Consumer complaint received 2019-05-08
Company: CNG FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: IL
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Payday loan debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Sued you without properly notifying you of lawsuit

Complaint:
I was contacted onXX/XX/2019 by someone claiming to be from the administration office of my place of work ( the phone number prefix matched my place of work 's HR department ) and asked to come to the administration office right away. I informed them that I do not live in the same state as my main office and could not do so. This person explained that I was being charged with fraud against XXXX XXXX XXXX for an unpaid debt, which would result in a felony on my record. I do own XXXX XXXX XXXX money for an unpaid installment loans and believed the threat to be true and asked how to resolve the issue before I was taken to court. The person said I could call ( XXXX ) -XXXX to speak to the law office handling my case, XXXX and XXXX XXXX and provided me with a case number, XXXX ( I now understand that this is not the proper format for a court case of any kind ). I called the number and provided the person with my case number. I was then transferred to a Ms. XXXX and was told that, unless I paid the entire amount owed ( {$2700.00} ) immediately, I would be forced to go to court and pay all legal fees on top of what I owe. I informed Ms. XXXX that I did not have that much money but could pay {$300.00} now and the rest on XX/XX/2019. She stated that she would check with the lawyer handling the case and put me on a brief hold. When she came back on the line, she said that the terms were accepted and I provided her with my debit card number. She said that a second automatic payment for the remainder would come out on the XXXX. Please note that no attempts to withdraw money from my account have been made to date. On XX/XX/19 I started to question the validity of this solicitation and searched online for the law office and a reverse phone lookup on the number. I found no such law office, but the number matched someone with the last name of XXXX in XXXX, TX. I searched for any law office in the XXXX area associated with that name but did not find anything. I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX directly and they have sold my debt to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I decided to call the XXXX number back. When the person answered, I asked with whom I was speaking and she informed me that this was an answering service and she asked how she could direct my call. I said I was calling in regards to a debt collection and was transferred to Ms. XXXX. I told her that I was calling about my debt and wanted more information about the law firm she worked for. She asked if this was <identified me by name> and I confirmed. She said I was on a payment plan and everything was fine. I asked if she could tell me the name of the law firm and she said this was a debt collection company and that the debt had been turned back to them from the law firm. I asked the name of the company and she said it is XXXX XXXX and then immediately hung up on me. I have since blocked my debit card and have lost no money due to this scam. Please note that I do not believe XXXX XXXX XXXX   bears any responsibility for what has transpired.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation