Consumer complaint received 2020-02-06
Company: Torres Credit Services, Inc.
State: CA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2020, I received a debt collections notice in the mail from Torres Credit Services ( XXXX PA ) for an unpaid XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) bill of {$270.00}. I am a customer of XXXX XXXX XXXX. The address on the bill was my home address at a townhouse that I rent ( XXXX <street_name> ), but the addressee was shown as the HOA 's name ( XXXX XXXX of XXXX XXXX ) and not my name ( XXXX XXXX ). 

I called Torres Credit Services and asked what this was about. They said that there was an unpaid bill at this address and asked if I lived there. I said yes and that I had paid my latest XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX a couple of days late on XX/XX/XXXX for {$160.00}. They said that they had no record from XXXX & XXXX of me making that payment. But, they wanted me to pay the balance of the amount owed ( {$100.00} ) to prevent the collections notice from being posted to my credit report. 

I thought it odd that the bill was addressed to the HOA and not me personally. But, not wanting to have my credit report affected, and still not knowing why this charge got sent to collections, I paid the {$100.00} to Torres Credit via credit card. 

On XX/XX/2020, I received my monthly bill from XXXX XXXX XXXX for {$190.00}. I called XXXX & XXXX to find out how much I actually owed, as I had made a {$100.00} payment to Torres Credit a couple of days earlier. The service rep said that they had no record of the {$100.00} payment and that their records showed I owed {$190.00}, due on XX/XX/XXXX. I then asked them why they had sent me to collections on a bill that I had paid only a couple of days late. The service rep said that they had no record of my account going to collections. But, if it had, that Torres Credit was the collections agency that they used XXXX it apparently wasn't a scam ). 

I eventually found out that there was an electrical panel on the property, about XXXX feet from the actual building, that previously housed an electrical meter for XXXX  XXXX of XXXX XXXX XXXX. And, it had the address of XXXX <street_name> on it. I then deduced that the collections bill had been sent to me in error at XXXX <street_name> by Torres Credit instead of XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Torres Credit to inform them of the error and asked them to reverse charge my credit card for {$100.00}. They said that it was not their fault that I had paid that money on behalf of XXXX XXXX XXXX and that they would not refund it. I then called my credit card company to inquire about stopping and reversing the charge. They said that any investigation, if successful, would require XXXX to 6 months to complete. 

Also on XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX XXXX XXXX and asked them to either refund the {$100.00} to me or to credit my upcoming bill for {$190.00}. They said that they had received the money from Torres Credit, but they had no way to verify that I had personally made that payment. So, they refused to refund the payment in any way. 

I feel that I made a good-faith effort to pay off what was represented to me by Torres Credit as my creditor, even when it turned out that it was not my debt, under duress of having an unpaid debt affect my credit report. I believe that Torres Credit should have, in equally good faith, refunded my {$100.00} and gone after the actual debtor ( XXXX XXXX of XXXX XXXX HOA ) for what the debtor owed. But, Torres Credit explicitly told me that it was my fault for making the erroneous payment and that they didn't care where the money came from. They got paid and, as far as they were concerned, the case was closed. 

Contact information for Torres Credit Services is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX PA XXXX. Phone numbers are XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. The client name and ID for this issue is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and the account number with Torres Credit is XXXX. 

If you need further information from me to resolve this issue, please let me know. 

Thank you XXXX XXXX

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation