Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am not liable for this debt with American collections . I don’t have a contract with this collection Agency. They didn’t provide with contact as requested.

  Business response

  07/05/2023

  We received the consumer's request and are in the process of gathering the necessary information. As for the consumer not having a contract with us, that would be correct. Our "contract" is with the entity to whom the consumer may owe a debt or debts we are attempting to collect. 

  Customer response

  07/12/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  Again I have no knowledge about this account .if they cant verify with a. Signed contract I demand to delete from credit report asap . This doesn't not meet the fcra . 
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* ******
  

  Business response

  07/13/2023

  The requested information was mailed to the consumer on July 7, 2023. He is now regularly calling our office trying to get a balance reduction on only one of the four accounts he has here. The reason he is only interested in satisfying one of the four is because that is the only one that is currently being credit reported. While that is his prerogative as a consumer, we are under no legal or contractual obligation to offer a reduction in the balance. Also, just because a debt is not being credit reported does not mean a consumer should just disregard their financial obligation to the creditor. 

  The consumer was previously offered a reduction, which he decided not to take advantage of, so that particular offer is no longer available to him. As for his claim that "this" does not meet the FCRA, he is mistaken. 

  Finally, the consumer has a tendency to become verbally abusive when he is told something he does not want to hear. While that may also be his prerogative, we will not continue to accept his phone calls if he cannot conduct himself in an appropriate manner. 

  Customer response

  07/16/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this because I have no knowledge about this account , nor the balance . I have no signed contract with them . This doesn't not money the fcra . I demand to be deleted if they can't verify with a signed contract . 
  

  Regards,
  
  ******* ******

• Initial Complaint

  06/02/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  American Collections Enterprise, Inc.205 *************************************, Alexandria, VA *********** Account #: *********** Fraud has been committed on my consumer report, which violates the FCRA & FDCPA. American Collections Enterprise, Inc. is using extortionate means to collect on alleged debt, I do not owe that resulted from extension of credit which violates Title 18 USC 892-894 and constitutes racketeering activities and extortion. This is a notice sent as per the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (F.D.C.P.A.), 15 U.S.C. 1692 (G) Section 809 (B). This notice states that your claim is disputed and validation of the account is required: * Purchase Agreement * Evidence that vou are a licensed debt collector *Chain of Title *Proof that vou are license debt collector to collect in my state. * A requested copy of your State Department of Commerce and Insurance Certificate. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR ACCOUNTING: REQUEST REGARDING LIST OF COLLATERAL OR STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT IN REFERENCE TO U.C.C $9-210. This authenticated record must include all tax filings (including all 1099's, 1096's, and 1098's) any and all trades and/or investments and/or interests associated with this account of which I am alleged to be a party. I have a right to this information, as its directly associated with the reporting activities. Failure to substantiate the claim, please settle the account immediately and cease and desist all communication and have this tradelines deleted from my consumer report. 15 U.S. Code § 1692e - False or misleading representations (10)The use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect any debt or to obtain information concerning a consumer. In addition please provide the contract signed between American Collections Enterprise, Inc. & ***** ** ******** ******* ****, notarized and sworn under penalty and perjury for American Collections Enterprise, Inc. ability to collect this alleged debt.

  Business response

  06/20/2023

  1. The debts in question do NOT stem from an "extension of credit". They are medical bills. 

  2. Neither federal collection law nor Maryland state law require release of a "purchase agreement" (we are NOT a debt-buyer), a "chain of title", proof that we are licensed to collect in that state or any statement of collateral or insurance be provided to the consumer. 

  Aside from a few generically worded letters sent to our office, we have had no direct contact with this consumer. This is in spite of the fact that he has been intermittently disputing them with the various CRAs since 2021. Debt validation was mailed to him in January 2022. 

  The consumer has told the various CRAs that he was not aware of collection (AFTER we mailed the aforementioned debt validation), that these are not his bills, that we are reporting inaccurate information and he has claimed to be a victim of id theft/fraud. All of this activity has occurred without the consumer ever once reaching out to our office by phone, wherein some level of effective and meaningful communication could have taken place. 

  In conclusion, we have no reason to believe these are not validly due and owing debts of the consumer. We have not violated any applicable laws or regulations in our handling of the matter. On the other hand, the consumer has filed duplicate complaints with the ***** filed numerous disputes with the CRAs and submitted repetitive letters to our office, even AFTER validation was mailed to him. Again, all of this but not a single phone call?
  

• Initial Complaint

  03/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I called today to get information on how to contact *************************** boss. The individual transfer me to her and when I asked for her supervisors information, she hung up the phone on me. Called back again and spoke to her again and stated I wanted the information so why did she hange up, she ended the call again.

  Business response

  03/10/2023

  We do not have a matter in our database for this consumer. Based on the address provided, it is possible she is the daughter of a consumer who does have a matter in our database. However, that person's daughter's name is not recorded in our notes. That having been said, if this person is the daughter in question, she was verbally abusive toward our staff. As she is not the consumer who owes the debt, and does not hold Power of Attorney for said consumer, authorization from the consumer who does owe the debt would be required. Under the circumstances, any such conversation is conducted strictly as a courtesy to the consumer and would be terminated in the event of verbal abuse.  

• Initial Complaint

  01/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was notified from my credit reporting monitor that they had filed a negative collection mark on my credit report for a medical account that I do not recognize. I have spoken to them and have asked for validation of the debt but have not received anything. I have never received anything in the mail from them. I emailed them and have not received a response either. Even if this debt is in collections they must wait one year to report it to the bureau according to the law. I am requesting that they remove this from my credit report immediately until the account is validated.

  Business response

  01/16/2023

  We have spoken with this consumer. He was directed to put his request/dispute in writing and given an email address for that purpose. To date, we have not received any email from him. As for credit reporting, a medical debt is required to be one year or more after the date of service to be credit reported. The debt in question was incurred as the result of an inpatient hospital visit that ended in January 2022. The account was just reported for the first time on January 6, 2023. The consumer is welcome to contact our Compliance Manager for further assistance. 

• Initial Complaint

  12/29/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 11/30/22, I was seen at *** Urgent Care for ONE Covid and flu test. No additional testing or scans. The urgent care neglected to submit a claim to my insurance, and thus, sent the $450 bill into collections. I have contacted my insurance company and they have verified that they never received a claim, and also, that the visit should have been 100% covered. My credit score has dropped 100 points as a result of this collection error. In addition, I tried filing a dispute by calling phone number: ###-###-#### but I’ve called almost 20 times over the last few days and every single time it hangs up on me immediately. In addition, I tried sending an email dispute to [email protected] but that email bounced back because the recipient address is invalid. It’s impossible to get through to someone to correct an error that they made.

  Business response

  01/10/2023

  We spoke with this consumer on December 29, 2022. She was advised to address her dispute to our office in writing, so that we may initiate an investigation into her concerns. She has filed a dispute with Experian credit bureau but, so far, not in writing directly with our office. We have investigated the content of her credit bureau dispute and will respond accordingly. However, that dispute does not require us to report our findings back to the consumer. If she is expecting to receive documentation of the debt, she needs to file a dispute, in writing, directly with our office. That having been said, we were just made aware yesterday of some problems with our email. We are working to correct that as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the consumer may fax her dispute to ************ or mail it to **********************Alexandria VA *****.

  Customer response

  01/11/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I tried faxing my written dispute and that too was rejected by your fax machine. I attached a photo of the rejection. I'm just a little frustrated because your  email is down, your phones are down at ************, AND your fax is down. I spoke to ****** on the phone today and she was very helpful and understanding, so I do want to thank her for being great. She helped me process the payment over the phone to pay the debt in full and did warn me that *** is notoriously difficult to get my money back. Regardless, I am still frustrated at how difficult it has been to get through to someone and file this dispute because the phone, email, and fax numbers do not work. 
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  09/26/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I would like for these corrections to be made on my credit report

  Customer response

  09/28/2022

  No this complaint is not being filed on behalf of a third-party

  Business response

  09/29/2022

  We have no reason to request deletion of the outstanding medical debt owed by this consumer, from her credit history. She has made no attempt to pay them and has been unresponsive to our attempts to contact her to discuss them. However, she has filed multiple disputes directly with the various credit bureaus, alleging the information is inaccurate. All such disputes were thoroughly investigated and we found no inaccuracies and nothing to indicate these are not validly due and owing debts of the consumer. 

• Initial Complaint

  07/27/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I got a bill for my daughter for ***************************************** and it took a while to get to because my daughters hospital stay bills ended up being almost $6,000. I am unfortunately did not qualify for the financial help. I got a call from ACEI that the **** was sent to collections, and I was appalled at their collection practices. the lady called me speaking very rude and aggressive and telling me "well you need to figure something out" and "it's not my problem" and just being rude and very ghetto. I blocked their number and when I was able to sent a check directly to *****. Mind you, I NEVER got a letter from them saying it was in collections, I just have the original bill from **********************. I want these people, once my payment was confirmed, to remove the negative information from my credit report and cease contact with the exception of evidence that the information was removed from my credit report. I am appalled that an entity is able to operate in such a manner.

  Business response

  08/01/2022

  This consumer filed a similar, almost identical complaint with the CFPB. In response to that complaint, the call recordings were reviewed and no evidence was found to support the consumer's claim. The quoted statements were not made by our representative. There is no validity to this complaint.

• Initial Complaint

  07/24/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  ********* **** ******** , **********, ******* ***************************************** Laurel, MD ********* 07/25/2022 Investigation Request Letter Date of Birth: **** ** **** SS#: XXX-XX-**** To Whom It May Concern:  I received a copy of my credit report with the intention of trying to improve my credit and take care of my responsibilities and noticed a few accounts that I wanted a little more explanation on. I am not saying they are reporting right or wrong. I am just saying that I am not 100 percent sure if they are. I also read something called the Fair Credit Reporting Act where it said by law, I had rights to challenge anything I am not sure is accurate. Some of the people reporting things on me, I have never heard of which made me write to you all. Are you familiar with something called 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1681i(a)? I heard that if you cant provide proof, these accounts must be deleted. Well I want these accounts deleted if they are not 100 percent right and correct. So, could you please check on these and get back with me? I saw on a Credit Site and Board where this lawyer said you have 30 days to complete this investigation. Please investigate the following accounts and remove them if anything is missing or not correct on them. Type of Account: Bankruptcy: Case Number: ********* Action Requested: Please provide proof that its reporting correctly from the Court House and not a third party and delete if anything is incorrect. Collection Account: ********************** Account Number: *********** Please investigate if every piece of information is correct. If not, please remove it from my credit report.Collection Account: American Collections E Account Number: ************ Please investigate if every piece of information is correct. If not, please remove it from my credit report.Collection Account: Convergent Outsourcing Account Number: ********** Please investigate if every piece of information is correct. If not, please remove it from my credit report.Co

  Business response

  07/26/2022

  We have received and thoroughly investigated this consumer's credit bureau disputes. The debts in question are medical bills stemming from a visit to a hospital that is local to the consumer's noted address. We have no reason to believe, and have found no evidence of fraud in the course of our investigation. The consumer has never reached out to our office directly and we would encourage them to do so, to obtain additional information about the debts.

• Initial Complaint

  06/20/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am not liable for this debt with American Collecions Enterprise, Inc. and do not have a signed HIPPA Release with them. They are in violation of the HIPPA Act and my privacy.

  Business response

  06/22/2022

  The consumer is mistaken about HIPAA. HIPAA allows for the exchange of PHI between a medical provider and their vendor seeking payment. The consumer does owe the debt in question and appropriate validation was mailed to her over a month ago.

• Initial Complaint

  03/31/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I am not liable for a debt they are trying to collect. Also they never sent me the license and bond information to insure they can collect alleged debt in my state. Please remove them asap.

  Business response

  04/04/2022

  The consumer recently submitted a dispute to our office, which we are in the process of investigating. We will provide them with the required documentation and information via USPS, once our investigation is completed.

  Business response

  04/06/2022

  For reasons of compliance with federal law, we will not be providing any additional information or addendum to our original response.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩