Consumer complaint received 2018-08-07
Company: HSBC NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS INC.
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened to sue you for very old debt

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX XXXX., I received a phone call from a gentleman calling from XXXX. The gentleman on the other end of the phone ( who did not identify himself or where he was calling from ) informed that he had sent a certified letter to my home which had just been returned to his office and he had a XXXX XXXX from their legal department on hold to speak to me. At this point, I was quite suspicious as I have recently been laid off my job and am at home 90 % of the time and at no time did the postal worker attempt to deliver a certified letter or leave a notice that one had tried to be delivered. 
Once on the phone with Ms. XXXX, I was inundated with threatening and untruthful and deceptive statements from this woman. She informed me that there was legal action pending against me if I did not clear this debt with her right away or sign a promissory note that I would pay this supposed debt by the end of XXXX and I had to make a decision on how to pay right that minute. She informed me that the debt was approximately {$1300.00} and that they would settle out of court for {$580.00}, then retracted that and said that the courts had rejected that settlement and that it would be {$690.00} plus some change. 
I asked her about the debt, as I had just paid off all my debt when I was laid off and couldnt think of anything that I had forgotten about, she then upped her tone and told me that the debt was from HSBC Bank from XX/XX/XXXX and that the last payment on the account was in XXXX. I politely asked that she call me back in a week so I could research this issue on my own as so much time had passed, and I did not remember any debt from that time period that had not been taken care of. I also asked for information of this debt in writing to be sent to my home address as this was first time I was hearing about this. Ms. XXXX immediately escalated her threats, stating that her company had already investigated the debt, including an asset investigation and fraud investigation, among other investigations and that I had NO recourse but pay the debt immediately or they would take legal action against me and put a lien on my car and its registration, effectively blocking all future registration on my car until this supposed debt was satisfied. 
Finally, I asked her what company she was with as it became apparent she was not with HSBC Bank and she informed me she was with XXXX XXXX. I told her that our conversation was over as I needed to research this issue further. Ms. XXXX then informed me that I had until noon on XX/XX/XXXX, to make a decision on how I was going to pay or the legal action would proceed forward. She gave me her number as XXXX in case I had any further questions. 
As soon as I was off the phone, I began to research this company and found several similar complaints against this company and their aggressive and deceptive collection practices. In many of the complaints there said that there was a resolution in the matter and that the employee was fired as she was not in compliance with the companys policies. WHAT??? How can you have a multitude of complaints extremely similar threats over a course of many years and not have this be your companys business practice??? I believe this companys actions are in violation of not only the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, but also the Texas Debt Collection Act and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices/Consumer Protection Act, not to mention if this is a true debt, it is well beyond the Texas Statute of Limitations of 4 years. 
If this is/was a legitimate debt, I would have no problem making arrangements for repayment, but after more than 8 years I seriously question the validity of debt PERIOD and feel this is a scam or some other form of fraudulent practice to extort monies.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation