Consumer complaint received 2018-07-25
Company: LJ Ross Associates
State: IL
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly
Sub-issue: Talked to a third-party about your debt

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2018, my boyfriend received a missed call to his telephone from an unrecognized number. When he returned the call, an associate stated that they were looking for me regarding a bill due to XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ).  Believing that it was XXXX calling, my boyfriend told the associate that he would have me call their offices. He then contacted me and stated that XXXX called him about a bill that I owe. He also questioned why they called him. This also seemed odd to me, as I had never given XXXX my boyfriend 's number. I immediately contacted XXXX and learned that I had a final bill of {$120.00}, which was now overdue. I was not aware of the bill until that moment and paid the bill in full. I then asked why they called my boyfriend. The XXXX associate stated that, as a business practice, XXXX does not contact third-parties for any reason and she confirmed that they did not have my boyfriend 's telephone number on file. I asked if the account had been sent to collections and the associate said that it had not. I later learned that she was mistaken, when on XX/XX/2018, I received an alert from my credit monitoring service that a collections account had been sent to the three major credit reporting agencies ( CRAs ). I called XXXX at this time and the first associate that I spoke to stated also stated the account had not been sent to collections, however, when I spoke with a supervisor, she confirmed that her colleagues had been mistaken and that the account had been sent to collections on XX/XX/2018, when the account was 15 days overdue. It was at the point that I began to think that it may have been collections agency that called my boyfriend. XXXX XXXX XXXX directly and learned that it was their office who called my boyfriend. 

On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX 18, XXXX said they would notify the collections agency, LJ Ross Associates, that the account was paid on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX 18 and to remove it from collections. The supervisor also suggested that I contact LJ Ross Associates to discuss deletion of the account from my credit reports in consideration of the fact that they began reporting the collection 7 days after I paid the debt, as XXXX did not have the authority to delete the account. On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX 18, I contacted LJ Ross Associates with this request, but they declined to delete the account and the associate was extremely rude and condescening. In addition, the associate stated that they notified me of the debt prior to reporting it to the CRAs, when I spoke with them on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX 18. I explained that I had not called or spoken to anyone in their office prior to XXXX XX/XX/XXXX 18, nor had i ever received a call from their offices. The associate continued to insist that they spoke with me, so I asked her to repeat the telephone number of the person who they spoke with. She repeated the last four digits of my boyfriend 's number and gave no indication that she even had my telephone number on file. This is when I realized that it was LJ Ross Associates who called my boyfriend on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX 18, not XXXX. I let the associate know that it was my boyfriend who they spoke with and that it was him who they shared my debt information. At first the associate denied that this occurred, then she stated that it did not matter who they spoke with, their records say that they spoke with and will continue to show this, r and that as far as they are concerned, I was notified of the debt directly. The associate refused to discuss the matter further. 

I am reporting LJ Ross Associates for informing a third party of my debt and failure to identify, while misrepresenting themselves. They also continue to base their decision to report my account to the CRAs after I paid the debt, on the false belief that they informed me of the debt prior, although they are well aware that this is not true. Further, if they continue to insist that they spoke to me on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX 18, despite it not being true, by law they were required to notify me of the debt in writing within 5 days after this alleged conversation, which they failed to do. 

If all telephone calls are recorded as they say, evidence of all conversations should be available.

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