Consumer complaint received 2021-05-13
Company: CREDICO. INC
State: SD
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Communication tactics
Sub-issue: Frequent or repeated calls

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX I went to the hospital and in XXXX debt collections are trying to collect an amount for {$1600.00} they called me from different numbers and told me I owe them for medical bills. I said I do not recall these bills and to send me itemized statements. The first man refused because he said it was too much to send over email so I told him to mail it to me and I gave him my address and email and he said okay but it never came. I got more and more calls and I asked them to send me a letter explaining what it was they wanted and how they came to the conclusion I owed them XXXX. I had called the hospital billing department myself and they did not show me oweing them money. This company still had not showed me why I was being harassed ( they called me from multiple phone numbers, asked me why I can pay other bills but not them, different people called me it was not one collector from the company ) then I was sent a letter serving me saying that I was being sued by the collection agency for a certain amount and when my court date would be I mailed the court its self which is a small claims division court saying that I could not make that court date because I had a doctors XXXX scheduled. The court rescheduled the date but I continue to have back to back doctors appointments so I asked them to shove it off into XXXX at this point I still did not receive any paperwork as to why I owe the money but when the court was scheduled the debt collectors called me and asked me to pay the fine before we went to court so they did not have to deal with legal fees I said I still dont understand why you are suing me and they just kept repeating it was for medical bills I said I need something more specific than that I do not recall this debt they said you did not get our letter? I said what letter and they said we sent you a itemized statement in the mail I said no you did not I did not get it and he said well we sent it to you. I said no thats not correct I did not receive it and he said well I will send you another copy and will market down as you received it I said I did not receive it so do not market down as received send me a copy of the itemized statement and he goes OK I marked it down as received and I said but I did not receive it and hes like well its fine I marked it down as received and I was confused but he ignored me. The new court date was XX/XX/XXXX and I asked for the the time off with my work but was declined so I could not go to the court hearing after the court hearing I did not receive any phone calls any mail anything like that to determine what the verdict was a couple of weeks later I got a phone call from the debt collector company an older gentleman he said that they favored the debt collection and that he would be contacting me to set up a payment arrangement. I told him I did not have any money and could maybe do XXXX $ a month he said XXXX look into it. That was the last time I heard from him or their company. Today XX/XX/XXXX a gentlemen from phone number XXXX called me and said I owed them XXXX and said that we would need to have that paid in full today because he does not want to have to send the sheriff over here. I said I do not have the money and could maybe afford XXXX $ and he said no that would not work and I said thats all Ive got to give i lose my job after this week and will have no income. He said we would need my routing number and account number to my bank and I said no I can give a debit card but Im not giving you my bank information and he said thats the only way we can do it and I again said no I can do card only he said they do not accept cards because it charges them a fee to use one. I said thats all I have he said what about check or cash? Can You mail in something every month? I said I do not have checks and I do not have cash and he said we do not accept cash anyway. I said okay ... so all I have is card and he kept saying no and that he needs my bank account number and routing number and that he didnt want to have to have to seize assets. I said I do not have a job after this week and all I have is my card and he said fine Ill make an acceptation this one time to take a card and you can pay XXXX $ for only 6 months after that we need it in full. He then asked if I still lived at my address and if Im still paying my XXXX $ in rent ( basically saying if I can pay rent I can pay him ) and I said my roommates are covering my rent as I do not have any money and I will not have a place to live after the end of this month. He said Ill put you down as {$50.00} next week but it will only be temporary and then we will need the rest in full. 

when we hung up I looked at my call log and they have been calling under different phone numbers and the caller ID has them under spam or spam risk. They all start with similar or close area codes. I have talked to six different people since the debt collection phone calls started in or around XXXX. They said they had tried to call previously but did not get a hold of me ( it was probably because theyre calling under spam phone numbers and my phone is marking them for not allowing it to come through ). 


I have contacted a lawyer already and theyre currently looking into the unnecessary harassment.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation