Consumer complaint received 2024-09-12
Product: Debt collection — I do not know
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action — Sued you without properly notifying you of lawsuit
Company: Red Target LLC (FL)

I received a letter last year dated XX/XX/XXXX from Red Target, LLC dba SCJ Commercial Financial Services, addressed to my business, XXXX XXXX. This letter was to advise the account and all rights and obligations relative, had been sold, transferred, and assigned to Red Target LLC dba SCJ Commercial Financial Services. The letter referenced additional information is available upon request, such as an itemized accounting of the amount owed and a contract or other document evidencing the debt. 
After reviewing information provided on the CFPB 's website I thought this could be a scam. I drafted a validation of debt letter on XX/XX/XXXX as per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ), 15 U.S.C. 1692 ( G ) Section 809 ( B ) requesting valid proof of claim that I am legally obligated to pay. Their letter only referenced the original creditor, XXXX XXXX, and I requested in my correspondence the amount you claim the Respondent owes you, an explanation showing how you have computed the amount, copies of any documents that prove I agreed to pay the alleged amount and the original lawful contract. This signed validation of debt letter was sent certified mail and received XX/XX/XXXX at XXXXXXXX XXXX ( # XXXX ). XXXX months went by with no response from Red Target LLC, no copies of an original lawful contract or amount of alleged debt, nothing. On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX separate summons to appear in court were delivered to my home when I was not there and not directly to me. These summons to appear for pretrial conference had copies of the contract attached to them. Finally I was able to see some sort of documentation. I had XXXX weeks to review the contract and appeared in court today, XX/XX/XXXX. I asked how they came up with the amount stated I allegedly owed, why they never got back to my request sent certified mail, when was the last payment made on account, how much of the loan was paid in total and could not get an answer in mediation. Even after all this I offered to pay an amount that I could afford as a small business owner and father of XXXX. The offer in mediation today was not accepted and this lawsuit will be going to court again soon. This loan was with the original creditor XXXX XXXX when Covid 19 shut the world down in XXXX. Payments were withdrawn from my bank account on a daily basis. My business, and same bank account number never closed and is still open today, however the company stopped withdrawing payments from the account. I thought the loan must have been paid in full or the company went out of business because of the pandemic. NO communication was ever sent to me over the next XXXX  years. I am writing this complaint after today 's court appearance, the agent on behalf of my business, asking the plaintiff Red Target LLC for a voluntary dismissal. The law states that if you believe a debt collector has violated the FDCPA by not responding to your validation request, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ). 15 U.S.C. 1692e False or Misleading Representations, Section 1692e ( 2 ) : If a company continues to report a debt to credit bureaus or take collection actions without validating the debt, it could be considered a misleading representation, which is prohibited under this section. 15 U.S.C. 1692g Validation of Debts, Section 1692g ( b ) : This section of the FDCPA requires debt collectors to cease collection efforts until they provide the requested validation of debt after receiving a timely dispute or validation request from the debtor. If the company continues to pursue collection without providing the validation, it may be violating this provision. Red Target LLC continued to pursue collection through a summons to appear in court. I hope this helps others when dealing with fraudulent debt collectors and can help other consumers in the future if this is published on the CFPB website. Thank you for having this government agency to protect consumers and learn about their rights under the FDCPA.