Consumer complaint received 2018-07-18
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was paid
Company: Credit Protection Association, L.P. (TX)

I have been struggling for more than 7 months a with a collection that I don't owe. I was unfairly billed by my internet company XXXX XXXX in XXXX back in XX/XX/XXXX after 2 months I had closed my account with them ( XX/XX/XXXX ). The cable company billed me for the remaining months although I moved from the property and called to cancel the service with good timing. I only received one bill in the mail for {$150.00} when I was supposed to owe one month left. I called XXXX and the customer service representative told me to wait and not pay since the systems takes time to fully update and that I should receive a final bill later on. I never got the bill. It was until XX/XX/XXXX that I got a collections letter from Credit Protection Association L.P stating that they wanted to collect the {$150.00} for their client XXXX XXXX.I called to dispute the collection agency and they put my case on hold. Then I reached to XXXX   again and after explaining the situation they agreed that the amount was wrong and that I should only have to pay as final bill the amount of {$57.00} which I paid through the phone that same call, and then was told that the billing department would clear that out. 

For my surprise nothing was cleared out.One month later I got another letter from Credit Protection Association stating that they talked to XXXX and that now the actual amount I owe is {$94.00}. I dispute the charges again, but sadly by this time the collection record already is appearing in my credit report and that dropped my score by almost XXXX points, which I found out when my wife and I were applying for a Mortgage per-qualifictaion. 

So I reach again to XXXX XXXX, and looks like they just did not keep record of the first call because the agent again tells me I owe {$94.00}. I explain the situation again, she checks my records and agrees that there was a mistake and that I do not owe them any more and that she will put a ticket in place for the collections department to clear that out. I call one week later to verify that they did what they said took place, and again, for an infuriating surprise no change, I was still owing them. 

I was advised by my financial counselor to reach to an agreement with the collections agency to pay only if they agreed to delete my record so it does not appear anymore in my credit. I did contact again Credit Protection Association and the representative told me that they are not able to delete the record, at least not without the consent of their client XXXX XXXX. The representative told me that I should pay first and that they will get me a letter that I should then mail or fax to XXXX and then they will communicate back to delete the collection record. I stated on that call that I do not agree with the charges but that I was willing to pay if that helped to clear my credit record because I was in the process of buying a house. So I paid. I got the letter from the CPA 2 weeks later were they stated I had paid in full. I reached to XXXX communications again and after explaining the whole situation again, they again agreed that I should have not paid that and gave me the fax for the collections department. I faxed the CPA letter along with another letter explaining the situation and that the only thing I was asking was to get my credit record cleared. 

I never got a response back. I contact again XXXX communications and I had again to go through the whole story again before the Customer Representative to tell me that he would raise another ticket for the collections department to investigate. I contacted XXXX 3 more times and I always got the same answer : " Yes dear customer you are correct you should not have been billed that amount and we will raise a ticket to clear your record out ''. 

I gave up on the hope that something would get fixed. In the end my financial counselor told me to come and file this complain, so here I am and I hope this helps other people going through the same pain.