Consumer complaint received 2017-11-14
Company: Ad Astra Recovery Services Inc
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Payday loan debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
The call occurred to Ad Astra around XXXX pm central time on XXXX XXXX or XXXX. The amount I saw on my credit report was {$240.00}. I have personally worked in the collection industry for 8 years and am very familiar with the CFPB and UDAAP which recently took affect after the XXXX XXXX XXXX was passed that regulated the banking industry in general. When I called in, I asked if they would offer a settlement. Heir response was to list the days delequent and the fact no payment has been made so no they ca n't settle. I know this is misleading and false information since this company does settle debts so I said thank you and ended the call. 

The next time I called, I just kept asking them, " does your company settle accounts, yes or no? '' Over and over u XXXX the rep said yes. The I advised I wished to negotiate a settlement. Again the rep listed the days delequent and ptmebt history before offering a {$200.00} settlement. At no point in the negotiation did he ask my personal situation, reason for delequency, or how much I felt I owed. He basically just told me I was a dead beat by listed data he received from the client. I the. Informed him that the original loan was {$120.00} and that my family member was the one who used my info to get it so I would offer to pay that amount to settle the debt. I felt this was fair since I never saw a $ of that money loaned and wanted the letters sent to my family 's house to stop. He then put me on hold and his " supervisor '' 'came on. 

Immediately she was telling me to let her talk and not over talk her while I was speaking in a calm voice the entie time. She wanted me to explain everything again to her after I had already been onhtr phone 15 minutes, a common tactic used to frustrate consumers into just paying rather than repeat themselves, so I told her i had already explained my situation tothe previous gentleman. She then told me if someone else took the $ out I need to file a police report and send them the documents. This occurred 3 years ago, if I went to a police station and followed her advice by filing a report they would immidiately ask me why I waited 3 years so I told her no I am not going to waste my time doing that, I called resolve the debt. She finally offered {$150.00} to settle. I felt this was reasonable, even though she was rude, so I agreed and said I could don {$75.00} now and the rest on the 10th when I get paid. Here is where she messed up. .... 

She told me that I needed to pay it now it now or that I would n't be able to settle at all. This is known as the " sir trick '' and is an illegal collection tactic in today 's environment. I asked her, " so your saying if I set up the payment plan for {$75.00} today and {$75.00} tomorrow you will not accept it? '' She replied all settlement offers made must be paid within 24 hours. I then asked, '' so if I call back on the XXXX and offer {$150.00}, you will reject it? '' She of course said " yes ''. I asked her why. This obviously made her mad and she said " company policy ''. If I had done this on the phone to a consumer calling in to pay a XXXX XXXX XXXX debt with no payments ever being made stating it was fraud, I would have been fired. XXXX XXXX made " the XXXX trick '' illegal, I know because I used to use it myself but my agency follows very strict guidelines. She also refused to give me anything in writing and had an old address for me on file so I never even knew this debt existed until I looked at my credit report. After that, I thanked her for her time and ended the call. 

I emailed one of the executives off of their website voicing my concerns with no response, my next course is to file a complaint with the CFPB since I am well aware of what a representative can and can not say when speaking to a consumer. I was mislead, given false information, and discriminated against during settlement negotiations. I researched and found several lawsuits towards this company. 

I have not called back sense or communicated to them in any way. Thanks for taking your time to read my complaint and I look coward to your realonse. They did claim the calls are recorded so there should be a record.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation