Consumer complaint received 2018-02-06
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Written notification about debt — Didn't receive notice of right to dispute
Company: Account Discovery Systems, LLC (IN)

On XX/XX/18, my mother and step father received a call at their home number from this company stating I listed them as a reference and they were trying to reach me. My step father answered and took the number and extension to give to me, thinking it was a job, based on how the call went. I was given the information and before I could call, they got in contact with my mother on her cell phone. First of all, the home number they called was never given to them nor do I even have the number to give out. My mother spoke with someone named XXXX XXXX and he told her she was listed as a reference and proceeded to give the names other references that they were trying to reach to her. First of all, this is not something that they are allowed to do, to my knowledge. They further stated they have been trying to reach me and my boyfriend but our numbers were shut off. They are correct in that regard, however, those numbers were just shut off about 2-3 weeks prior and I never received a call before that ( I do screen my calls and voicemails and never received one from this company ). My mother passed along the information and told me they were after a debt for something else. I called thinking it was a debt for something else so I wanted to resolve it. She mentioned they were about to garnish me and that this was a courtesy call to let me know that the garnishment would be filed on this coming Friday, XX/XX/18. AS I was super busy and had a lot going on, I called back immediately to handle this and was also multitasking during the call, this will come into play later. I have had a few debt garnishments and know the process and in my busy state, it lapsed my memory that this is not the normal procedure. I called XXXX back to see what was going on and was a little annoyed and concerned they gave so much information to someone that was not me. XXXX XXXX answered the phone and I explained I was responding to a call to my mother and he immediately knew who I was and stated " I have the last four of the SSN as XXXX. '' Again, this should have rang a bell right then but I was doing about 5 things at once and it didn't register that he never asked me any verifying information. He proceeded to state it was a courtesy contact because they were putting in a garnishment order on this coming Friday. I expressed concern that I had no idea that I owed this debt and had never received any calls or mail regarding this debt or that it was purchased from the original creditor. He gave two addresses, one a past address and one my current, and I advised that the current one was correct but I had not received anything at any address and had always put in a forwarding notice. He glossed over that and went into payment options. He never asked for an updated phone number, being as the one they had was wrong, and started talking about settlement options and payments and again the garnishment order. I was very flustered and told him that I had no idea I had a debt owed and he mentioned that they had tried to auto draft it from my bank at one point ( I never gave anyone permission to do that! ) and it was returned either for NSF or a closed account. My account has never been closed and I was never informed that a transaction was attempted as my bank does provide overdraft protection. I told him I would discuss the options with my boyfriend and get back with him on what I decided. He urged me to decide quickly as I only had until XX/XX/18 to stop possible garnishment. He told me he would have his manager send me the payment terms so I could read them. I called back later after discussing the terms and deciding to pay as garnishment would put me in a severe financial bind. I called back and spoke with XXXX XXXX. He then asked me to verify the last four of the SSN, which he gave me in the first call and I could have been anyone at that point, I gave it to him and we set up the arrangement and discussed future settlement options and he mentioned in the first call about using a tax refund and so forth because it was that time of year, that threw up a red flag as to why they are just now contacting me. I set up the arrangement and he stated I would get updated terms ( the dates were wrong on the first ) within an hour or two. I never received the updated terms and it has been about 17-18hours. I did have time to sit and process the call last night and noticed a lot of issues with this call that has made me question if I truly owe anything. I looked through my old phone and paperwork ( I am a paper hoarder of sorts with bills ) and saw no notices of the debt being purchased by this company and no notices from the original company either. I did some research this morning, as it has been a number of years since I worked collections, and found they are required to contact me within 30 days, by mail, that they purchased this debt and give me a chance to dispute it. I never received that paper nor have I ever received a single bill, notice, or phone call. I am extremely concerned that so much personal information was given to a third party and no one truly verified I was who I said I was nor addressed why I was never contacted before the week they were to send me to garnishment. I'll admit, I got panicked at garnishment and wanted to stop that possibility and gave my CC number to set up the arrangements, which I now worry was taken by a scammer after reading these other complaints. I reached out to the manager XXXX XXXX asking for the original purchase date, all attempts at contact and dates of all calls and letters sent and the addresses and phone numbers contacted. I feel as they tried to prey on the fear of garnishment in people and used that to get a fast payment. They were willing to settle for way less than even the original debt and that is very concerning, as well. I do know that the garnishment process is longer than they let on and in my distracted state I forgot that. I have never received a single payment demand/notice nor have I received a court summons for debt court for a garnishment order.