Consumer complaint received 2018-03-09
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action — Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged
Company: ProCollect, Inc. (AZ)

Within the month of XX/XX/XXXX, I had officially graduated college at the University of XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, with a XXXX degree. Since I did not have the means or reason to continue living in my apartment, I made all necessary arrangements to be sure that I had moved out before the new year XX/XX/XXXX. 

I had been living at the apartment complex - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX - all throughout my college career ( from XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX ). Within this time period, I had always paid my $ XXXX/mo rent on time and never received a late payment notification from the apartment complex. 

After I had moved out, on XX/XX/XXXX, I had received a " Move Out Statement '' from the apartment complex stating that I owed them {$3300.00} for cleaning fees, late fees and collection fees. 

The statement had explained that : I " have left owing XXXX XXXX XXXX a balance of {$3300.00}. This balance is due within 30 days of this notice. Any security deposit disputes will only accepted in writing. '' I was obviously confused at this because I had notified some staff members of my departure both prior to my graduation date, as well as on the exact day I had left and provided them with my key fob, mail key and all other property belonging to the apartment. 

Soon after I had received that letter, I started receiving phone calls from random people claiming to be from a collections agency. Then another. And then another. One call after the other, each " agent '' claiming that if I had not paid my debt in full within 30 days they would put a derogatory mark on my credit ( which had only been established for 5-6 months at the time ). They had even sent a man to visit my mother 's house on 2+ separate occasions in the evening ( around XXXX-XXXX ) in order to physically claim this 'debt. ' As you can already imagine, my mother was terrified. 

After the phonecalls and the physical visits from people claiming to be agents, I had received another letter on XX/XX/XXXX, from a company called ProCollect Incorporated stating that I owe them a total of {$3300.00} ( which had broken down from the original {$3300.00} + a {$7.00} collection fee ). See the attached photo for copies of both this letter and the one received in XX/XX/XXXX. 

Once I had received my first official FICO score I noticed that my score was rated at a XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, and then a score of XXXX in the following month due to a " derogatory public record or collection filed. '' Throughout the year I had been in the Midwest on a family mission to establish some investments for my mother 's company. Because of this I was unable to properly handle the situation in person ( neither had I known about the CFPB.gov at the time ). I did, however, make attempts to explain my situation to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX via phone call, to which they had explained to me that they had already filed with the collections agency, therefore there was nothing that they can do to help the situation ( this was ironic and discouraging to me, given that they were the ones filing the complaint ). Although I had been advised to NOT make contact with the agency, I had called them anyway to dispute my situation, to which I was prompted to either pay the debt in full or suffer consequences via derogatory remarks on my credit reporting ( this was in XX/XX/XXXX ). 

Since then, I have stopped receiving calls and my mother has stopped receiving unwelcomed visits, but I have had this mark on my credit, and I am seeking for it to be removed without it affecting my credit score any longer. 

I have never had an issue with this apartment for the entire duration that I lived there. Not ONCE, even when I had XXXX  and briefly XXXX there for my first summer job in XX/XX/XXXX, I did not have any issues with XXXX XXXX. No issues, until this whole situation had occurred last year.