Consumer complaint received 2021-07-22
Company: Medical Data Systems, Inc.
State: NC
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Communication tactics
Sub-issue: Used obscene, profane, or other abusive language

Complaint:
It started out of the blue on XXXX. Medical Revenue Service - I did not recognize the number, so this date is when I actually answered. They called a bunch before then, too. They started calling about 15-20 times a day! It was ridiculous! My credit report shows them as Med Data Sys. They said I had 5 medical bills in collections that needed to be paid immediately, or they would be put on my credit report. When she went through the bills, I recognized 1 or 2 of them ... the rest I did not. These were very old accounts. They are digging up old accounts to try to collect on. We had 2 conversations that day because they scared me so badly about what was going to happen. The payment arrangements were totally unreasonable ( way too high ) and not doable. They didn't even give me a chance to talk or compromise. In the meantime, the lady was screaming at me, interrupting, shaming me for not paying my bills, refusing to help me with anything. I asked her to repeat the amounts and she would not. She said she already did and it was my problem if I didn't get it ( screaming! ). How do they expect to get paid like that? She was using scare tactics to try to get me to borrow from someone. I didn't even recognize most of these. After they abused me twice on the phone ( telling me I was a bad person because I didn't pay my bills when I received service ( I had bad insurance and don't qualify for XXXX like most of the world! ). But she wouldn't let me talk. She SCREAMED at me. I told her I lost 40 % of my income due to COVID and that I really needed my credit left alone so I could get a loan to pay bills. This was awful timing right here after COVID! She screamed at me that this was MY problem and I was wrong to only care about my loan. I'm trying to eat and keep a roof over my head. She said I am wrong not to pay these bills from years ago ( they were from YEARS ago ... they had been written off ). I finally hung up on her because of her abusive language and screaming. I called back trying to get someone else who was calm to talk to about payment arrangement. I was planning to pay them something that day to try to get them off of me. The receptionist put me back on with the same lady ( her name was XXXX ) ... the screamer. She wouldn't let me talk.. Every time I'd try to ask a question, she would clip me off and scream at me that she didn't have to help me! She interrupted every word I said and wouldn't let me try to make an arrangement. I asked her to please list the amounts so I could write them down and she screamed at me, 'NO! ' I've already done that! I told her I would call back on Friday ( when I got paid ). She said, 'You BETTER, or this is going on your credit and you won't get your loan ( the loan she was shaming me about getting to eat on after I was hit so hard by COVID 19 ). They finally mailed me the 5 supposed accounts that I owe. I recognize one or two of them, maybe ... because they are so old. On the XXXX  site, it shows many complaints about this company taking payments and NOT paying the balance with it ... the collection NOT showing as paid even after people paid them in good faith. There were SO many of them that said this! So I did not send any money. Today, they reported 15 accounts on my credit report on both XXXX  and XXXX  ( XXXX XXXX ). I haven't checked the third one ( I forget the name ). They never mentioned 15 accts. They dug those up later, after threatening to ruin my credit. I wouldn't take their calls anymore because since they wouldn't let me talk and just screamed ... .plus because of the stuff I read about payments not being applied on the XXXX  site from their company. I take care of my XXXX Mom AND work ... I didn't have time to try to research bills from 10-15 years ago. Maybe 2 or 3 of them were valid. I don't really know. They reported 15 accounts on my credit! They never mentioned 15 ... they mentioned 5 and mailed 5. Medical Revenue Service made good on their threat of messing up my credit, alright! They proceeded to dig up even MORE old accounts.. maybe from even LONGER ago to report. I did not know about the other 10 accounts and they never told me or mailed them to me. They are abusive and impossible to talk to. How can you settle with someone who just screams and won't talk to you about options? I would have tried to make an arrangement, but she wouldn't help me or let me speak. I stopped taking their calls because the stress of how she speaks to me made me physically ill. If you check out Medical Revenue Service/Med Data Sys., they have hundreds and hundreds of complaints just like mine. There are lawsuits started, etc. etc. Even after complaints ( threatening, hostile, harassment, abusive ) from years ago -- they are still getting away with violating the Fair Debtor Collectors Act over and over -- every day. Isn't it finally time to shut this down? Thank you!

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 explanation