Consumer complaint received 2023-03-03
Company: Kohn Law Firm S.C.
State: IL
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
First and foremost, Kohn Law Firm S.C. ( Law Firm ), and its client XXXX XXXX XXXX ( Plaintiff ), are pursuing the wrong party ; I am not the person that owes the debt and have unimpeachable proof. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from Law Firm with included information about the subject debt, followed by a 100 % false statement : Despite our previous request for payment in the above-referenced matter, there remains a balance due, and you have not established an acceptable payment plan with us. 

The implication was that Plaintiff or Law Firm had previously requested payment for the debt from me, which is false. Aside from the fact that the debt is not mine, the fact I was never contacted previously about this debt negates the possibility that I would have established a payment plan especially because its not my debt. Because I had never previously had any contact with Law Firm or Plaintiff, the entire letter was a total fabrication. To this day, I have no idea why Plaintiff picked me out of the hundreds of similar names in existence ; its not an unusual name. 

I suspected this was a scam. Using the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ) as a guide, I responded in a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, via Certified Mail, requesting five documents of proof knowing that Plaintiff could not ( without fraudulent activities ) prove I am the debtor because, as I said, I am not the debtor. 

Those five items were : 1. The name and address of the original creditor, the account number, and the amount owed. 

2. Verification that there is a valid basis for claiming I am required to pay the current amount owed. 

3. Details about the age and amount of the debt including a copy of the last billing statement from the original creditor ; a detailed explanation of any interest added, or payments made since the last billing statement and the legal authorization for this interest ; the date the original creditor claims this debt became delinquent. 

4. Proof that collection of this debt is within the statute of limitations and how that was determined. 

5. Details about Law Firms authority to collect this debt : whether they are licensed in my state and if so, provide the date of the license, name on the license and the license number, and the name, address and telephone number of the state agency issuing the license. If Law Firm is contacting me from outside my state, provide the licensing information from Law Firm state as well. 

And of those five, the only document and the only other contact with Law Firm or Plaintiff prior to being served a summons was the name and address of the original creditor, the account number, and the amount owed, and proved to be highly exculpatory, demonstrating Plaintiff and Law Firm were not pursuing the correct person. It came neither from the Law Firm nor the Plaintiff, but from XXXX XXXX XXXX ( Servicer ), an apparent servicing company working for the Plaintiff. That letter, dated XX/XX/XXXX, included a document created entirely by Servicer naming me the debtor on one page ; the other document provided was a copy of a XXXX XXXX XXXX charge card ( Bank Card ) statement for the period ending XX/XX/XXXX, Account Number XXXX XXXX XXXX in the name of XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX IL XXXX. That is not how I spell my name and that address is 120 miles from where I live. 

I received none of the other documents requested in my XX/XX/XXXX letter prior to being served the summons. Much has still not been provided. Servicer has sent me the same document ( s ) three times. Importantly, I never received any verification that there is a valid basis for claiming that I, XXXX XXXX of XXXX, Illinois, is required to pay this debt. In the entire history of this case, I had received three contacts from the Law Firm : the original XX/XX/XXXX letter, the summons which was personally served to me XX/XX/XXXX, and an email response stating they do nothing by email after I had emailed them for more information. No phone calls, no emails, no verification, nothing, ever. I never received anything at all from Bank Card because we never had a Bank Card account. They would have had zero reason to contact me. 

As I understand the requirements of the FDCPA, the Plaintiff was required to provide me all of the documents requested in my XX/XX/XXXX letter prior to taking court action. Because nothing besides the exculpatory document was provided prior to filing suit, it seems Plaintiff and Law Firm are therefore in violation of that act. 

Aside from violation of the FDCPA, the most pertinent issue is, as I have previously stated, I am not, nor is my wife, the person that owes this debt. Neither my wife nor I have lived in XXXX XXXX, nor have we been employed in that area. In fact, after finding it on an Illinois map, we do not think we have ever set foot in or even driven through XXXX XXXX. We have lived and owned homes in XXXX, IL for the past 48 years our entire adult lives- with no break in residency. XX/XX/XXXX marked my familys fortieth anniversary living in our current house at XXXX XXXX Ct, XXXX, Illinois. I have proof. ( Copies of the original real estate transaction, real estate tax payments, utility bills, drivers licenses, passports, credit card bills and other documents ). 

And once again, I have never received any verification that I am somehow liable for the debtor with the similar name as mine from XXXX XXXX, Illinois. 

With a credit score of over 800, I have reports from the three major credit bureaus as proof of my honesty, integrity, reliability, and creditworthiness. Most importantly there is a total absence of a Bank Card account listing or any mention of a past due Bank Card account on those credit bureau reports because we never had a Bank Card account. 
I dont spell my name the same way as in this charge. I have never used the spelling of the debtor who owes this debt. Therefore, I do not have an AKA as XXXX as the plaintiff claims. 

At this time, I must note that in the complaint, the attached exhibit of the Bank Card statement in which the original name and address of the correct debtor should be listed, that information has mysteriously been deleted or covered upon copying. The complaint was signed by a Law Firm attorney under penalty of perjury and stated that the attached bank statement displayed my name and address, a falsehood. Any reasonable person would interpret this falsehood as improper at the very least ; some might say its even fraudulent. The reason it was covered up obviously is because the name and address on the original un-doctored document is exculpatory and doesnt fit the plaintiffs narrative. 

Note that I originally asked Law Firm for verification XX/XX/XXXX, twice more in XXXX and nothing was ever provided in the one year since the original request. Absent verification that I am the one liable for this debt, there seemed to be no reason the case should continue but it took three hearings and nearly five months before the plaintiff motioned for dismissal of the case in XX/XX/XXXX. 

Furthermore, in the complaint the Plaintiff attaches undue importance to the fact I did not respond to my receipt of the exculpatory Bank Card statement provided by XXXX. There were four very important reasons why I had not yet responded : 1 ) the proof they provided was simply the name and address of the original debtor, 2 ) there was no verification that I owed the debt on behalf of the original debtor, 3 ) I had already previously denied I personally owed the debt ( how many times do I need to state that fact? ), and 4 ) I was waiting on the remainder of the requested documents to see if they looked as illegitimate as the statement with someone elses name and address on it. 
The FDCPA addresses this issue specifically. Neither the XX/XX/XXXX letter from Law Firm nor the XX/XX/XXXX mailing from Servicer had the required FDCPA language, a statement that unless the consumer, within 30 days, after receipt of the notice, disputes the validity of the debt, or any portion thereof, the debt will be assumed to be valid by the debt collector. Furthermore, the FDCPA also states, The failure of a consumer to dispute the validity of a debt under this section may not be construed by any court as an admission of liability by the consumer. 

As previously stated, nothing else was provided prior to the filing of the complaint and there are still documents that have not been provided. 

Finally, using consumer background tools on the internet I was easily able to find that the original name and address of the debtor still exists. 

I suspect, however, that the plaintiff knows full well that I am not the correct person that owes this debt and was simply hoping I wasnt paying attention because they are having trouble finding and or collecting from the real debtor from XXXX XXXX. 
Plaintiff and Law Firm represent their seedy industry well. Incompetence, deviousness or maliciousness cost me money and significant time. I ask for {$1200.00} for compensation. 

I also request that Law Firm make a motion to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, IL to amend its dismissal of this case from without prejudice to with prejudice.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation