Consumer complaint received 2023-05-23
Company: DCI Credit Services, Inc.
State: ND
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Impersonated attorney, law enforcement, or government official

Complaint:
A few months ago, I was sent a letter from DCI Credit Services stating that they were going to be taking me to court due to an unpaid debt. Immediately upon receiving the letter I called DCI. I informed them that this was the very first time I was hearing anything about this debt. I told them I was not against paying the debt but requested verification of the debt. They said they were unable to send an itemized list of the debt because it was illegal. I then responded that I wanted whatever verification they usually send me ( Ive worked with them in the past for other medical debt and have always worked with them to get it paid off ). I was under the impression that they would be sending it to me, so I was waiting to receive it before paying anything on the debt. 
On Saturday XX/XX/2023, a police officer came to my door and gave me a summons. The summons stated I had 21 days to respond to the court. That following Monday ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I called DCI again to tell them I had yet to received anything to verify the debt, and reinformed them that I had not received anything prior on this debt prior to the letter stating they would take me to court. She stated she would email me a link to log in to view the debt, once I received this, I confirmed the debt was mine and called her back to discuss payment options. I offered to pay them XXXX dollars a month ( as I had been able to do previously with other debts ), But they said they needed more than that. They wanted more than I could afford, as Im not currently working as Im a XXXX XXXX Her response was I should go out and get a job then. I then made a {$300.00} payment with her. She stated I did not need to respond to the court, since I responded to DCI. On XX/XX/XXXX, I made a {$400.00} payment. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I called DCI to ask them since I had paid more than half off if we could stop court proceedings. I believe she said something about not being able to do that as it hadnt been paid off yet. I told her I would be making another payment the following day and the rest on XX/XX/XXXX. She said she would note that in my file and they would not continue with proceedings once paid in full. On XX/XX/XXXX I paid {$400.00}. Then I paid off the remaining balance on XX/XX/XXXX with a payment of {$230.00} Then on XX/XX/XXXX, I received another notice of right to apply for default judgement, even though it was paid in full at that point. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called the court where this was supposedly filed with, and they didnt have any record of these letters I had been getting. There was also not a case number on these legal documents that had been sent to me previously. After this, still on XX/XX/XXXX, I called DCI to inquire why I was getting this letter since my bill had been previously paid in full. Their response was that the letter had been printed a couple hours prior to me making my final payment. However, that cant be true as my final payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX, and the notice to apply for default judgement letter is dated on XX/XX/XXXX, several days AFTER my last payment. 
Anyway, they stated that nothing would happen as they would not be filing anything against me. However, I was under the impression that they had already filed against me which is why the police showed up to my door with the summons and having received the legal documents prior. 
I now believe they faked these legal documents to use as a scare tactic. I also found it odd that every time I called the number for the attorney they had listed on the legal document, it would go straight to XXXX at DCI.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation