Consumer complaint received 2016-05-04
Company: Weinman Acquisition Group
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Impersonated an attorney or official

Complaint:
Along with " false statements or representation, '' Communication tactics, continued attempts to collect debt I do n't owe, disclosure verification of debt, improper contact or sharing of information, and taking or threatening to take an illegal action all apply to this complaint. 

In XXXX a credit card was opened in my name. I was not aware of this until years later and took the necessary steps to clear it from my record ( filed with the 3 credit bureaus, disputed the debt with the agency, etc ). The last I heard about this was 4 years ago. Since then I took a job outside of the US and had n't heard anything about this dispute. 

Late last month, the Weinman Acquisition Group began calling multiple family members still located in the US. They said that they were serving me with papers for refusal to pay a debt. The caller claimed to work for for the county I previously lived in and he would be filing charges if I did not pay the money owed. These messages were passed on to me so I called the company back. I spoke to someone on the phone who said that they did not have the ability to call non US numbers and I said that did not give them leeway to call family members in lieu of me. I told them they were contacting me regarding an identity theft debt that has already been disputed. I asked for information regarding the debt and they emailed me the amount, credit card company, card number and account number. I tried calling back but could not get through to anyone. 

They continued to call my family and threaten legal action. I finally got through to someone yesterday and once again said that the harassment against my family members needed to stop and said that this debt is not valid and disputed. The woman on the phone said that she was legally allowed to call my family no more that once a day. I asked her to verify her company name, address, telephone number and professional license number. She responded with " Absolutely not. '' I said I needed debt verification and I wanted to know who they purchased this debt from. She proceeded to speak over me and continued to say " I will put you in refusal to pay '' and then hung up. 

I called back immediately. As soon as she answered the phone, the woman said something along the lines of " You need to stop calling us. '' I said that I was simply seeking debt verification and she said that if I continued to call she would press charges against me. 

I called the XXXX who said that this company was not on their radar until XX/XX/XXXX, which is when they first started calling my family. They are threatening, they have had people pretend to be law officers leave messages, they did not tell me how to dispute the debt or seek verification of the debt. They would not give me the name of the original creditor. They would not verify that they are licensed in their states. Ultimately I want them to stop contacting my family members but I also want to file a complaint so their tactics are officially on record. I ca n't be the only one dealing with something like this.

Company public response: Company believes complaint represents an opportunity for improvement to better serve consumers
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation