Consumer complaint received 2021-06-13
Company: The CMI Group, Inc.
State: VA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: I do not know
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent Credit Management LP, a dispute via their online portal, and certified mail, in regards to an alleged debt that I do not owe. The letter I sent is as follows : Request for VALIDATION, NOT Verification To Whom It May Concern : This letter is being sent to you in response to notices sent to me from your company. For record keeping purposes, an initial dispute was sent to Credit Management LP, via the aforementioneds website portal on XX/XX/XXXX, and the same was mailed, via certified mail, on XX/XX/XXXX. Please be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 { b } that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

This is NOT a request for verification or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above-named Title and Section. I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you. 

Please provide me with the following : What the money you say I owe is for : Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe : Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe : Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable : Identify the original creditor : Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account : Show me the you are licensed to collect in my state : Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent or Agent of Service : At this time, I will also inform you that if your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the 3 major Credit Bureaus { XXXX, XXXX  or XXXX } this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if any negative mark is found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent, I will not hesitate to bring legal action against you for the following : Violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Defamation of Character If your offices can provide proper documentation as requested in the following Declaration, I will require at least 30 days to investigate this information and during such time all collection activity must cease and desist. 

Also, during this validation period, if any action is taken which could be considered detrimental to any of my credit reports, I will consult with my legal counsel for suit. This includes listing any information with a credit reporting repository that could be inaccurate or invalidated or verifying an account as accurate, when in fact there is no provided proof that it is accurate. 
If your company fails to respond to this validation request within 30 days from the date of your receipt, all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit report and a copy of such deletion { to any/all of the 3 major credit reporting bureaus : XXXX, XXXX and XXXX } request shall be sent to me immediately. 

I would also like to request, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your company to my home or my place of employment. If your offices attempt telephone communication with me, including but not limited to computer generated calls and calls or correspondence sent to or with any third parties, it will be considered harassment and I will have no choice but to file suit. All future communications with me MUST be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter by USPS. 
It would be advisable that you assure your records are in order before I am forced to take legal action against your company and your client. This is an attempt to correct your records, any information obtained shall be used for that purpose. 

Best Regards, XXXX XXXX XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the following correspondence from Credit Management LP : Dear XXXX XXXX, Our office is in receipt of your letter questioning the validity of the above-referenced account. We have notified our client, XXXX XXXX, of your dispute and they have verified that the information on this account is true and accurate. 

If you still dispute that you owe this amount, please provide us with additional details that will better assist us in getting this matter resolved with XXXX XXXX. Any documentation supporting your dispute would be especially helpful. 

If we reported your account to the credit bureaus, please note that an update will be sent to them advising that the account is now in-dispute. 

If you require any additional information from our office, you may contact our dispute team by phone at XXXX or by mail at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX. 


The above referenced letter from Credit Management, in no way satisfied my legal request for validation ( or even verification ) of this alleged debt, that I do not owe. Credit Management LP ignored my request for validation or this alleged debt and ignored my request for the following What the money you say I owe is for : Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe : Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe : Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable : Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account : Show me the you are licensed to collect in my state : Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent or Agent of Service : Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, I have a legal right to request and receive validation of this account. To date, all I have received is an arbitrary number of the alleged charges that Credit Management claims I owe, and another arbitrary statement, that Credit ManagemenXXXX notified XXXX XXXX, and XXXX verified that this account is true and accurate. This does not meet the Federal Trade Commissions guidelines of what constitutes proper debt validation. 

In addition, in the case of Spears Vs. Brennan ( IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA, No. 49A02-0003-CV-169 ), the court ruled that : 15 U.S.C. 1692g ( b ) ( emphasis added ). On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX days after the date of Brennans debt collection letter, Spears counsel Shepard sent Brennan a letter declaring that Spears disputes your debt collection-related allegations, denies the same, and demands strict proof and verification thereof. Record at 21. As such, Brennan should have ceased his debt collection efforts immediately upon receiving that letter. Instead, Brennan proceeded to obtain a default judgment against Spears on the debt collection claim before he had mailed Spears the necessary verification and, thus, violated 15 U.S.C. 1692g ( b ).

Brennan maintains, however, that there was no violation of the FDCPA because he sent adequate verification of the debt [ to Spears ] in the XX/XX/XXXX notice of claim. Brief of Appellee at 13. Specifically, Brennan claims that a copy of the consumer credit contract between Spears and XXXX XXXX attached to the notice of claim provided sufficient verification of the debt within the meaning of 15 U.S.C. 1692g ( b ). We can not agree. 

The contract in no way provides sufficient verification of the debt. A review of the document reveals that it identifies only the terms of Spears loan, including a 17.99 % annual interest rate and the original loan amount of {$2500.00}. The loan agreement contains no accounting of any payments made by Spears, the dates on which those payments were made, the interest which had accrued, or any late fees which had been assessed once Spears stopped making the required payments. Indeed, the existing unpaid contract balance at the time Brennan sent the debt collection notice was at least {$350.00} more than the original loan amount. Therefore, Brennan violated 15 U.S.C. 1692g ( b ) when he failed to cease collection of the debt by obtaining a default judgment against Spears after Spears had notified Brennan in writing that he was disputing the debt but before Brennan had mailed verification of the debt to Spears. We reverse the trial courts entry of summary judgment in favor of Brennan on this issue. 

I do not owe XXXX XXXX and I do not owe Credit Management LP. Should Credit Management LP continue to proceed with the collection activity, despite ignoring my request for true validation, to include attempts to collect via phone, email or mail of this unvalidated debt, or reporting this unvalidated debt, to any credit bureau, Credit Management will be in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. And I will have no choice but to bring suit, against Credit Management LP, for the maximum amount, per occurrence, that the law will allow.

Company public response: Company disputes the facts presented in the complaint
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation