did not even do business with the original clients ) who they have done this to. 
XXXX. Here is a link to multiple complaints about Sequium Asset Solutions : https : XXXX I filed disputes with all three credit agencies. XXXX  investigated and dropped it from the report the next day because Sequium Asset Solutions is a known fraudster. It took more doing to get them dropped from XXXX XXXX and XXXX  including sending in all of my documentation. This item was finally taken off of my credit reports after hours of time spent gathering documentation and on the phone explaining the issue over and over and over again. Just when I thought this hassle was over with, I received a bill from yet another collection ageny ( XXXX XXXX. ). Apparently, Sequium sold the ficticious debt to them and I now have to do this process all over again. When will it end? 

Here are just some of the laws they have broken : 1. Sequium Asset Solutions , LLC added this item to my credit report without first sending me a letter which is in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Pub. L. 95-109 ; 91 Stat. 874, codified as 15 U.S.C 1692-1692p.

2. Sequium Asset Solutions can not be verified in my state as registered to do business which is also in violation of the Fair Dept Collection Practices Act.

3. Sequium Asset Solutions must be able to produce the following information : 1. Full original account number 2. Date account was opened 3. Written agreements saying that this debt is owed by me 4. Account summary with itemization of debt 5. Date of first delinquency 6. Dates and times of any phone calls made and to what number in attempt to contact me concerning the alleged debt before it was reported to an agency 7. A copy of a contract with my signature on it and the company name 8. A cop
y of their license to collect in my state 9. The name of the registered agent in my state 9. A certified copy of the judgement made against me by the company in a court of law. Sequium Asset Solutions was unable to provide the above information and yet they dec
ided to sell the fictitious debt anyways. This is unverifiable debt as I have never even heard of, much less had a written, signed agreement with this company.

It should also be noted that Sequium Asset Solutions has class action lawsuits pending for shady business practices.

I take my credit score very seriously. I have never had a late or unpaid bill in my life. My credit score has been over 800 for decades. I have credit freezes on my credit reports because I try so hard to protect my score. A random company should not be able to assign a fraudulent item to my credit report nor should they be able to sell unverified debt so that consumers must spend their valuable time dealing with each successive threat to their credit which they had nothing to do with. They should have to provide evidence that the item came from XXXX/XXXX which they will not be able to provide because XXXX has confirmed in multiple methods that I have no balance with them and nothing ever went to collections. Even without my documentation, my record shows that I always pay my bills on time and Sequiems record show that they make a habit of falsely assigning collections to random people. 

They rely on people paying them to make it go away. This is beyond unfair. It can really hurt people and impact their lives in such detrimental ways, especially for those who can not afford to just pay it off. Impacting someone's credit score when they did nothing to deserve it could result in people losing a house they are trying to secure a loan on, not being able to purchase things that they need that require credit checks like cell service, or not be eligible to rent an apartment because of a low credit score. Fortunately my score was so high, this was not the case for me, but this needs to be addressed for all of the people who aren't in my same position.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation