Consumer complaint received 2018-10-23
Company: Law Office of Michael J. Scott, PC
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, I received a citation and petition on my front door. The papers stated that I was being sued for a credit card debt of {$2400.00} by the alleged Plaintiff, XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ), XXXX for an account that is in claimed in default and for alleged actual damages, cost of court. The Petition states that the alleged Plaintiff 's Attorney is XXXX XXXX, who is representing the Plaintiff from XXXX and XXXX, XXXX. 
On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX, I filed my Original Answer to the Justice of the Peace Precinct 3, Place 1 stating that I, the Defendant, 1. ) Deny the claim of the alleged Plaintiff stating that the Account stated is open due to the lack of and falsely otherwise documented information upon which to base a belief as to the truth of the allegation contained therein. 2. ) Deny the Plaintiff 's claim of the account stated is in default and that I, the Defendant, owe for actual damages, cost of court. I stated in my answer that Plaintiff 's complaint/claim fails to state and/or prove which relief can or should be granted for the accusation of claiming the amount owed of {$2400.00} contained therein. 
I also included five detailed Affirmative Defenses backing my Denials of the Plaintiff 's claims and Requested for Judgement on 6 requests. One of my requests written was that XXXX and XXXX, XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX provide supporting documentation that XXXX XXXX is still the original Creditor/Holder of the stated account and proof that XXXX and XXXX, XXXX is not a Debt Collector OR debt buyer attempting to collect on a debt ( which they admit to be on the citation ), to also provide proof of the claimed account being opened, proof of the original signed consent, as well as proof of me owing the claimed amount of {$2400.00} which they claim included default, interests, actual damages ( as claimed ) and claimed court costs. I included a Unsworn Declaration made under the Penalty of Perjury and Certificate of Service to the Plaintiff 's claimed Attorney and to XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ), XXXX. along with wet ink signatures and printed name and date on each page submitted. My original answer was filed with the court and a copy was sent to XXXX XXXX 's alleged attorney and also sent to XXXX XXXX, both via Certified Mail with return receipts. 
On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, I received in my mailbox from XXXX and XXXX, XXXX a bunch of COPIES of back dated 30-day billing cycle statements from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX which is NOT sufficient validation of the claimed debt and other documents I requested for production. 
Here is how the FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT has been violated by this company and how I have been majorly mislead : On XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with two different debt buyers or debt buyer agent representatives for XXXX and XXXX, XXXX, and was told False and Misleading Representations and was victimized of Unfair Practices, which caused negative balance in my current, personal bank/checking account, forcing me to take out a payday loan to cover my overdraft. The debt buyer representing XXXX and XXXX, XXXX, mislead me by stating that they are a law firm representing XXXX XXXX XXXX and if I did not pay the amount of {$2600.00} owed, then more interest fees and/or charges could be added to the amount and that a judgement could be placed against me and that it could also be reported to my credit. At this time, in the moment, I was caught off guard, was driving in my car and got afraid in the moment, I was forced to an agreement that I did not agree to and defeated by forceful comments and misleading information and was not allowed time to understand my rights or request validation of this claimed debt owed or proof of this law firm and just thinking about what the debt buyers were saying and I, in the moment not knowing my rights at the time and feeling very intimidated, was thinking I didn't want the amount to increase and I have worked so hard to increase my credit scores I didn't want to take a chance of a judgement being placed against me, so I, without knowing all my rights and the status of the account at the time, agreed with the debt buyer to auto-draft payments from my checking account monthly until paid off. My initial forced agreement was with XXXX XXXX XXXX and then I was quickly forced to make a large payment of {$1000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX with XXXX XXXX, one of the debt buyer rep from XXXX and XXXX, XXXX and then a payment of {$500.00} was auto-drafted from my checking account on XX/XX/XXXX ( all in the meantime I'm studying the law and my rights ). Currently, XXXX and XXXX, XXXX is scheduling to auto-draft a payment of {$500.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and another payment of {$500.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. Due to the debt buyers scaring me and not knowing my rights at the time, I stupidly let them take advantage of me and had to end up taking out a payday loan just to get by, which obviously caused me more debt! On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, I called XXXX and XXXX, XXXX and spoke with XXXX , who states is a debt collector and that the info recorded could be used to obtain a debt, about requesting to cancel/void all my future forced auto-draft agreement plans/arrangements with XXXX and XXXX , effective XXXX XXXX and explained to him why verbally and that a written, certified validation letter was sent to the company for response. According to my credit report, XXXX XXXX XXXX reported to XXXX that the account was closed on XX/XX/XXXX and that the payment status was in collections/charge off and that dispute was resolved ; reported by grantor and also states that no payment history has been reported. It also shows that my times late are XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX does not even show on my XXXX  report. On the Petition that was sent to me, it states that XXXX XXXX XXXX is the Plaintiff and original creditor, but, how can this be if XXXX XXXX no longer owns the account and if it was charged off? If I were to assume that XXXX XXXX XXXX directly hired XXXX and XXXX, XXXX, then I would assume that XXXX and XXXX, XXXX are actual lawyers only and not a debt collector or debt buyer attempting to collect, which, on every piece of document that was sent to me from XXXX and XXXX, XXXX they state on the very bottom of the document that they are law firm attempting to collect a debt. This brings me to believe that XXXX XXXX XXXX is knowingly committing fraud by not only attempting to collect on a defaulted account, but, by attempting to collect a debt by adding interests on a supposedly closed account and claiming they are the original owners of the account and that they hired this company out right in order to proceed with suing me over a claimed amount that they can't prove to be accurate. And then there is XXXX and XXXX, XXXX who states they are " handling '' the account for XXXX XXXX XXXX when they are actually collecting and auto-drafting my account as it reads on my bank statements that the auto-drafts are paid to XXXX and XXXX, XXXX. when it states on the petition that it is the Plaintiff, XXXX XXXX who is suing for the amount claimed. In addition, the amount they were suing me for is different than the amount that XXXX and XXXX debt collector originally stated that I owe via the first phone call I had with them regarding the auto-drafts. If the Plaintiff in the lawsuit is a third-party buyer or debt buyer and not the original creditor, then basically everything they say in court can be ruled hearsay, unless proven otherwise. Not to mention that it is Fraud. 
I am not working at this time due to being a full-time student. My husband is a XXXX XXXX, we have XXXX kids, pay our taxes and just try to live and get by from day to day. We are already under financial stress because we still haven't received our XXXX tax return that is owed to us and I have worked extremely hard over the past years to pay off my debt and increase my credit. And then to have a debt collector or buyer just swoop in and scare me before I knew of my rights and prey upon me through Fraud is just wrong in so many ways.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation