Consumer complaint received 2017-04-01
Company: McCullough Payne & Haan, LLC
State: GA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
I am contacting you regarding a XXXX ( XXXX ) Credit Card from 17 years ago. I have been and now am a victim of a cycle of fraudulent debt collectors. This cycle is of unsound and fraudulent debt collection practices starting with XXXX, to XXXX ( XXXX ), and now to McCullough Payne & Haan , LLC ( MP & H ) using blackmail and sitting on debts to accrue interest. There is evidence of deceptive court filings ( e.g. filling a illegal debt collection lawsuit ) against me, and introducing faulty or unsubstantiated evidence of debt. In XX/XX/XXXX I had a credit from XXXX. It was stolen in XX/XX/XXXX, I reported it, and the account was closed. I continued to pay the balance. The card was charged off at {$4900.00} and sold to a ( XXXX ) in XX/XX/XXXX. I continued to try and make payments on the card [ noted in XXXX records, {$60.00} in XX/XX/XXXX ] I began getting harassed by ( XXXX ) representative - he would call me all times of the day and night, make XXXX references, say I should find a rich boyfriend to pay it off b/c I was a young attractive woman, would call my workplace state he was " watching me ''. It became so bad my male coworkers would walk me to my car after work. I tried to negotiate with ( XXXX ) and even got a Mediator. The Mediator got back to me and said they tried to work out a plan however they could n't because the ( XXXX ) rep. was " crazy '', and also was demanding the debt be paid off in one lump sum. However even though I have checked I never heard mention of the account or debt since then. I checked with XXXX to make sure and even was able to open other accounts with them ( XXXX ). Then recently started getting mail from a ( MP & H ) saying I owe them {$17000.00} on behalf of XXXX. I originally thought it was a true scam as I just had checked my credit report for a job. I sent them back a letter disputing the claim and to cease and desist. The next thing I know is that I start getting " advertisement mail '' from law firms stating that ( MP & H ) via XXXX filed a garnishment of wages against me. At that time I looked some assistance from local lawyers. Apparently ( XXXX ) filed a case against me approximately 4-5 months after my last payment on the XXXX credit card. I found the account was so old the XXXX agents had a hard time pulling information, however they noted that there was something strange on why my account was charged off and sold in the first place, as I was still making payments on it. They said it was strange if there had been an issue that I was still able to get new accounts with them ( XXXX ) and that the account numbers were not matching up. For example the original account number ended in XXXX, then was changed to XXXX, then account numbers ending in XXXX and XXXX were " charged off and sold '' to ( XXXX ). After I requested the information, received a fax, and did not see the full details I contacted the XXXX department again, however the representative told me that she was not able to communicate with me any longer as a notification was now attached to this file she saw when she pulled my past account information up. I have contacted and spoken to several local ( XXXX, GA ) lawyers about this situation. The lawyers have stated they are aware of the fraudulent behavior of both ( XXXX ) and ( MP & H ) - both have abused the legal system to extort consumers. That ( XXXX ) and ( MP & H ) will " sit on debt '' so the debtor is not aware of it, therefore unable to pay it, allowing for the debt to accrue massive interest.. ( XXXX ) and ( MP & H ) use increased numbers in contacting debtors to black mail larger amount of money then is actually owed. For example ( XXXX ) increased the original debt from {$4900.00} to {$6100.00}. Also, ( MP & H ) contacted me stating I owe {$17000.00} though {$11000.00} was used as a principal, then filed garnishment of my wages for {$18000.00}. Please help.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation