Consumer complaint received 2018-03-06
Company: Amsher Collection Services, Inc.
State: AL
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
Back in XXXX of XXXX, I opened an checking/savings account with XXXX compass. In XX/XX/XXXX, my account was defrauded after my wallet was stolen. I filed a police report the following day after my wallet was taken. I alerted XXXX bank of what happened that day as well. Initially they had to freeze the account while investigating the fraud. Someone deposited two fraudulent checks in the account and withdrew all of the money out of it. They bought several money orders and other things at a XXXX in Georgia. At the time, my residence was in Alabama. This occurred a few months before I went away to basic training for the XXXX XXXX XXXX. While the investigation was going on, a new account was opened and this is where I had my work paychecks and other monies deposited into this new account. I was also issued a provisional credit from XXXX in this new account. In XXXX of XXXX, I go away to basic training for the XXXX. I never heard anything about the matter since then. I was under the assumption everything was cleared up and I never once got a phone call about the matter again. I never had anymore money deposited into the account after that because I stopped working at the job I had at the time to prepare for my leave for the XXXX. For 2 months from XXXX to end of XXXX of XXXX, I had no access to my cellphone as I was in basic training and my phone sent to my dads and it was shut off. Upon graduation in XX/XX/XXXX, I still received no letters, emails or calls about the account. Once again I was under the impression, everything was fine so I had no reason to think about it. At this point, my mind was on other things. 

Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXX, I finish my technical school and I end up being stationed in XXXX for the XXXX. I'm living my life, doing my job for the military, I had no other personal matters back in states so I had no reason to think there was something amiss with Compass bank. I end up being XXXX right after finishing and I spent some time XXXX. Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXX, I come back to the states for a week during leave to visit family back in Alabama. I get a phone call from a man named XXXX who was with a debt collection agency saying that I owe XXXX XXXX over {$2500.00} after an account I had with them was overdrawn and had been so for several months. I was blown away by that because I hadn't received any correspondence from XXXX XXXX in regards to an overdrawn account. He wasn't able to provide details except that the account that I had with XXXX had been charged off in XX/XX/XXXX as it had been overdrawn for over 90 days. I called XXXX the same day and I ended up getting passed around on the phone between departments. When I asked why the account was overdrawn, they couldn't provide an answer since it happened back in XXXX. I have a security clearance from the government. This put my security clearance and livelihood from the military in jeopardy due to the fact that, this had been on my credit report at one time and I could have lost the clearance. I had to make an arrangement to pay the debt in order to keep my clearance. Also I was told that, if I had let it go and not paid, I wouldn't be able to open a checking account or any account with any financial institution. That's exactly what I did, I made an arrangement and would pay in installments. I knew I was going back XXXX so I had to make some type of arrangement to keep my clearance and due to the fact, I wouldn't be able to deal with this overseas. I wasn't thinking about XXXX XXXX while serving my country. 

I'm still living XXXX. I'm on leave for a few weeks until I get back. This hasn't been resolved. Each time I'm able to call back while in the states, I'm either no able to get thru as the XXXX XXXX XXXX calling system is severely messed up. I had to call 3 times back to back because the answering service was not working ( i.e. you're told to press " 3 '' and you do, but it doesn't register ) When I am able to get through, I'm told I have to speak to the Chargeback Team, which also takes forever to get through to them. There have been times throughout the day, I've had to call 6 times in a row but after all of the waiting, I get a voicemail. Then when I am able to speak to someone in that department, they tell me I have to speak to Client Care Fraud, who then tells me to speak to the Chargeback team and vice versa. It's this constant back and forth. Then one person told I should go into a local branch for more assistance. I'm thinking, " why do I need to go into a local branch, if you're a corporate level? Shouldn't you all have that same information that a local branch would? '' I believe she was telling me that in order to get me off of the phone. I wasn't sure how that would help me in this situation. 

As of XX/XX/XXXX. I have one more week of leave before I have to go back XXXX. I called XXXX Friday XX/XX/XXXX. I was finally able to get a clear answer about why they charged off the account initially. Per an agent on the phone, I was told that the original dispute that was filed claimed there was fraud on the account and certain charges that were disputed didn't line up with the video. They said there were charges disputed that weren't fraud. I specifically mentioned only charges that happened in GA. These were XXXX and I believe some XXXX type charges. As a result, they denied the claim. Clearly back in XXXX, there had to have been a miscommunication. That was the first time I had heard about why the claim was denied. It took all of this time to get to that answer. The call ended up being dropped and I ended up calling back on XX/XX/XXXX ( today ) I was able to get through and I'm sure they saw that I called many times before -- this lady picked up after I was transferred and she was very rude, there wasn't even a " Hello '' it was more like " what do you want? '' type of answer. Actually had the nerve to ask me " well why are you waiting in XXXX to call about this when it happened in XXXX? " I mentioned, that this wasn't my first time calling. I've called many times since the account was charged off. I haven't been able to get a clear answer from anyone, when I asked about the fraud claim. It seemed she was blaming me instead of trying to help. I let her know, that this is the first time I'm hearing about the denial of the claim in XXXX. I also mentioned that it was unacceptable and I wanted some type of reprieve. I mentioned, I'm in the XXXX   and I had been away XXXX. Not one time I was away or even in the states, XXXX tried to contact me. They could have sent an email, as they had that information when I originally signed up for an account. My whole thing is that, it's not too much about the money I've paid on this, it's the principle as a consumer. Someone commits a crime against another and when you do everything that's asked of you, but you're the one treated like a criminal. The people who did this probably went and did this to other people. Then when I do call, they mention the fact that I have been paying on this and I'm like " you would do the same thing if you had a security clearance and it could be taken away because of a debt on your credit report or if there is any kind of blip with your finances '' Of course I'm going to pay if it means I keep my livelihood. 

The lady whom I spoke with, said she would get a supervisor to call but I have yet to hear from one. I  don't believe she actually sent it to a supervisor. I'm going to keep calling every single day while I can until this is completely resolved. This is unacceptable and terrible customer service. I will keep calling until something is done. When you do what is asked of you and they treat you like a common criminal, it's not right. I serve my country and work my tail off everyday, I shouldn't have to come back to the states to deal with this and I shouldn't have to keep dealing with my I'm XXXX or XXXX when I have other things I should be focusing on. There was no type of compassion with these customer service agents, just rudeness and a willingness to pass you over to someone else to get you off of the phone. I bet if this happened to one of them, they would feel the same way I'm feeling. I'm going to keep fighting on this.

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