Consumer complaint received 2020-12-10
Company: Law Office of Harris & Zide
State: WY
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
Harris and Zide Law Firm is supposedly representing XXXX XXXX XXXX and is contacting me. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX, a debt collection firm, has reported 5 collection accounts to my XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX  credit reports. Harris and Zide is ONLY contacting me about 2 of those 5 collection accounts being reported by XXXX  ... specifically : 1 ) the account reporting a balance of {$8900.00} ( as of XX/XX/XXXX ) 2 ) the account reporting a balance of {$5900.00} ( as of XX/XX/XXXX ) It should be easy to identify these two accounts on my consumer credit reports as the reported balance is significantly higher than any other collection account that XXXX XXXX XXXX is reporting to my personal consumer credit reports. 

Harris and Zide, on behalf of XXXX, responded to my request for debt validation for these two accounts. 

Their response to my debt validation request proves that they are unable to show that their client, XXXX XXXX XXXX, ever purchased these two alleged accounts from the alleged original creditor XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

Invalid Debt Validation Response to the {$8900.00} account : Harris and Zide showed documentation for a " Bill of Sale '' from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX XXXX for " Lot Number XXXX. '' It goes on to say that XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX sells the debt immediately to XXXX XXXX XXXX, which sells the debt immediately to XXXX XXXX XXXX, although I do not recall receiving any phone calls, documentation, or debt-collection disclaimers from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX XXXX as required by the FDCPA. The aggregate number of accounts and aggregate unpaid balance is intentionally blacked out. The document goes on to claim that the receivables are identified on " Exhibit A '', and the only information contained on the page Titled " Exhibit A '' is : " Exhibit A Receivables File XXXX XXXX Sale XXXX Transfer Group Portfolio Transfer Batch XXXX XXXX N/A '' None of the information in Exhibit A ties me to the alleged debt whatsoever, and all that is demonstrated is that XXXX XXXX XXXX purchased a bulk number of accounts, and therefore does not validate the debt. 

Harris and Zide sent the same, invalid debt validation for the other accounts as well, as shown below. 

Invalid Debt Validation Response to the {$5900.00} account : Harris and Zide showed documentation for a " Bill of Sale '' from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX XXXX for " Lot Number XXXX. '' It goes on to say that XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX sells the debt immediately to XXXX XXXX XXXX, which sells the debt immediately to XXXX XXXX XXXX, although I do not recall receiving any phone calls, documentation, or debt-collection disclaimers from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX XXXX as required by the FDCPA. The aggregate number of accounts and aggregate unpaid balance is intentionally blacked out. The document goes on to claim that the receivables are identified on " Exhibit A '', and the only information contained on the page Titled " Exhibit A '' is : " Exhibit A Receivables File XXXX XXXX Sale XXXX Transfer Group Portfolio Transfer Batch XXXX XXXX N/A '' None of the information in Exhibit A ties me to the alleged debt whatsoever, and all that is demonstrated is that XXXX XXXX XXXX purchased a bulk number of accounts, and therefore does not validate the debt. 

Separately from their failure to validate the debt, they are attempting to collect interest and fees that the original creditor ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) is claiming that I owe, in addition to the alleged principal amount. However, in their response to my debt validation request for these two accounts, they did not provide an original contract that I allegedly had with the original creditor, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, instead they only provided statements. Collecting on interested and fees without an original contract is illegal under FDCPA. 

Finally, Harris and Zides communication with me has been awful. They are not responding to emails or faxes I have sent them, although they are perfectly capable of sending emails to me. See attached documents for the many attempts I have made to establish fair communication with Harris and Zide, and the limitations they have placed on phone calls, mail limits, etc, which dramatically restricts my ability to resolve this matter and unfairly allows only their client to record phone calls, while legally barring me from recording the same phone calls that their client XXXX XXXX XXXX is recording. The best specific examples of run-arounds I've been getting pertaining to communication methods can be found in the attached " faxes.zip ''

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation