Consumer complaint received 2020-04-29
Company: Eastern Account Systems of Connecticut, Inc.
State: RI
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Written notification about debt
Sub-issue: Didn't receive enough information to verify debt

Complaint:
This complaint is based on violations of the FDCPA and the FCRA by Eastern Account System ( Eastern ). 

___ On XX/XX/XXXX, I reviewed my XXXX  credit report and saw a collection account reported by Eastern for a {$65.00} medical debt. I only just discovered the account from my credit report. Eastern never sent me a letter with a notice that I had a right to dispute the debt. 

___ On XX/XX/XXXX, I disputed the debt with Eastern by certified mail. 

___ Eastern did not respond to my letter and did not validate the debt. 

___ In my letter, I gave Eastern notice that I will also dispute the account with the credit bureaus. According to federal court decisions, if a debt collector verifies an account to a credit bureau before validating the debt, that is a violation of the FDCPA for failing to cease collection of the debt. Here is case law on this : Until the debt was verified, all further attempts to collect on the debt, including defendants XX/XX/XXXX letter and any subsequent reports to the credit reporting agencies, violated 1692g ( b ). Semper v. JBC Legal Group, 2005 WL 2172377, *4 ( W.D. Wash. 2005 ) [ emphasis added ]. 

___ On XX/XX/XXXX, I disputed the unverified Eastern account with XXXX. 

___ On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX  sent me the results of the re-investigation. Eastern failed to cease collection of the debt because they falsely verified the unverified debt to a credit bureau. 

___ Also according to federal court decisions, the failure of Eastern to provide account-level documentation to validate the debt means that they had no such materials to rely on when they verified the account to XXXX. Here is case law on this as well A jury could also find that because [ the debt collector ] retained the right to seek account-level documentation through its agreements with [ the creditors ] [ it ] behaved unreasonably when it reported the accounts as verified without first exercising those rights. Hinkle v. Midland Credit Management , Inc., et al No. 3:2013cv00033 ( S.D. Ga. 2015 ). 

___ Based on the aforementioned facts, Eastern violated the FDCPA and FCRA. 

___ ( a ) Violation of the FDCPA 15 USC 1692g ( b ) in that they failed to cease collection of the disputed and unverified debt. 

___ ( b ) Violation of the FDCPA 15 USC 1692e ( 2 ) ( A ) in that they misrepresented the character, amount of legal status of the debt. 

___ ( c ) Violation of the FCRA 15 USC 1681s-2 ( b ) in that they failed to conduct a reasonable investigation of my dispute thru a credit reporting agency. 

___ DAMAGES : I was denied credit due to the unverified collection account that Eastern wrongfully verified to a credit bureau. 

___ RECOURSE : I spoke with a consumer lawyer about filing a complaint with the CFPB. He explained how to structure my complaint, and to contact him if my CFPB complaint does not resolve this matter.

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