Consumer complaint received 2017-04-20
Company: Meade & Associates, Inc.
State: OH
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical
Issue: Improper contact or sharing of info
Sub-issue: Talked to a third party about my debt

Complaint:
Re : FDCPA Section 805 ( b ) :  Communication with third parties To Who m It May Concern : I am   writing to express concern about information recently disclosed to a relative about the nature and amount of  XXXX  alleged debts owed to   XXXX   XXXX  . I am appalled at the circumstances surrounding the unauthorized disclosure of my confidential information. At approximately   XXXX   XXXX   on   XXXX   XXXX  , an inbound call was made to  XXXX  by my fath er, __to d iscuss a voice message left by  Meade a nd Associate s , and a  letter he had received on   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   about an alleged    XXXX   XXXX   debt f or less than {$100.00}. According to my father, once he notified you that he was disputing the debt for {$100.00}, the representative informed him that he actually o wed 3 other debts to    XXXX   XXXX  , totaling over {$200.00}. Again he disputed that he owed any of the debts assigned, and after a tense exchange over the claims, including the " new '' accounts she added to the conversation, the representative hung up on him.   He called back at least  two m ore times, being disconnected each time before a rep came on the line on the  3rd call  back. Once he reached an actual rep, which happened to be the same rep that hung up on him, she admonished him to " be nice '' and then admitted that indeed he did not " owe '' the other  three " d ebts '' because they were for " ( Me ) at the same address. According to his conveyance of the conversation, the rep blamed the collection system stating they " they are only associated in the system by address. '' While he contemplates how to handle his experience with the company, I will be direct with my concern. On the surface it seems that there is an inherent flaw in Meade 's system if in fact it does not designate accounts by responsible party but rather only by associated addresses.  Meade and Associates a long with its agent is jointly and severally liable for any violations of the FDCPA. Specifically, the agent violated  Section 805 ( b ) by info rming a third p arty ( my father ) that I allegedly have 3 out standing debts owed to   XXXX   XXXX  . Since the FDCPA is a strict liability statute, the reasons or cause for the disclosure are inconsequential and thus does not alleviate the liability involved nor eliminate the fact that statute has been violated. More disturbing is the fact that after receiving a call from my father en route to a client site to inform me of the disclosure of these collection accounts, I calle d Meade and Associates, req uesting to speak to a supervisor about the unauthorized disclosure of my personal information. To add insult to injury, the rep I spoke with insinuated that my father might have given false information ( such as his birthdate ) regarding his identity which caused the error. However, he has assured me that not only did he not provide false information on his inbound call t o Meade and Associates,  but that the rep asked twice if his birthdate was   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   to which he affirmed that it was. The voice recordings of those calls will confirm that, so I have requested that  Meade take the  appropriate steps to retain and preserve those recordings in the event that this matter can not be settled in an amicable fashion. The rep 's suggestion that this breech was somehow the result of actions on behalf of me or my father is on its face, completely absurd. His inbound call was on a totally unrelated matter and she provided him information on collection accounts in my name!   It is also concerning to me that during a phone conversation with an agent at the company approximately  two weeks ago, I specifically informed the rep that 1 ) I was disputing the debt, 2 ) I have not received a dunning letter and 3 ) I was covered by HCAP at the time the debts were allegedly incurred. Under no reasonable circumstance am I liable for any of these accounts.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation