Consumer complaint received 2017-05-10
Company: ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC.
State: GA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Sued you without properly notifying you of lawsuit

Complaint:
I am being sued in  XXXX  separate lawsuits from the same law firm,  (   XXXX  )   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  . This law firm lists it 's address as  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX , GA  XXXX .  XXXX  of the  XXXX  were signed by the same attorney,  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX , bar #  XXXX . The fourth was signed by a  XXXX   XXXX , bar #  XXXX . All  XXXX  of these accounts are lawsuits on the behalf of  Midland Funding . When I received the first lawsuit from the firm for   XXXX   XXXX    ( Midland Funding ) o n  XX/XX/XXXX . It was signed by  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  and I was shocked. This account had been disputed directly with   XXXX   XXXX  , and directly with  Midland Credit Management becau se I had requested Arbitration in this matter. I contacted  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  repeatedly, with no return calls. I had responded to the initial letter from  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  regarding   XXXX   XXXX  , that stated I had  XXXX  days  to respond to dispute the validity, which I did. This letter also stated, verbatim, " This Law firm is licensed to practice law in GA, FL, NC, SC, and TN. Although we are a law firm, at this time no attorney has personally evaluated or reviewed the particular circumstances of your account. This communication is from a debt collector and is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose. '' I never expected to be sued w/o some sort of notification. When I called to speak with a " specialist '' on   XXXX   XXXX   after being sued, and no return calls from  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX , I was told point blank to make a payment to settle, that was the ONLY option, despite my arbitration request. When I explained that after some research, this firm was sued for falsely and deceptively filing lawsuits to intimidate consumers, I was told, " well, take your chances in court then ''. I went ahead and filed an answer with some assistance with legal aid that arbitration was requested to the original creditor BEFORE it was " sold ''. I explained this in my answer. The firm file a stay in this case, but has refused to drop the lawsuit. This entire process took months. Then without notice, a second lawsuit was filed on  XX/XX/XXXX  for  XXXX   XXXX  (  Midland Fundin  g ) by   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  ; a third lawsuit was filed on   XXXX   for  XXXX   ( Midland Funding  ) by  XXXX   XXXX , and finally,  XX/XX/XXXX  for   XXXX   XXXX   (  Midland Funding )  by  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX . This firm has so blatantly " churned '' out lawsuits against me that the  Magistrate Court in    XXXX   XXXX  has taken notice, and is waiting to schedule all of the lawsuits on  XXXX  day. Neither  XXXX  of these lawyers have returned  XXXX  single phone call to me. On the  XXXX   XXXX  account alone, the lawsuit was filed  XXXX  days after the  1st  debt collection letter I received from the firm. And even though I disputed the amount timely, as I stated, the lawsuit was filed anyway,  XXXX  days later. Same with the others. I feel that these multiple lawsuits were filed to intimidate me and overwhelm me, without due process or heeding to the FDCPA. Something is not right, as neither of the attorneys listed has EVER shown up in court. Even though  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  has " signed ''  XXXX  of the  XXXX  lawsuits. Nor have they returned  XXXX  phone call.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation