Consumer complaint received 2020-10-14
Company: MJ Altman Companies, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Written notification about debt
Sub-issue: Didn't receive enough information to verify debt

Complaint:
This complaint is against a collection company : MJ Altman, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX FL XXXX. XXXX. 
On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I received a call from a doctors office advising that they could not provide me any medical services, due  to a past due bill that had went to collections in XXXX. I inquired why wasn't I notified previously by the Dr. 's office that this bill was owed. The billing agent became very defensive ( refused to provide her name ) and began to yell advising if I had any questions I needed to contact the above listed collection agency. 
I contacted MJ Altman on XX/XX/XXXX, and spoke with Rep. Ms . XXXX, who advised any collections that was over 7 years old would have been removed from their records as well as removed from my credit reports. Ms XXXX did inform me that there was a collection amount pending of {$110.00} that was due since XX/XX/XXXX, from creditor XXXX XXXX. I informed Ms XXXX that the collection amount could not have been owed, because I did not receive any bills or notifications from XXXX XXXX, or MJ Altman indicating this debt was ever owed. I also mentioned this  collection had not been listed on any of my credit reports throughout XXXX to present date. ( XXXX, XXXX, or XXXX. ) I also informed Ms XXXX that I frequently check my credit scores via XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and XXXX XXXX and I get a copy of my credit report every two years and never had I seen this alleged debt owed. Had it been listed I would have reached out to the collection company to learn more about this debt and if need be to pay the debt  if I owed it. Throughout the years since XXXX, I have utilized XXXX XXXX for XXXX, XXXX and other XXXX  and I was never informed that I owed them a bill. 
I informed Ms XXXX that I would like to contact the credit companies and receive an updated credit report to examine my reports for this debt. I contacted XXXX, XXXX  and XXXX   by phone and requested copies of my reports. Only the agent from XXXX  by the name of XXXX advised that the collection amount of {$110.00} was recently added to the file on XX/XX/XXXX, from MJ Altman Companies. He advised he did not see where it had been previously  reported. I filed a dispute with XXXX against the listed amount and I am awaiting a response to the dispute.

I recently received all 3 credit reports and I only located the above debt listed on the XXXX  report, indicating the collection amoun
t was reported XX/XX/XXXX. 
For the past several years I have worked diligently to maintain a XXXX and above credit score with each credit bureau, making timely payments and following guidelines to maintain good credit. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from XXXX XXXX reflecting my XXXX  score as XXXX and my XXXX  score listed as XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from XXXX XXXX, showing my XXXX  score remained XXXX, but my XXXX score had dropped 92 points to XXXX, with no reason given for this decrease. 
Looking at the XXXX  credit report from XX/XX/XXXX, it had to be because of this 6 year old debt of {$110.00}, that I had never been notified of previously that decreased my score Can you advise what are the protocols that companies ( creditors ) and Collection Agencies are to follow once the Creditor knows that a bill is due prior to them sending the bill to collections and once the collection agency receives this debt owed what is their protocol to collect a debt? Shouldn't there be some written records of their attempts to collect a debt? Shouldn't the consumer be notified that the debt is owed in a timely fashion? Is it appropriate for the collection agency to add this debt to the credit bureau 6 years after they were notified of the debt?

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation