Consumer complaint received 2018-05-20
Company: ERC
State: GA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account information incorrect

Complaint:
Background : This account was set up in my name by a former associate using identity theft. I have disputed this account for years including recent certified/notarized disputes to the credit bureaus that ERC didn't respond to for over 4 month ( I will be filing a CFPB complaint on that immediately after this one as well ). However, due to an upcoming potential career change ( with an accompanying credit reporting investigation as part of my background check for my new employer ), I have decided to pay this account in full versus continuing the damage on my credit. -On XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX, I contacted ERC and spoke with representative XXXX XXXX ( ID : XXXX ) in regards to making a payment arrangement on this account. XXXX asked if I was admitting to the debt and I advised I was not. I verified the address on file was incorrect ( as the debt was never mine to begin with ) and I also declined her settlement offer but opted to pay the balance in full with arranged payments. She asked if I would be putting a card or checking account on file for automatic payments. I advised I would rather call in and pay by phone. We agreed and XXXX then emailed me the terms ( due dates and payment schedule included ) of said payment arrangement on ERC 's official letterhead. On Friday XX/XX/XXXX, I called and spoke to rep XXXX XXXX to make my first payment. I advised I wanted to make 3 payments ( totaling around $ XXXX+ a {$4.00} processing fee ). He said I needed to speak with his supervisor as he didnt know how to take 3 payments. The supervisor then made a huge unnecessary production that I was paying more than the arranged payments. Eventually after an utterly banal and irritating conversation, she finally took my payment but when I asked to be emailed a receipt, she agreed to do so in a huff and hung up on me. However, she never actually sent me a receipt but instead a statement showing I made NO payments. When I immediately called back, another representative apologized on behalf of ERC that the supervisor didnt tell me that their system couldnt generate a receipt until Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX. However, she said ( several times in the conversation ) that ERC updates the Credit Reporting Agencies weekly and my credit report should reflect the decreased balance by then as well. On Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX, just as the last representative advised, I received an alert from my credit monitoring ( set up directly through FICO ) that my overall collections balance had decreased by {$170.00} and my FICO 8 score went up 17 points. On Saturday XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, I called ERC to get my official receipt and spoke with representative XXXX . I also inquired as to the current balance/status of my payment arrangement as I started receiving collection calls a few days before. XXXX then told me that I no longer had a payment arrangement in place and that was due to the fact that I paid MORE than the arranged amount the week before. She then transferred me to the supervisor I spoke to before. When I asked why my payment arrangement would be cancelled for making MORE than what was required ( which is what XXXX told me just a couple minutes prior ), the supervisor stated I was completely incorrect and that the arrangement was actually cancelled because I didnt give them any auto draft banking information. Mind you, I already had the conversation about not leaving a debit/credit card on file when I set up the arrangement in the first place. When I brought this to the supervisors attention, she told me that I was wrong again and that the arrangement wasn't cancelled but I NEVER had a payment arrangement on file. When I told her I literally had the terms of my payment arrangement IN WRITING, I was basically told I was wrong in understanding the language of the payment arrangement. Mind you, the payment arrangement document CLEARLY reads If you have agreed to a payment arrangement, the summary page will reflect that arrangement, otherwise it will state no payment arrangements currently on file. Guess whats on the summary page? The terms of the arrangement. Ill admit at that point it was a contentious call as nothing she was saying made any common sense. After disconnecting, she then sent me a document nearly IDENTICAL to the prior payment arrangement reflecting my new lowered balance but instead of due dates, it was now marked no payment arrangements currently on file in the summary page where the arrangement was reflected previously. It also showed I was actually charged a {$9.00} processing fee for paying over the phone instead of the agreed upon {$4.00}. Chalking it up to a scorned collector on a power trip I decided to let it go and carried on with my day. That was until I got ANOTHER real time FICO alert just a few hours later. However, this time it stated my collection balance had now INCREASED {$170.00} and the balance was changed to reflect the previously HIGHER amount. I called ERC and the representative assured me that " the supervisor was really such a nice lady once you got to know her '' and she didnt think the supervisor was capable. As I am literally in the process of a credit and background check for a new job, any recent/increasing collection debt can have real and immediate damages/consequences for me. I was the one that took it upon myself to initiate the calls to ERC to set up and make payments, not the other way around. Me cleaning up my credit is of the utmost importance. It's so incredibly important to me that I'm paying debt that I personally never incurred in the first place. Low level customer service representatives with a bad attitude should not be able to use consumer credit reporting as their own personal way of 'getting the last word ' on customers that challenge them ( regardless of how nice they are to their coworkers ).  I have attached all corroborating documents to show the timeline of what happened here and will be filing a complaint with the XXXX and contacting ERCS office of the President on tomorrow. This is a huge deal and will be treated accordingly.

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