Consumer complaint received 2019-10-23
Company: Suttell, Hammer & White, P.S
State: OR
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was paid

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I entered into an agreement with XXXX XXXX XXXX to settle my debt with three credit companies, XXXX XXXX, XXXX  XXXX and XXXX. XXXX XXXX   and XXXX XXXX were taken care of, XXXX was set on a schedule to pay my debt through the attorney firm of XXXX XXXX XXXX, see attached agreement. I made all the payments up to XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I found out my debt had been sold to Suttell, Hammer & White. I was still making payments to XXXX XXXX XXXX to go into my account for paying off my debt. I had to inform XXXX my debt had been sold to SH & W and they should contact the new law firm, to make sure they were going to honor my written agreement I had with XXXX XXXX XXXX. They told me that they had contacted them and arranged to start making payments to Suttell, Hammer and White. All the payments were made on schedule, the last payment made on XX/XX/XXXX. My debt was paid, now I needed to pay XXXX  their fee for settling my debt. I did so and was debt free by XXXX of XXXX. I noticed there was over {$3000.00} still in my account. I called XXXX to ask why, they said it was residual from my payments and I could have it returned when they graduated my account to paid in full. I was overjoyed, not only did I pay my debt, but I had money left over. On XX/XX/XXXX I found out that not only was my debt not paid, but that the new law firm Suttell , Hammer & White are refusing to honor the written agreement I had with XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX is refusing to take responsibility for their mistake in not following up and they have already collected their fee. By their contract, they are only able to collect their fee once the debt is paid. I still have over {$3000.00} in my account to pay the debt, They are taking service fees out on a monthly basis.

5. My credit report should reflect that this debt was paid off in XXXX of XXXX. It is now XXXX, almost XXXX of XXXX and this has still not been resolved. On XX/XX/XXXX, I began consulting about buying a house. I assumed my debt had been paid off. In XXXX of XXXX, I found out my debt had not been paid off and I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX to find out why it had not been paid as previously thought, they told me they would be contacting Suttell, Hammer & White. After several months of calling XXXX and not getting any kind of answer, I received an email with a new settlement amount from SHW. Since then, to my utter frustration, I have been contacted several times to agree to the new amount. They even offered to help me finance the new amount. I have spoken to XXXX, a supervisor, who said she was looking to the problem. I have tried to have Bis call me back several times to see if she straightened out the problem. 
She has yet to return my calls. I feel harassed because people keep calling from XXXX, trying to get me to agree to the settlement from SH & W. Each time I tell them I will only speak to a supervisor and there is never one available. I have not asked for a cease and desist, because I only wanted to speak to someone who can actually help with the account, without me having to repeat the problem.Do to the inaccurate recording of my debt, I was informed by my financial advisor at my bank, that I would not qualify to buy a house. She encouraged me to return when my credit was cleared of this debt. I would like to pursue the maximum allowable damages, due to the incorrect reporting of my debt to the three reporting agencies. I also want my credit repaired immediately.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation