Consumer complaint received 2022-11-02
Company: Commonwealth Financial Systems, Inc.
State: MD
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
Today, thanks to CFPB I have taken steps to get some credit issues resolved in order to improve my credit. I went ahead and got my free credit report from XXXX reporting agency. To my surprise there was a debt on there which absolutely could not have been mine -- a medical debt from a place I haven't been since around XXXX. After doing some other research, I found that the statutes of limitations on debt collection in PA is 4 years, which is where the debt originated. While I did have a medical issue back in XXXX, for which I went to the XXXX, that was resolved years ago and had it not been, the statutes of limitations on that particular debt would have run out anyhow. 

I'm not sure how they are able to report a debt as from this year, when they clearly do not have the correct information. I am trying to understand better the process for which a reporting company will validate a claim made against someone. Had XXXX actually done any type of investigation, they would have learned that this debt is invalid at best, and fabricated from an older, expired debt being the more likely scenario. 

Looking on the report, it shows XX/XX/XXXX as the date which this case was opened. The company is Commonwealth Financial Systems, Inc of XXXX XXXX, PA. The interesting part is that it is showing that it will be removed from my report around XXXX of XXXX. So it is only on there for a year? That seems suspicious and unlikely to be accurate had the debt been truly owed. 

I have never been contacted about the debt, and had I not logged on randomly, I would have never known about the debt at all. Now, I went and found this company online as I had planned to call and figure out the details in order to get it resolved, and I saw a XXXX review rating of XXXX. Now, I take that with a grain of salt as I imagine debt collection companies are not too popular among the average consumer. However, when I began to read the comments I noticed that this company has actually done the exact same thing to many other people. They likely purchased medical debt from XXXX, did little to no investigation as to whether the bill had been paid or the case resolved, and began pushing out collections. Not only is this debt past the statute of limitations, but there are a number of other problems with this tactic. I can't speak to the validity of the reviews, but I can say from personal experience that this company has absolutely employed unethical, and likely unlawful predatory practices. While I hope my notification serves as a starting point to have this company put out of business, and their reporting somehow reversed/sanctioned/ignored, I plan to take additional steps to increase the pressure and bring this type of practice into the view of the public eye. 

Reporting debt from XXXX in XXXX, which passed the stature of limitations -- at least for PA where the debt originated, is essentially committing fraud. Especially considering the dates can not be anywhere near close to correct. This is likely not the first time this company has done this, nor will it be the last, unless they are stopped. 

Consider the impact this has already had, and the amount of people who have been hurt by this. There are those who have great to excellent credit and may not even realize they have been victimized by this. Having no reason to suspect something like this, they may not even notice it, since I know for sure this company fails to notify people properly. They will have had their credit scores adversely affected with little recourse by the time they do end up noticing. Then there are those who have substantial debt from XXXX, but paid it off years ago. Only to find out that the debt has reappeared -- if they notice or are alerted. There are also those, who regardless of the circumstances, simply paid the company to take it off of their report. 

It would not be the least bit surprising to learn that this company has purchased or found an old debt sheet from XXXX, reporting a claim for collection from this year, simply to take advantage of those who will just pay it and move on. Especially considering the debts all seem to be relatively low from what I have gathered ( {$1000.00} and under ). For anyone who complains or asks questions other than, " who do I make the check out to? ", eventually they relent and get the item in question removed trom their report. They also seem to only report the debt for short periods of time, as I mentioned the debt showing on my report claims to originated in XXXX of XXXX and will be removed from my report by XXXX of XXXX. So, essentially they figure they have a year to collect the debt or it gets removed. What would cause such a short period of active collection on a credit report? Who makes that determination? It would seem XXXX should be investigating the legitimacy of something like this as debt collection typically lasts between 3-6 years. For a collections agency to only hold a legitimate claim for only a year seems suspicious and unlikely. 


There needs to be a better verification process prior to a claim actually affecting someone's credit score. It would seem that a reporting agency would be required to actually verify the legitimacy of a claim. It also seems that a company employing these tactics should be held accountable and action be taken to stop this type of despicable practice

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation