Consumer complaint received 2018-07-27
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports — Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report — Account status incorrect
Company: Riverwalk Financial Corporation

Complaint:
I apologize for the length of this report, but I believe it is very suspicious activity and hope someone can affirm to me that what this company is doing is legal. 

In XX/XX/XXXX I noticed a new debt in collection reported to three credit bureau 's. The debt was from XXXX XXXX XXXX for around {$3000.00} for XXXX College loan. 

I did attend XXXX, a company of XXXX college, and I do have an active loan that was opened at the same time as the alleged collections loan. I checked with XXXX, the company that I was paying for the loan and I was still in active repayment with no late payments or any issues at all. 

I tried contacting XXXX XXXX XXXX but every time I called them it went straight to a voicemail that required you to press certain options in order for your voicemail to be saved, a shady practice if you ask me. 

Eventually ( After about a dozen attempts to call the company ) I called in and someone answered the phone to my surprise. I told him about my issue, how I was in active repayment of a loan but XXXX claims it is in collections. He said he would forward me to " someone who can help '' and then I was forwarded back to the voicemail box. 

I tried calling in immediately after that exchange, and after an initial answer was immediately transferred to a different voicemail box with different prompts than the previous voicemail. I tried calling in again, and it went back to the original voicemail. 

I began to suspect that they were ignoring/auto transferring my calls. I called in immediately after that with my fiance 's phone and it was immediately answered. I told him that I had talked to them previous but must have been accidentally transferred to voicemail. He offered to help. 

He said that XXXX was the owner of the debt, and that XXXX was the payment processor ( which is fine with me ) and that since I owed the debt, it showed up as a collection. I tried to tell him that a collection is an item that isn't in active repayment but he argued that since I owed them the money it was a collection, even if I am actively repaying it still. 

He then offered to transfer me to XXXX for further assistance, as he said that XXXX would have to be the company that told XXXX to remove the debt from my credit report. 

I got a hold of a representative at XXXX who said that in XX/XX/XXXX of this year XXXX ( who owned the debt ) changed their policies to immediately flag all accounts as in collections. He said that I should dispute the collections with the credit agency and they should remove it. 

I told him that I had disputed the collections, and XXXX and XXXX did remove the debt, but XXXX  said the debt stayed as XXXX confirmed the collections was accurate. He thought that was strange. 

I asked how I could get the collections removed and he said that it would be removed by XXXX if I either paid off the loan, or settled for 50 % of the current balance owed. 

I am suspicious and question if it is legal for them to add an item to my credit reports as collections when it is not in collections. I am hoping someone can take a look and make sure this company is operating legally. 

I can provide statements from XXXX ( the payment company ) and my credit reports showing the active XXXX loan, as well as the " collections '' XXXX loan if required.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation