Consumer complaint received 2026-03-30 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Rental debt
Issue: False statements or representation — Attempted to collect wrong amount
Company: FAIR COLLECTIONS & OUTSOURCING, INC.
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint regarding the continued inaccurate and misleading reporting of a collection account furnished by Fair Collections & Outsourcing ( FCO ) on behalf of XXXX XXXX, as well as the failure of the credit reporting agencies ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation after receiving notice of my dispute. The account was originally reported with a balance of {$6300.00}. I disputed this account because I believed the amount being reported was inaccurate and unsupported. After receiving my dispute, Fair Collections & Outsourcing first issued a written validation response dated XX/XX/XXXX, stating the balance to be {$6300.00}. After a dispute directly to XXXX XXXX, FCO issued a written validation response dated XX/XX/XXXX that their client had submitted an adjustment and reducing the balance to {$6200.00}. This post-dispute reduction confirms that the originally furnished balance of {$6300.00} was inaccurate at the time it was reported and at the time the credit bureaus conducted their reinvestigations. Despite this confirmed inaccuracy, the credit bureau response stated that the account was verified as accurate, while also indicating that the account information had been updated. Rather than addressing the fact that the previously reported balance was incorrect, the bureaus replaced the original amount with the corrected balance and continued reporting the account. Additionally, Fair Collections & Outsourcing is now reporting the corrected balance of {$6200.00} as the original amount, even though the account had previously been reported at {$6300.00} prior to my dispute. Presenting a corrected post-dispute balance as the original amount creates a misleading and inaccurate representation of the account history. This results in the following : - The account was reported inaccurately - The furnisher corrected the balance after dispute - The account was still marked as verified - The corrected balance is now being presented as if it were the original amount This reporting is inaccurate, misleading, and incomplete. The documentation provided by Fair Collections & Outsourcing consists only of a lease summary and an already proven inaccurate internal ledger. No itemized invoices, move-out statements, or supporting documentation has been provided to substantiate the charges or explain how the corrected balance of {$6200.00} was calculated. This account is also being reported as a joint account, and the same inaccurate balance history and rewritten original amount are being reported on the co-obligors credit file as well. This demonstrates that the inaccurate and misleading reporting is not isolated, but is being applied across multiple consumer files. Further, the original creditor, XXXX XXXX, has already been the subject of a Federal Trade Commission enforcement action involving deceptive lease pricing, hidden fees, and improper move-out and security deposit charges. I personally received a refund check issued as part of this settlement. This raises additional concern that the charges underlying this account may be connected to practices already identified by federal regulators as improper. Because the furnisher has acknowledged that the originally reported balance was incorrect, and because the credit bureaus continued reporting the account after relying on that same furnishers certification, both the furnisher and the credit reporting agencies have failed to meet their obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to ensure maximum possible accuracy and to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation. I am requesting : 1. Immediate deletion of this Fair Collections & Outsourcing account from my credit report 2. A review of FCOs furnishing practices, including its reporting of the corrected balance as the original amount 3. A review of the reinvestigation procedures used by the credit reporting agencies in this matter 4. Confirmation that any charges connected to XXXX XXXX previously identified improper practices are not being furnished or collected Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation