Consumer complaint received 2022-04-07
Company: AFNI INC.
State: MI
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was result of identity theft

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX Consumer Financial Protection Bureau XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, IA XXXX RE : Account # XXXX To Whom It May Concern : I am opening a consumer complaint against AFNI, Inc. for a debt that was opened due to identity fraud. On XX/XX/XXXX, I opened a dispute with XXXX Credit Bureau regarding unfair and inaccurate debt reporting. AFNI , IncXXXX continues to report a collections account on my credit file with XXXX see attached documentation. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an alert on my XXXX credit bureau monitoring services of a collections account from AFNI XXXX Inc. for a debt I have no prior knowledge of in the amount of {$1400.00}. According to the data provided to the credit bureaus, this account was placed for collections on XX/XX/XXXX ; however, I never received any communication from this company before the account was added to my credit report. As a result, I called the XXXX credit bureau to dispute the account. 

On Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX, I sent AFNI, IncXXXX a debt validation letter disputing the debt and notifying them of the fraudulent activity via US mail ( copy of the letter attached ) as well as via email ( XXXX ). As of XX/XX/XXXX, I have yet to receive a response from AFNI , IncXXXX regarding this debt. 

I have a stellar payment history current on all payments for 19+ years and have always paid my debts on time. By listing an account that is knowingly fraudulent with an incorrect balance and falsely updating this information monthly with XXXX, AFNI , Inc. is violating the FCRA and FDCPA. 

I ask for your assistance in remedying this situation by having this account removed from my credit report. AFNI , IncXXXX must correct its records and cease all debt collection on this unverified, unvalidated and fraudulent debt. I greatly appreciate your assistance in resolving this error and removing this blemish from my account. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. 

Additional Background AFNI, Inc. is the third Debt Collector that has been assigned this fraudulent account. I have contacted the CFPB as well as the Attorney General for the State of Michigan regarding these matters on multiple occasions, resulting in this account being moved to a different debt collection agency XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. This exact account first appeared on my credit bureau reports in XXXX of XXXX with XXXX XXXX XXXX under a fraudulent North Carolina address. I immediately contacted all major credit bureaus and placed identity fraud remarks on my reports, as well as security freezes. After contacting the CFPB, this account was removed. 
The account was later acquired by XXXX XXXX, and they began to report a fraudulent account using the same fraudulent North Carolina address. Again, I reached out to the State of Michigan Attorney Generals office and filed a complaint with the CFPB. The account was closed and once again sent to a different collection agency, this time AFNI , Inc. I am yet again disputing this debt with the CFPB and will contact my Attorney Generals office if they do not remove this fraudulent account from my credit report. AFNI has yet to provide me with any record of this account, service address, statements, or any documentation that would provide the validity of this debt. 

Best regards, XXXX XXXX XXXX Attachments - XXXXn Credit report - Debt validation letter

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation