Consumer complaint received 2024-01-10 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: Rowland Avenue Management, Inc. A/KA Columbia Debt Recovery, LLC d/b/a Genesis
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
This began when I received phone calls and texts maybe about 6-8 months ago from a debt collector but at this day and age, I have no idea what's spam and what's legit so I never trust any phone calls/texts that ask for money. This got me thinking back to my young and XXXX age of XXXX, when I did not know how health insurance/deductibles worked, so I put it on my to do list to come back and research my credit report for unpaid bills. 

Anyway, fast forward to today ( since I found a derogatory mark last week on my credit report for a debt owed of {$350.00} ) I called XXXX today ( on XX/XX/XXXXXXXX  at XXXX ) to ask about the name of the debt collection agency so I can reach out to that agency and pay my debt as a responsible adult should. The XXXX representative named the Columbia Debt Recovery LLC, DBA Genesis as my assigned collection agency. 

I called Genesis to happily pay the debt and spoke to XXXX ( reacheable at XXXX ) and I was ready to give him my debit card info, but prior to that process, I asked him to confirm where the debt originated from. ( This entire time, I was convinced that it was from an old medical clinic I went to back in my young, XXXX XXXX ). He then said " XXXX '' and I absolutely had no idea what in the world that was, so I continued to ask further questions. Turns out, this was an unpaid lease application fee of {$350.00} where someone used my social on an application for a potential apartment in XXXX on XXXX. I NEVER lived in XXXX, in fact, I moved out of Texas completely in XXXX. XXXX asked me to verify how my signature looks, and asked what my email is. I provided that info, and it did not match what he saw on the lease application that the XXXX fraudster provided. XXXX also gave me the names and email that was used on the application and I did not recognize these names at all. Thus, this resulted in a bigger issue of owing a debt, this turned into an identity theft case. 

XXXX from XXXX, then emailed me a letter that has a list of items I need to complete in order to file a claim for " debt due to fraudulent activity ''. The list of items include filing a police report and apparently some notarized signature page with the FTC. 

I also did give my local police a call today ( at XXXX ) to file the identity theft and they said I would have to go in person with the letter from the credit bureau . Therefore, before I go to the local police to file the report, I'm assuming I need to complete the checklist on the letter. ( This is all new to me, I've never had to do this before, so no idea how the order of this works ). 

Therefore, on top of trying to collect the other stipulations that are listed on the checklist/letter from XXXX, I am simply trying to get the notarization signature page that is required of me so I can file the report with the police. In order to get the required signature page, XXXX redirected me here, where I now had to create an account with CFPB, submit this lengthy " complaint '', to then have CFPB approved in order to get the required notary signature page that XXXX requires of me. Am I understanding this process right? Hopefully this is the last hurdle and full circle I have to go through. 

In closing, and to answer the next question required of me on this complaint submittal to CFPB, please provide me the notarization page that XXXX has required of me to attain through FTC. 

My real complaint is : make this process easier and less confusing for the American people who are in my situation. Again, according to XXXX, all I need is " A copy of the FTC complaint notarized on the signature page with a physical signature witnessed by notary ''. I went on the FTC website in search of the notarized page, but I got re-routed here to CFPB to submit a 'complaint ' for my situation. So I hope I am in the right place to get the required notarized signature page Also please note : Because I took the time to write in detail what took place. I will be submitted a copy of this as evidence in my police report as well.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation