Consumer complaint received 2024-02-05 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Rental 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: SD

Complaint narrative:
This is a complaint against a debt collector named " Columbia Debt Recovery LLC, dba Genesis ''. 

Please do not share my PII beyond my name with the debt collector. They already have the information they need to contact me. I do not wish to be contacted by them by means other than the email address they already have. I will not call them or provide any document or any PII to them. 

1 ) Genesis has not substantiated their claimed debt.

2 ) Despite it being and unsubstantiated and disputed, they keep sending collection letters that demand payment with added interest.

3 ) They have reported the unsubstantiated claim to all consumer credit bureaus. Moreover, they have done so three days prior to sending me the initial notice.

4 ) They have significantly damaged my consumer credit reports with their unsubstantiated claim of debt. 

5 ) They have been coercing a payment by holding my otherwise impeccable consumer credit report XXXX. 

6 ) I refuse to pay the debt I do not owe.

7 ) I want them to stop harassing me and to undo the damage they have caused me.

8 ) I also demand punitive damages. 

In the following, please find a detailed account of what has transpired On XX/XX/XXXX, Genesis sent me an email titled " Initial Notice '' about a {$230.00} debt that they claimed I owed the landlord of a rental unit in Oregon, where I had lived between XXXX and XXXX. 

I did not recognize the debt. Within 30 days, I sent them a certified email and disputed the debt and asked for validation. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, with an email, Genesis named " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' as their original creditor. They also submitted two pieces of documentation that did not in any way substantiate the debt. They were a copy of an old rental agreement and a one-page bill seemingly issued by XXXX that listed a few fees. The bill did not have an issue date or a signature. Please find it attached. 

Shortly after, I was notified by my insurance that my credit score ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) had fallen from XXXX to XXXX overnight : a XXXX point decline. It turned out Genesis had reported the unsubstantiated claim to all three consumer credit bureaus three days before they had sent their initial notice email to me.

I sent Genesis another certified email and notified them that the documents they had submitted did not substantiate the claimed debt. And that Oregon 's Landlord/Tenant code was clear about what documentation was required. 

Per Oregon 's Landlord/Tenant code, upon move-out, a landlord has a month to either return a tenant 's security deposit fund in full or present to the tenant an itemized accounting with proof that the tenant 's security deposit fund has been spent as permitted by the Oregon landlord/tenant code. It must be delivered by mail or in-person. Violations are punishable by law. 

I had not received either. 

Genesis never replied. From that point to this day, without substantiating the claim of debt, Genesis keeps sending recurring collection letters to me.

To repair the significant damage caused by Genesis to my consumer credit report, I contacted XXXX the alleged issuer of the bill that Genesis had submitted. XXXX is a multinational corporation that manages numerous rental properties in the United States and across the globe, including " XXXX XXXX XXXX ''. I asked them for proof of the claimed debt per Oregon 's landlord/tenant code. They did not provide any information and referred me back to the debt collector. Attached please see my letter and their response. 

I also contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX 's local office. XXXX XXXX XXXX is the name of the rental complex where my rental unit was located. It was not the name of the landlord on my rental agreement. XXXX XXXX XXXX said they were not Genesis 's original creditor ; XXXX was. They referred me back to XXXX. 

Caught in this endless loop, I did some research on the web. It quickly became apparent that I was not alone. Genesis is notorious for this scheme. XXXX makes up an unsubstantiated claim of debt. They wait over a year so that the deadline for filing a claim by the ex-tenant in the court of small claim passes. After a year, the tenant can only file a claim in civil court, which is a lengthy and costly endeavor that positively no consumer undertakes for a couple of hundred dollars. Then Genesis becomes active, and a collection is coerced by damaging and holding the ex-tenant 's consumer credit report XXXX. 

Next, I disputed the collection account with credit bureaus online. They investigated by simply asking Genesis if their claim was valid. They took the debt collectors word at face value. I redisputed by mail. One of them removed the collection account. The other two are still investigating. 

Post this removal, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from Genesis offering a 30 % discount and a possible removal of the collection accounts from my consumer credit report if I called them to pay within 30 days.

Although Genesis 's harassment has been too taxing, I refuse to pay the debt I do not owe. I will practice my legal rights. 

The damage Genesis has caused me in the past three months has far exceeds the {$230.00} their last collection letter demands. I am advocating for the American families who have sustained similar damages through the illegal practices of Genesis and XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation