Consumer complaint received 2020-03-13
Company: Cottonwood Financial Ltd.
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Payday loan debt
Issue: Written notification about debt
Sub-issue: Didn't receive enough information to verify debt

Complaint:
I was contacted by XXXX XXXX office about a payday loan that I thought had been settled from the Cash Store. They told me it was not settled and to avoid them taking me to court that I needed to pay 10 installments of {$85.00} for a total of {$850.00} to stop them from taking me to court. I paid one installment on XX/XX/XXXX and asked for the validity of the debt to be sent to me and receipt of payment. The person who informed me about this was named XXXX XXXX and stated that this charge would show up from XXXX XXXX. After the payment was taken I called back to get verification of the debt, the payment schedule, and receipt of payment already taken since as of XX/XX/XXXX I had not received any type of email or communication regarding the arrangement. This began to raise a " red flag '' when I did not receive any communication and the other companies I have dealt with recently while trying to settle my debts have all provided me with email communication with company logo and information about the company as well as debt verification. I contacted the company back on XX/XX/XXXX to discuss getting more information regarding my debt and validity of the debt. XXXX XXXX told me that she didn't need to send me validity of the debt because they were NOT a debt collections company but a proceedings office. She started to get very frustrated with me about my asking questions and at one point threatened to stop my arrangement and would just " see me in court '' without me verbally agreeing to dispute the arrangement and I even told her that I wasn't trying to dispute the arrangement, but to verify the debt and that they were an actual company. I told her I looked up the company on the XXXX  XXXX   XXXX  site and could not find any legitimate company accredited listing any of the names she had previously given me. XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX Office, or XXXX XXXX. I did not see this debt on my credit reports and wanted to make sure that it was not a scam. I asked her for the company name and she told me that it was XXXX XXXX Office I asked for the physical address of the company and I was told by XXXX XXXX that she would absolutely NOT provide me her physical location but that she would provide me with the corporate office address. I said ok, she stated that it was XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, California XXXX. This raised another concern about this being legitimate company due to the fact I have never in my life known a corporate office to have a PO box as a physical address. I then asked for the telephone number to the company and her response was the one I had called from XXXX. I had also been given another number previously of XXXX that she did not disclose. I asked her for her hours of operation and where she was located and she told me they were open till 5 and that all she could tell me about her location was that she was calling from Florida near the XXXX XXXX area. I requested to know what their professional license # was so that I could verify the business according to my conversation with the FTC, when I contacted them regarding my suspicions about the company trying to collect this debt. I was told by XXXX XXXX that she would not give me the information about the license # and that by law she didn't have to disclose that information. I told her that the FTC informed me that she can in fact give me that information that it was available to the public and she flat out refused. At this point in the conversation she told me she was not going to " go back and forth '' with me about the debt. And that she would again just see me in court. I told her that I didn't know why she was raising her voice and getting frustrated with me, that I was only trying to make sure that they were an actually company, and again just wanted to verify that this was not a scam since I thought the debt was settled. I asked for an email outlining the arrangement with her once again and she said that she would send it by the end of the day. At the end of the day I did receive an email with just the title of XXXX XXXX. no letterhead, no logo and my name, address, account number with the cash store and account ID the letter reads : This letter is to confirm that XXXX XXXX has received your installment for the above referenced account on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Your installments are as follows : Starting date : XX/XX/XXXX Installment Frequency : Bi-weekly Upon receipt of the final installment, your account will be considered Paid in Full. 

Once that final installment has cleared, the account will be reported paid in full, and a XXXX  balance will be reported to the proper credit reporting agencies, if applicable. Furthermore, you will be released of any financial and legal obligations pertaining to the above referenced account and any remaining balance. 

If you have any questions related to your account, please do not hesitate to contact the office at XXXX Monday through Friday from XXXX to XXXX EST. Please refer to the ACCOUNT ID indicated above on all questions and installments. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX  XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX XXXX IMPORTANT : In the event that any transaction is not honored by the bank, becomes disputed, chargeback or unauthorized, this letter will be terminated and voided. You may be responsible for the balance if full, less installments made and costs allowable by law. 
-- end of letter -- The letter besides having no company logo, and in a basic XXXX XXXX  format, shows my installments starting on XX/XX/XXXX however, I had already given one installment on XX/XX/XXXX. The letter also did not disclose XXXX XXXX or anyone else 's name for contact as well, and the contact number was different than what was previously given to me as well. I also noticed that the address provided at the bottom was a DIFFERENT address than the one I verified with XXXX XXXX over the phone several times and had even read back to her. I have already contacted The Cash Store on the same afternoon and learned that my debt was not settled like I thought, but that it was sold in XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX  XXXX  XXXX I contacted that business and was told the debt was sold again to XXXX  XXXX   XXXX  at XXXX. I contacted that company and was told that the debt was again sold to another company XXXX XXXX XXXX at XXXX. I have left several messages with that company to please contact me regarding my debt and have yet to hear back from anyone or get a call back to verify who at last has this debt and I am fine with paying what I owe, but just want to verify that this XXXX XXXX or XXXX  XXXX  XXXX  is who should actually have my debt since I do not even list this as an open debt on my credit reports and have gotten very little to NO solid information regarding the validity of this debt or the validity of this company. I would like to know what company owns my debt to settle if any at this point and ensure that this is not a fraudulent attempt to collect a debt. This " company '' has a " locator '' that has contacted my mother and my best friend in regards to locating me due to a " case '' that is being filed against me in XXXX county. They disclose my case number in voicemails to them and that I still have saved on my phone. In the voicemail XXXX XXXX states that they are trying to locate me and that they will contact my employer and speak to my supervisor to locate me. They also disclose that I need to contact the legal department about this case and I would need to contact them before my case is filed and that once my case is discharged from their office that my legal rights will be forfeited. I believe this to be a violation of my rights to be contacting other persons besides my self and stating personal information about a debt on someone's voicemail about me. I also do not believe that if this is discharged from their office that my legal rights will be forfeited as claimed since I can always represent myself in a court of law or have an attorney represent my case so this does not make sense to me. I contacted the " locator '' company and wanted to know why they contacted my best friend about my personal debt within the last hour after already speaking to a representative that morning. I was told that they did not call my best friend within that hour and the woman even told me that my friend was lying to me. There is something severely NOT acceptable with the way this company, if someone can even prove they are an actual company with the lack of information and evidence to prove so, handles someones personal business. And stating that you do not have to follow the law or consider the fair debt collection practices act because you are a proceedings office and not a debt collector, but are still trying to collect money from me does not make ANY sense to me nor do I believe that it is lawful.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation