Consumer complaint received 2018-05-15
Product: Debt collection — Medical debt
Issue: False statements or representation — Attempted to collect wrong amount
Company: Commercial Acceptance Company (PA)

My XXXX year old mother received a call on XX/XX/XXXX from a " XXXX '' - XXXX XXXX. I haven't lived with my parents since XX/XX/XXXX. My phone number is listed publicly and easily found. I called and found it was Commercial Acceptance out of XXXX XXXX PA. They were collecting medical debt for XXXX XXXX XXXX  in XXXX PA for me and my husband ( but the call was directed specifically to me ). XXXX XXXX  has my correct phone number and it should have been passed on. My husband was out of work for 7 months, and we lost our good health insurance, and had to go on mine, which has a {$10000.00} deductible. I had to take my husband to the ER for severe XXXX, and I needed XXXX XXXX, leaving us with very high bills. I applied for XXXX XXXX earlier this year, after exhausting all other avenues available to me. I was approved this week for a 55 % write-off of my balances. Let me mention that I worked in bad debt collection for 7 years. I know the laws. I know the regulations. I immediately phoned XXXX   XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX, after receiving notice that I was approved for a partial write off so I could initiate a payment plan ( my husband returned to work in XX/XX/XXXX ). I was told that I was sent to collections in the process, and that I really shouldn't have been, and they would try to get my accounts recalled, and that it would take a few days, but they would get back to me. Today was when my mother got the call. I called the number back. I entered the extension, but it didn't take me to XXXX. I honestly do not remember the name of the woman it transferred me to. That woman couldn't explain why my mother was called. My mother is my emergency contact with the hospital after my husband, so all I can think of is that the agency pulled the wrong phone number. I informed her that my husband and I both have bills with XXXX, and we were approved for a charity write-off of 55 %. This is where it got ugly. She wanted me to set up a payment plan with her. I told her no, the accounts were going to be recalled and they shouldn't have been sent in the first place. She proceeded to tell me that I had to pay them, and pay them the full amount that was turned over. I told her no, that's not true, and I was not going to pay them the full amount because the hospital forgave 55 % of the balance. She told me that they had nothing to do with that, and they weren't accepting anything less than the full amount owed, and to take it up with the hospital. I told her no, that wasn't going to happen, and the accounts were going to be recalled. She interrupted me and told me that she needed to " educate me on how collections works '', and that accounts are NEVER recalled, and they won't take any less than what the hospital turned over. I interrupted her and told her they were in violation of the FDCPA for attempting to collect more money than I owe the original creditor, and I was going to report them to the ACA, and the FTC. She got really angry, and told me they already reported me to the credit bureau ( I hadn't seen it show up yet ), and that if I paid the full balance, she'd see what she could do to get it removed ( which, when I worked in collections was also illegal - you can't use credit bureau removal as a bargaining chip to get a balance paid ). I also told her I didn't need an education, as I worked in collections, and that agency I worked for was totally above board and didn't use illegal tactics or threats. She told me that the charity write off was something I had to work out with the hospital and wasn't their concern. I ended the call at that time. I called XXXX XXXX immediately afterward, and spoke to XXXX, and she told me that the accounts should have been put on hold when the charity application process started back in XX/XX/XXXX, and the accounts should have been recalled when I called earlier in the week, and she said she would call me back by Monday XX/XX/XXXX. I told her that their agency is using illegal tactics and she told me I wasn't the first one to complain. She was floored at their behavior. I don't have the exact amounts on the accounts, but mine was around {$450.00}, and my husband 's was around {$1300.00}. Those amounts are BEFORE charity write-off. I don't recall receiving any mail on the balance I owe. I received one letter for my husband last week, but didn't act on it because I knew the charity application had been delivered, and I was awaiting a reply. Over the weekend, I received notification from my credit monitoring service that the accounts were reported to the credit bureau, and my credit score dropped almost 50 points. They split all of the balances off on their own and reported me for every single one instead of one lump amount, doing maximum damage. I spoke to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, and she said the accounts were being recalled and they should be removed from the credit report. I will be watching and hopefully they come off quickly. We worked very hard to get our credit above 700 and it's now back down below.