Consumer complaint received 2016-06-23
Company: INTEGRAL RECOVERIES, INC.
State: CO
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)
Issue: Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was paid

Complaint:
I was contacted by Integral Recovery Services and they claimed I owed {$190.00} for a collection stemming from an outstanding fine in XXXX County, Colorado from XXXX. I obtained the case number and contacted the XXXX County Court to verify the information. The court informed me that the alleged ticket ( which I believe I paid in XXXX ) no longer exists, as the paperwork regarding my case was old and has since been destroyed. They claimed that they were audited in XX/XX/XXXX and as a result of that audit, they determined that my fine was delinquent because they could not locate record of payment. I told them that this was concerning, as they could not prove that I owe them anything, but they sent it to a collection agency anyway. She responded with the challenge, " well do you have YOUR receipt? '' I responded that I do not, but I 'm a private citizen and I 'm not responsible for maintaining proof of my innocence in a matter that was 7 years ago. I also raised my concern that no good faith effort to collect this amount I supposedly owed was ever made prior to sending it to collection. My information is not difficult to find ; I 'm a registered voter, I have a current driver license, passport, etc. 
Once it was clear that the court would not deal with me on this, I called the collection agency back to pay the amount and get it over with so that I do n't have an open collection on my credit report. The representative with the collection agency refused to allow me to complete the payment until I had provided not only my current address, but also my current employer. I told her that I failed to see why that would possibly be relevant and she responded that I could call back and settle the debt when I was willing to tell them where I work. She also said, " if you 're taking care of this debt, you should n't be worried about us knowing where you work. '' Furious, I said that it 's incredibly inappropriate to dictate to people what they should n't worry about, especially personal information in the hands of a combative, unprofessional cadre of debt collectors. I finally gave in, told her where I work, and paid the full amount they CLAIM I owed. She also said that they do not report to the credit agencies, which is patently false. I was requesting that this be deleted from my credit report upon payment and that I be provided a letter stating as much. Her response what that the collection agency could not assist in that matter because they do not report to the credit bureaus at all and I would have to deal with the court. The court had made it clear on my earlier call with them that they could not deal with me at all in this matter and that all resolution would have to be accomplished directly with the collection agency. 
Now this will be on my credit for 7 years and nobody can show that I owed ANYTHING, but with it already being in collection status, I felt I had no choice but to pay it and prevent it from reporting as an open collection for any longer.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation