Consumer complaint received 2024-11-10 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Payday loan debt
Issue: Written notification about debt — Didn't receive notice of right to dispute
Company: Leafy Financial, LLC
State: AZ

Complaint narrative:
I received a notification through XXXX that my credit score had dropped XXXX points because of a collections notice from XXXX XXXX XXXX. I have never seen this name before, so I was a bit surprised. I am currently doing voluntary debt settlement and I am very diligent about any and all collection notices that I receive. I have mail forwarded from my last two addresses, my phone number hasnt changed, and my email is the same. and I have received emails from all other debt collectors who choose email as their communication method. When I called Leafy financial, the woman I spoke to was a little rude, but I stayed polite. I asked her who she was trying to collect for and it was for an account that is part of the debt settlement program I am in, and, I have had constant communication with the original creditor. She told me they no longer have ownership of this debt. I told her thats fine, but I did not receive anything from XXXX XXXX about this debt. Any other debt collectors that have reached out to me, I have either settled directly, or given them the information for the debt settlement company. I told her its not fair to report something to my credit report without reaching out to me first to see if Id be willing to settle. I also originally contacted the creditor to settle and they told me they couldnt settle while I was current. I would have been willing to settle. 

She said that they do have other companies they work with who may have reached out to me, and it would have been via email. While on the phone, I searched both my primary inbox and my spam inbox in my email. I took screenshots showing all search results coming up as 0 results. I even asked her for different naming conventions, if they go by something abbreviated, and nothing came up. I searched 3-4 different company names and one company phone number, including the name leafy financial LLC XXXX I told her I can not find anything with any of those companies names or phone number, and I have nothing sent to me, pertaining to this Debt. I told her now I have to fight with them to get this removed from my credit report. I wouldve been willing to settle with them if they had just reached out to me from the beginning to let me know. Last I heard, my account was notated as being in debt settlement and I didnt hear from the creditor after that. 

She then strong armed me, and said it could be removed from all 3 bureaus if I pay it now. My initial thoughts were to go ahead and pay it because I just wanted this off my credit report. But after I hung up, I realized this was a strong arming tactic and it goes against ethics to pay someone just because they bully me. I have no problem paying a settled amount if I agree to it, but I dont appreciate using that type of method to get someone who has already taken a hit on their credit due to debt settlement, In order to pay them quicker. I also explained to her that they are not the only ones that I am paying and settling debts on. This was 100 % a tactic used to get me to pay them quicker. They never sent me anything. I explained to her that Ive been very diligent in this entire process because I did debt settlement willingly. The debt settlement option was not because I couldnt continue paying it was because I was paying so much a month and debts that I wanted to get our debt amount down. We were paying on two houses for six months because we were having trouble selling our first house. We are finally closing on that house, but we lost {$77000.00} in the sale. Because of this, I did not want to file for bankruptcy so I did debt settlement to bring some of our debt costs down per month. When I told her that I let Credit ninja I added them as part of the debt settlement, I never heard from them again. Her response sounded like she probably gives this response to many people. She said oh, it probably went into your spam inbox.. If their emails are going to spam that often they should be following up with a phone call and by mail. If people are not being made aware that theres a notification of a Debt theyre not being given chance to settle it or discuss it. This is coming off as very predatory practice. She said the companies they work with are very compliant. I told her I am also very diligent in this process because I had to do dent settlement willingly, and I understood what it was doing to my credit. Every notice Ive received from a collections agency, I have forwarded to the debt settlement company, or Ive spoken to them directly. Leafy financial is the only one I never saw anything from. And I have gotten notifications by email, text, and mail. 

I find it very, very conniving to claim that they sent out a notification about this debt, knowing that they dont have the burden of providing proof, and then saying we will only remove it if you pay us now. I have a right to be notified of a debt before it gets reported as collections. Today to pay a balance that they want me to pay them. I did receive that email in my primary inbox, so that is proof that I do receive emails from them.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation