Consumer complaint received 2016-07-24
Company: CCS Financial Services, Inc.
State: RI
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)
Issue: Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not mine

Complaint:
Unexpectedly, I received a Collection notice for a cancelled car insurance premium I do not owe from XXXX XXXX. I cancelled the policy in XXXX, XXXX and switched my car insurance to XXXX XXXX in Rhode Island. Here are the details : In XXXX XXXX my car insurance was renewed for XX/XX/XXXX with installment payments. On XXXX XXXX, XXXX I paid the first installment of {$480.00}. I found more affordable insurance with XXXX in Rhode Island and cancelled the XXXX XXXX policy in XXXX XXXX. 

In XXXX XXXX I received a collection notice without any prior contact from XXXX XXXX about an outstanding balance. Upon contacting the collection agency I was directed to contact XXXX XXXX directly and requested a detail bill statement which they sent and I have provided. The attached statement details my XX/XX/XXXX Renewal Premium of {$5300.00}, my payment for the first quarter of the year ( {$480.00} ) and a cancellation credit of {$4200.00}. The statement that I requested fails to demonstrate how XXXX XXXX calculated or derived an inexplicable bill for {$1100.00} as an outstanding policy balance. The agent at XXXX XXXX said I did not pay the premium between XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX which is in contradiction with the statement they sent me?? XXXX XXXX sent me a cancellation notice XXXX, XXXX for {$1000.00} but I had already switched to XXXX XXXX. ( also attached for this record ) I never received a bill from XXXX XXXX after their XXXX XXXX, XXXX " cancellation notice '' which had I paid would have provided coverage for the next quarter not the previous one. XXXX XXXX has a graduated payment schedule with increasing premiums as the year progresses. I paid all premiums due on the policy and they are retroactively attempting to get me to pay for insurance that I do not owe. Additionally, simple math shows that by subtracting the my XXXX payment and my cancellation notice from my Renewal premium the balance does not equal {$1100.00}. The credits do not offset the premium to equal the policy balance. 

This appears to be some unfair collection process and XXXX XXXX is not able to substantiate their claim with minimal documentation or simple math. Further, the hidden approach taken by the firm to wait XXXX months from my cancellation period to send a collection notice without prior correspondence appears to be an attempt to force me to pay a bill without justifying their practice through normal means. Not sure if this is good business practice and it certainly is not full disclosure or due process. 

Lastly, I requested a full statement and accounting from XXXX XXXX and they instead sent me an abbreviated transaction detail that is incomplete. ( Also included in the attachment ) XXXX XXXX 's policy is a " pay as you go '' program whereby you pay for coverage on a quarterly basis and your payment covers the period stipulated by payment in the terms of the policy ( one quarter ). You could pay for one full year, bi-annual, etc. Payments are not for the previous quarter 's coverage as falsely stated by the XXXX XXXX rep and explains why they did not provide a full explanation or additional details to document that fact. I feel that the firm is misleading and has been uncooperative in their attempts to collect payments not due.

Company public response: Company believes the complaint is the result of a misunderstanding
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation