Consumer complaint received 2021-10-19
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MI
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: I do not know
Issue: Written notification about debt
Sub-issue: Didn't receive enough information to verify debt

Complaint:
Received a threatening voicemail from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, so I returned the call and they stated that they were going to sue me and garnish my wages if I did not pay {$1200.00} that day over the phone with a credit card. When I asked what the debt was, they claimed it was from a bank account ( 5/3 Bank ) that I had closed nearly 15 years ago and the peculiar thing was they claimed it was for charges that hit the account after I closed it, which is impossible, because the reason I closed the account was because the bank would NOT allow any charges to be paid by them unless the money was IN my account. I didn't sign up with 5/3 Bank, they bought out XXXX XXXX, which is the bank I opened the account with and XXXX XXXX would cover ( extremely rare ) overdrafts for a fee and collect the balance from my direct deposits from work. Furthermore, there is no way that my account COULD have been overdrawn by {$1200.00}, because none of my monthly expenses all together amounted to that much in those days ( still don't,15 years later-including my rent, utilities, car payment and credit cards ). I did not believe I owed the debt, so I asked XXXX XXXX to send me some documentation to confirm before I agreed to make any payments. She claimed to have sent 4 emails to my email address, but I never got any of those either ( she also claimed they sent me numerous letters, which I never received ). I even called her back to let her know I wasn't receiving the email and asked her to please send me a letter via US mail and that I would call her back to set up arrangements once I knew it wasn't a scam. I was following the advice I read on the FTC website. 

Instead, I received a litigation letter with an additional {$2000.00} added to what they wanted me to pay ( lawyer fees ), so I called back to say that I still had never received verification that this was a legitimate debt and that I just wanted to verify that it wasn't just another phone scam. I have seen numerous complaints against this law firm, XXXX XXXX specifically, so I am still not sure this is on the level. Despite the fact, I called back to see if I could make arrangements to pay and she kept putting me on hold, PRETENDING to be talking to someone that would give her permission to " wave the attorney fees '' if I could pay the full {$1200.00} today. I explained to her that I could not afford to pay that today, but if she'd let me do it in payments I would. So then she said she could break it up into 3 payments, but I would have to pay the full {$3200.00} if she did that. XXXX XXXX is a rude and viscous woman who did not make any attempt to work with me on coming to a reasonable agreement that I could afford to pay. I do not understand why, if this debt has been waiting 15 years to get paid, why it would have been a big deal to spread out the payments more, so I could afford to pay them. Instead, she just got snotty and told me they were going to garnish my wages and hung up on me. I did the math, they are going to get less money from me and it is going to take longer, garnishing my wages, than it would have if she would have just TRIED to make a reasonable arrangement that I could afford to pay. In my opinion, this is AWFUL business practices that only seems to serve XXXX XXXX 's power trip.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation