Consumer complaint received 2019-05-06
Company: Populus Financial Group, Inc. (F/K/A Ace Cash Express)
State: CO
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Payday loan debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened to sue you for very old debt

Complaint:
This company called my husband on XX/XX/19 about an outstanding debt that had been paid off years ago. They wanted payment over the phone and when we asked for written record of the debt, as well as wondered out loud why we'd never, ever, ever received anything in writing about the debt still being outstanding, the woman asked, " Oh, you didn't? '' then got REALLY quiet, and then we were mysteriously disconnected and no one called us back about this matter that was supposedly VERY urgent only moments ago. 

When I called back to inquire about a company website, or a way that I could verify -- even through a third party -- the legitimacy of the business, I was told that there was no website because they " didn't serve the public. '' When I was told they were a " mediation firm '' where people could pay into their outstanding debts, I noted out loud that it seems like that would be " serving the public, '' and that if I could be asked to provide my credit card information over the phone to pay a supposedly outstanding debt, I should be able to verify online in SOME way that the company was legitimate. 

I asked to speak to a manager, who consistently interrupted me, would not provide me with verifying information, and eventually berated me by saying that he thought it was " pretty XXXX that you would call a number back that you thought was a scam. '' I reiterated that I was only trying to verify that the company WASN'T a scam. When he finally gave me the full name of the company, I brought it up online while on the phone with him and told him that our situation sounded like an exact replica of several other complaints on their XXXX  website. I asked why he wouldn't be able to provide a physical address or other way to verify the legitimacy of the company and he said that he could not provide a physical address " out of protection for his employees '' ( fine, I get that ), and that he couldn't provide me any other way to verify the company 's legitimacy without first having our case number and my personal information. We went around this probably a half dozen times, and it always ended by me saying that I didn't believe my personal information OR the case number were material to simply having SOME third-party way to verify that the company a ) really existed, and b ) wasn't trying to take money illegally from people. I made it clear that scam calls are common and that he should understand that, and that numbers like that get reported to the FTC. 

After he berated me some more about how ridiculous and difficult I was being ( odd response, given he wouldn't give me ANY way to verify the actual company ), he gave me his extension and told me that I could call him if I wanted to ( after telling me never to call them again ) and then hung up on me. 

They never responded to our request about receiving record of the debt in writing.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation