Consumer complaint received 2024-10-04
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was result of identity theft
Company: Diversified Adjustment Service, Inc. (MI)

I am writing to submit a complaint against Diversified Adjustment Service , Inc. ( DAS ) for failure to meet their obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( FCRA ) and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ). Specifically, they have failed to respond to my dispute or request for documents under Section 609 ( e ) of the FCRA within 30 days, have continued to attempt collection on a debt that has been disputed and acknowledged as fraudulent by the original creditor, and made false statements in their attempt to collect on said debt. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a collection notice from DAS for a {$720.00} debt that originated with XXXX  XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) for a utility bill associated with the address XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX, XXXX, AZ XXXX, an address to which I have no connection. I immediately reported the account as fraudulent to both DAS and XXXX by phone, filed a police report with the XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  ), and spent several days collecting additional information ( finding XXXX other companies with fraudulent debts or applications, as well as XXXX eviction cases in my name, from the same area and timeframe, as well as some information about my identity thief ). 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted disputes and 609 ( e ) requests to all of the companies involved via certified mail, which DAS received on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a call from a DAS representative attempting to collect on the debt. I explained that the debt was fraudulent and that it had already been reported to them as such by phone on XX/XX/XXXX and by certified mail on XX/XX/XXXX. The agent looked into his case notes and confirmed that my dispute had been received and was under investigation, then apologized and ended the call. 

On XX/XX/XXXX the original creditor ( XXXX  ) concluded their investigation of my dispute with them and issued a letter notifying me that they no longer look to [ me ] for payment of the fraudulently accrued balance in [ my ] name, corrected my information with the credit bureaus, and supplied the requested documentation. The other XXXX companies I submitted disputes and document requests to have been similarly responsive, but DAS has never responded to either my dispute or my request for documents despite having received the same letters and documentation as the other companies. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I began receiving calls from DAS again despite having never received any response to either my dispute or 609 ( e ) request for documents, whether in the form of an actual adjudication of my dispute/request ( e.g. discharging the debt, any form of debt validation/verification, or finding that my dispute was not in good order ) or a request to remedy some deficiency with my requests ( though none should have been necessary : I sent copies of my birth certificate, passport, XXXX  police report, and FTC Identity Theft Report and no other company had any issue with that documentation ). These calls resumed well after the original creditor ( XXXX   ), which would presumably have been contacted as part of any investigation by DAS, adjudicated my dispute and absolved me of the fraudulent debt on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Since that time I have continued to receive calls from DAS attempting to collect the debt ( on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX ) but still have yet to receive any response to my dispute or document request. Moreover, during the call on XX/XX/XXXX the representative claimed that they had no record of a dispute, directly contradicting the representative who confirmed that they had received and were investigating it on XX/XX/XXXX, and then claimed that I had not submitted a police report, when I had in fact submitted XXXX ( both my local XXXX  police report and my FTC Identity Theft Report ). 

Every other company responded to my disputes and requests in a timely manner and every XXXX of them has absolved me of the debt fraudulently accrued by my identity thief, but DAS has not responded to my disputes or document requests for well over 30 days, has continued to attempt collection without resolving a dispute they once acknowledged having received, and has now resorted to making false assertions about not receiving a dispute or police report. In so doing, Diversified Adjustment Service , Inc. has repeatedly violated its legal obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting and Fair Debt Collection Practices Acts.