Consumer complaint received 2018-05-12
Company: ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC.
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
About 2-3 years ago, I went shopping for new back to school outfits. I was in dire need of new shoes. I went to a clothing store near me - XXXX. I was told by a representative about a savings deal, that if I signed up for a credit card I would receive a certain percentage discount. I'm a XXXX XXXX, so I of course love any discounted rates available I can get! I gave my information and the entered it in to her computer register. I was approved for the card almost instantly and went on about my day with my new shoes. This letter is not in regards to the quality of the shoes, but in regards to the bad quality of performance. 

I came back to the same XXXX a couple of weeks later, as I wanted to pay for my shoes. I was younger not knowing exactly how credit cards worked, as it was my first time having one- but knew I definitely had to pay them back. I thought I could pay in person, but a representative at XXXX  told me to call the number on the back of my card, that I should be getting it soon in the mail. I said okay and left. Several things go on in a young working XXXX XXXX mind. Days carried on and I never received a statement, an e-mail, a call, or even the card itself. What triggered my memory about this was a call I received for the first time in regards to the card on Friday XX/XX/2017 while driving on my way home from work. This call was not from XXXX XXXX, but from a collection agency. They explained to me what the debt was for and of course the usual routine is to verify youre talking to the correct person before you carry on with the conversation. They asked if they were speaking to the right person, I verified that it was me and I was asked to also verify what my SSN was. Representative then read to me all my contact info to make sure everything was up to date. 

The address she read back to me was incorrect. Instead of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. ; the agency had XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I told them if that's the information they received from you all at XXXXXXXX XXXX, then that should be the reason why I never even received anything. I was willing to go ahead and pay the bill until they told me what the amount was. My shoes were definitely not anything designer. I know for a fact they were not anything over {$50.00}. If my memory serves me right, I'm pretty sure they were around {$45.00} with the discount, thus I am opening a dispute for the amount of $ 200+ I am  been charged as a now debt. 

Pulling up my credit report, I do see XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX on there ; and it is affecting horribly. This one simple mistake made by this company has brought my credit score down ridiculously low. Now as a XXXX  seeking a XXXX degree, I am getting turned down left and right by lenders and loaning companies because of how badly this negative reflection has affected my credit score. -Everything else is perfect with on time payments on my other currently open credit card accounts. I was told by the collection agency that I had a credit line of {$550.00}! I was sincerely surprised by that because now I can't even get a regular credit card of more than {$200.00} ( With my deposit of {$100.00} even included ).

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation