Consumer complaint received 2021-08-26
Company: ResidentCollect, Inc.
State: MD
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
The collection agency innovative recovery has reported an account owing XXXX dollars from original creditor XXXX XXXX. I have been disputing the balance for months with XXXX  and XXXX  for removal ; which keeps coming back as validated debt. Innovative recovery has reported false information to credit bureaus and they have added additional fees, not expressed in the original contract with the original lender. 

The original creditor XXXX place provided me with my rental contract and and a resident ledger. When i called the original creditor they stated the balance they reported to Innovative Recovery as XXXX ; and that included all fees that i owed on the debt. They stated XXXX should be all thats on my credit report and nothing more. I asked them was there any additional fees stated in my rental agreement that i had to cover for the balance being sent to collections. They stated, no the only additional fees collected was a XXXX legal which was for the apartment complex ; that was included in my final balance of XXXX. In the ledger they provided you see the legal fee of XXXX $ assessed on XX/XX/2019 and the final balance after a water charge of XXXX was XXXX on XX/XX/2019. 

Innovative Recovery provided a letter stating that to the best of there knowledge the account balance of XXXX is accurate in owing. They provided me with the rental contract and the ledger from XXXX XXXX. Innovative recovery added please note, the ledger does not reflect any additional fees added to the account as a result of the account being placed with Innovative Recovery, Inc for collections. The ledger showed a final balance of XXXX. In the rental agreement it stated A XXXX $ legal will be assessed on the XXXX of the month if the rent is not paid in full by XXXX. It also states that in the event the resident fails to timely establish gas and electric utility/ services, owner/agent may charge you XXXX per occurrence. No where does it state anything about additional fees for collections are to be paid by resident. 

Innovated recovery reported a balance different from the original creditors violating 15 U.S. Code 1692e : False or misleading representations A debt collector may not use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt. The false representation of ( A ) the character, amount, or legal status of any debt ; or ( B ) any services rendered or compensation which may be lawfully received by any debt collector for the collection of a debt. ( 8 ) Communicating or threatening to communicate to any person credit information which is known or which should be known to be false, including the failure to communicate that a disputed debt is disputed. ( 10 ) The use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect any debt or to obtain information concerning a consumer.

The rental agreement does not state the tenant is responsible for additional fees associated with collections. Innovative recovery stated they added additional fees for collections. Innovative recovery used false information to collect debt. Because of the violation of The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act this account should be removed IMMEDIATELY.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation