Consumer complaint received 2022-09-16
Company: Windham Professionals, Inc.
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly
Sub-issue: Talked to a third-party about your debt

Complaint:
I believe that Windham Professionals violated the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act when this company contacted my mother by phone on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with her about a debt I allegedly owed before making an adequate attempt to reach me first regarding the matter. 

The original creditor has at all times had my correct address, phone number and personal email address. Both the original creditor and Windham Professionals, however, had not mailed me a letter, left me a voicemail or sent an email to my personal account prior to Windham Professionals contacting my mother ( whose phone number I had provided to the original creditor as an emergency contact ). Only after calling and speaking to my mother did Windham Professionals send me a letter in the mail concerning this alleged debt ; the letter was dated XX/XX/XXXX and was sent to my home address which the original creditor has had on file for years. As such, I believe that Windham Professionals violated the FDCPA by contacting my family member concerning an alleged debt before making a good faith effort to reach me. 

Additionally, I believe that Windham Professionals is violating the FDCPA by attempting to assess fees to which it is not legally entitled. Windham Professionals has indicated that the amount I owe is {$1800.00} and that I also owe {$410.00} in fees. The original creditor, however, unconditionally and permanently waived all fees, penalties and interest as a pandemic concession. The original creditor sent no less than three emails to me attesting to this waiver ( the emails were sent on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX ). As such, I believe that Windham Professionals is violating the FDCPA by attempting to assess fees it has no basis in fact or law to charge me. 

Finally, I believe that Windham Professionals is violating the FDCPA by attempting to collect a debt for services that it knowsor should reasonably knowis for services that the original creditor failed to provide in full. The original creditor is a public educational institution and the alleged debt concerns fees and tuition for the XXXX XXXX semester when the pandemic hit. By state statute, the original creditor was required to provide a specific number of contact hours per credit hour, but it failed to do so when it cancelled all in person classes and moved all instruction online. The original creditor failed to ensure that students continued to receive the requisite number of contact hours of instruction ( or any instruction at all in some cases ) once classes were moved online. It is beyond belief to think that Windham Professionals has no knowledge of all the legal challenges nationwide concerning tuition and fees assessed by educational institutions during the XXXX XXXXXXXX semester. Consequently, by failing to seek legal confirmation of a questionable debt prior to seeking collection of it, Windham Professionals appears to have further violated the FDCPA.

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 non-monetary relief