Consumer complaint received 2023-03-10
Company: SANTANDER HOLDINGS USA, INC.
State: IN
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Auto debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was already discharged in bankruptcy and is no longer owed

Complaint:
My name is XXXX XXXX. XXXX ( maiden name XXXX ). On XX/XX/XXXX at approximately XXXX XXXX XXXX, I received a call from a XXXX female that stated she was a paralegal calling from a law firm allegedly named XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Unfortunately, when she called me for the first time, I was on a public bus so I was unable to get her name, but was able to retain the name of the alleged law firm she was calling from in regards to the purpose of her contacting me. She stated that she was a paralegal with XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX and calling on behalf of a former creditor that I once did business with over fifteen years ago. She stated that the former creditor, who she allegedly states as Santander, is suing me for a debt that was filed under my XXXX XXXX bankruptcy back in XXXX for {$1300.00}. I explained to the XXXX woman from this law firm that allegedly is representing the creditor attempting to sue me for the XXXX debt that it WAS XXXX along with 22 other creditors in my XXXX XXXX bankruptcy and that even after I spoke with her after we got off I reached out to Santander and they confirmed that I NO LONGER have any opened or closed accounts with them, specifically and did not know why any law firm would contact me on their behalf in regards to obtaining a debt that was successfully settled via my XXXX XXXX bankruptcy. On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX p.m. pst, I received another call from the same law firm. This time it was a XXXX man that called me stating the exact same information. Just as with the first call that I received earlier in the week on XX/XX/XXXX, from the XXXX woman, I also gave the XXXX man the same exact answer as I did the XXXX woman. In that same call, since I had already spoken with Santander and confirmed that the debt this law firm is attempting to collect from me was already settled back in XXXX, I offered to the XXXX gentleman who called me the second time from the law firm still attempting to collect the debt allegedly owed to their client, Santander, a chance to place a three way call to have Santander verify themselves with this alleged law firm that ANY DEBT from Santander specifically has been paid in full and/or satisfied. The XXXX gentleman I spoke with from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX stated that he was not interested in doing any three way calls and then began to act irate with me over the phone and then since I refused to pay them any money, he hung up on me. There are so many things out of place with the only two calls that I received on both XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Neither one of these associates claiming to be employees of this alleged law firm, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX verified ANY of my information to confirm that either of them were speaking only to the intended debtor, nor did they say the standard legal debt collector greeting that is usually said-This is an attempt to collect a debt and any information will be used for that purpose. I also tried looking up their website online via all the available search engines ( XXXX, XXXX, bing ) and none of them listed an actual website let alone a valid main contact number for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I also requested on the second call from the XXXX man that was with the alleged law firm to send me an email to confirm any information about this debt that Santander allegedly is suing me for and I have yet to receive any email from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX stating this alleged claim against me for a debt that was settled via my XXXX XXXX bankruptcy. Since I am assuming that this is a fraudulent law firm attempting to scheme random people out of their hard earned money, I would like to have this company investigated and stop them from pursuing other honest hard working people like myself and others. The only contact information that I have is just these two phone numbers that the XXXX woman and XXXX man called me from on the two separate occasions. The first call from the XXXX woman that contacted me on XX/XX/XXXX called me from the number XXXX. The second call that I received from the XXXX man on XX/XX/XXXX called me from the phone number XXXX. Please let me know during any investigations that are ongoing with this company if I can be any assistance to you. Thank you in advance for any and all assistance that can be provided in the the attempt to thwart these fraudulent debt collector scammers from financially harming anyone else. Enjoy the rest of your day and have a good weekend.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation