Consumer complaint received 2016-06-10
Product: Debt collection — Other (i.e. phone, health club, etc.)
Issue: Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed — Debt is not mine
Company: National Credit Systems,Inc.

Complaint:
For several years I have been trying to resolve a collection account with National Credit Systems. The collection account was originated by XXXX in XXXX, NC. Please see the attached copy of emails which describes the problems encountered. 
Due to the problems encountered at the XXXX with an infestation of XXXX, the Complainants were offered an early cancellation of the lease by the apartment manager onsite at the time without any fees or penalty. The Complainants accepted the offer and proceeded to move from the apartment. Apparently, later senior management decided to renege on the manager 's offer, and after the Complainant left the apartment they sent the Complainant a bill for the early cancellation of the lease. 
National Credit System, the debt collector, was allegedly contracted to collect the account. The Complainants had sent several letters to the debt collector explaining the situation, but the debt collector ignored the letters and continued to try to collect the alleged debt without verifying the Complainant 's information. The debt collector has not excised adequate due diligence to determine the validity of the account they are trying to collect despite request to so by the Complainants. The Consumer Financial Protection Board has stated in court case that the FDCPA " grants consumers a legal right to truthful information in their dealings with debt collectors, '' the CFPB said, citing the Supreme Court 's XXXX ruling in XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ). 

The debt collector in the Complainants case is in violation of the FDCPA as indicated by the CFPB due failure to provide the Complainants with truthful information. Furthermore, the alleged debt is prescribed by the North Carolina statute of limitations which states that a contract, obligation or liability arising out of a contract, express or implied, '' is three years in accordance with N.C. Gen. Stat. XXXX ( XXXX ). XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX ). In addition, the debt collector is listed as an inactive debtor collector by the North Carolina Department of Insurance. As such the debt collector is trying to collect an alleged debt without a valid license as required by the State of North Carolina and in violation of N.C. Gen. Stat. XXXX which constitutes a felony. See citation below. 

The debt collector has engaged in unfair and deceptive acts, in violation of Regulation AA, by trying to collect a prescribed alleged debt and by providing a negative credit history to the credit bureaus to force the Complainants pay for debt that is not owed and a tool to collect a prescribed debt. This practice is also in violation of Fair Credit Reporting Act which prohibits creditors from providing false and inaccurate information to a credit bureau. The debtor failure to conduct adequate due diligence to determine the accuracy of the debt they are trying to collect after gaining knowledge of the disagreement with Apartment management and continuing to try to collect resulted in violation of the FCRA. The debt collector ignored the Complainants rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and purposely ignored the information provided by the Complainants with the willful intention of inflicting financial damage to the Complainants. 

The Complainants in good faith recently offered to pay an amount of up to {$200.00} for the nuisance value of the debt 's collector action, but without accepting the alleged debt, however, the debt collector did not respond to the offer. However, the offer was made before the Complainants became aware of the debt 's collectors illegal practices, unfair and deceptive acts and practices, violations of the FDCPA, and North Carolina debt collection laws and criminal violations. Continued on attachment

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation