Consumer complaint received 2020-06-05
Company: ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC.
State: MI
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged

Complaint:
I entered a payment arrangement with this company after they harassed me and called me at all hours of the day, and subsequently threatened legal action and then started legal action. They would not initially identify themselves when they first started calling me so I never responded. When I was notified of legal action, I reached out to Midland Credit Management , Inc. - XXXX   and was notified of the debt. They told me I had to pay the full amount {$2700.00}, which I could not and then they said I could try and enter a payment arrangement if I paid {$190.00} at the time of the call and then subsequently {$100.00} a month until the debt was paid in full. I agreed to pay the {$190.00} and then {$100.00} a month following that on the XXXX of every month. They stated that legal action would stop so long as I made my payments on time and that if I defaulted on payments legal action would continue and a judgment would be entered against me which could result in me losing my job possibly, according to them. I said okay, and paid. I paid {$190.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and then {$130.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and {$100.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. I checked my credit score at the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX and it showed they were still reporting the balance owed of {$2700.00}, and were reporting that I had not made any payments. It stated on my XXXX  credit report that the last time they had updated information was in XXXX of XXXX. I called Midland Credit Management , Inc. - XXXX in XXXX and asked if they could update the debt to reflect the accurate balance and that I had indeed made three payments at this point. They gave me the run around and transferred me and gave me different phone numbers to call and after 2 hours, I was told no one was trained on " Credit Reporting '' and that they would not update the correct balance or payments until the balance was paid in full. They could not give me any assurance of when that would be reported or if it would officially be reported to Credit Bureaus or just reported in Midland Credit Management , Inc. - XXXX systems. I was told not to dispute, just to be patient and keep paying as I had agreed or legal action would resume. I was told that they could see in their records that they were aware they were reporting the incorrect balance and inaccurate payment details and they showed the last time they had updated or reported anything about the debt was 5 months prior in XXXX. I then contacted XXXX  and disputed this debt as they were reporting inaccurate balance amount and inaccurate payment history of the debt. I was notified on XX/XX/XXXX that the dispute was successful and that the debt was being deleted from my Credit Report and my Credit Score went up. I called Midland Credit Management , Inc. - XXXX  and informed them of the dispute and that the debt was deleted from my Credit Score and I asked if I was still legally required to pay the debt. They would not answer me and laughed at me twice. They asked me if I only pay my debts when I'm forced legally or if I pay out of moral responsibility. I asked multiple times, " Am I legally required to keep paying now that the debt was disputed and removed from my Credit Report '' and they would not answer. The first agent I spoke with offered right away after her system showed that the debt was disputed, to cancel my payment plan, and I asked again, am I still required to pay, or not, since the debt was deleted and disputed, she would not answer. I was transferred to two different supervisors and after 1.5 hours, I was told if I didn't continue to pay, they would restart the lawsuit, possibly garnish my bank account and that I would have a judgement entered against me, but would not answer if I was legally required to keep paying on a deleted debt. They would not answer and kept repeating the question to me " do you only pay bills when you are legally forced ''?. They would not answer me and after so long, and speaking with two supervisors, who would not give me their real name, I gave up. I still do not have any answer and don't know if I'm supposed to keep paying or not.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief