Consumer complaint received 2025-10-23 00:00:00
Product: Debt or credit management — Debt settlement
Issue: Unauthorized withdrawals or charges — 
Company: ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC.
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
On Friday evening, XX/XX/year>, I made what I believed would be my agreed monthly payment of {$40.00} to Midland Credit Management , Inc. under a payment arrangement connected to a court filing. However, due to an error during the transaction, the entire balance was processed instead of the {$40.00} payment.

I realized the mistake immediately and attempted to contact Midland Credits customer service the same evening. Unfortunately, it was after business hours, so I was unable to reach anyone. I called again the next business day and was advised by Midland that because the payment had already begun processing, I would need to contact my bank to initiate a refund. 

My bank explained that since the transaction was initiated by Midland, I would have to contact the banks financial fraud or overpayment department. Which I did which put me in a timely process in which the result yielded the bank stating there was no substantiated claim due to the fact that there had been no response confirmed from Midland credit management. The bank had contacted the support team which is a different department than the legal team but yet both operating under the Midland credit entity. This caused me to ask for an internal investigation to gather the documents and information requested because when I contacted the support team they said they do not handle any of the information because it had been relayed to the legal team. This caused a timely delay between VyStar and midline credit bouncing back and forth and when I called today to yield answers Midland could only provide me a date of communication that fell outside of a supposed 30-day return policy. Which I have yet to find even after requesting. 

In the meantime, I received notice from the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal that the case filed by Midland Credit Management ( Filing # XXXX, Midland Credit Management XXXX vs. XXXX, XXXX ) was set up incorrectly. After multiple failed correction attempts, the court ultimately moved the case to the Abandoned Filing Queue on XX/XX/year>, meaning there is no active or valid court case or judgment associated with this account. 

After learning the case had been abandoned, I contacted Midland Credit Management again and requested a refund of the overpayment, explaining that the payment was made in error and that the case had never been successfully processed through the court. I spoke with multiple representatives, including supervisors and group account managers, and formally asked that the matter be escalated to a higher department or legal review team. 

Each time I requested escalation, my request was denied. Midlands management repeatedly stated that they would not issue a refund because more than 30 days had passed since the payment. However, I was never provided with any documentation or written policy stating that Midland Credit Management has a 30-day refund policy. To this day, I have not been able to locate any such policy on their website, account correspondence, or payment agreement.

At this point, Midland has retained funds that were never legally owed, tied to a court filing that the judicial system itself abandoned. The company has refused to provide written justification for withholding my money, despite multiple good-faith attempts to resolve the issue. 

I am not attempting to avoid payment on this debt I am only seeking to pay the originally agreed-upon $ 40 monthly payments and to recover the excess funds that were taken in error. I have provided Midland with the courts abandonment notice and a written refund demand, yet they continue to refuse to acknowledge my legal standing or return the overpayment. 

I respectfully request the Florida XXXX XXXX XXXX investigate Midland Credit Managements conduct in this matter, as it appears they are retaining funds without legal entitlement, refusing escalation requests, and applying arbitrary refund limitations without documentation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation