Failure to provide validation on alleged debt disputed by consumer. If sent timely, continued collection (verifying to CRA) without validation. Similar to other consumer complaints. http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/3894/page/7 "2 hours 16 minutes ago by John Doe Afni, Inc is continuing to report an account on my report and they have failed to respond to my Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested letter that they signed for over 40 days ago. Afni, Inc has verified this account on three seperate disputes that I filed with TransUnion, a credit reporting agency, over a six month period. Afni, Inc has not provided me with any information regarding this account. "
Attempt to collect on a 16 year old alleged Sprint "debt". Consumer is certain to have had no such account, to have been a minor at the time the alleged account was opened, having no reason for a "long distance" account at that age. AFNI is known to pull CRs, and Accurint, and probably used one or the other to erroneously "skip-trace" this. If so, then AFNI also knows, or should know, that this particular consumer was a minor at the time, 16 years ago. Consumer disputed the debt. Validation requested verbally. No indication AFNI informed consumer that request must be sent in writing to obligate them to respond. No indication validation provided. Not clear why AFNI would call back in 3 to 5 days, but consumer assumes they are "investigating", while there is no indication that AFNI called back for any other reason that further collection activity. No indication as to whether AFNI claims the Sprint billing address was the address at which this consumer lived 16 years ago. You would assume that this address would have been mentioned by AFNI in support of the legitimacy of the debt if they thought it would, and that the consumer would have commented on their claim either that it matched where they lived, or DIDN'T match where they lived, both of which would have been significant if you had no knowledge of this account . Probably implies AFNI didn't mention any address information, or claimed to not have any. May indicate that AFNI knows that the "skip-trace" was questionable, and so chose not to provide any information that would disclose that. They simply allege this "debt" is in this consumer's name, with no proof to back it up. Consistent with erroneously matching names, erroneously matching addresses, or id theft. Without validation from the OC, it is impossible to determine whether this account is in fact in the consumer's name, or something close to it. Deceptive collection. One of several consumer complaints on accounts alleged opened when they would have been minors. http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff246263.htm "Submitted: 4/30/2007 5:32:16 PM Modified: 5/2/2007 12:03:20 PM Afni FRAUD RIP OFF Bloomington Illinois *Consumer Suggestion ..Kris, Debt Collectors are NOT "CSR"'s!! Company Afni Address: 404 Brock Drive P.o. Box 3427 Bloomington Illinois 61702 U.S.A. Phone Number: 888-804-2409 Fax: This company sent me a letter stating I owed them $71.61 from long distance service I was suppose to have with Sprint. I never had service with Sprint. I called and ask them to send em some type of proof to show me of this debt it was dated back in 1991 this debit was 16 years old. Also I was 16 at the time so what would I be doing with long distance service from Sprint? I called and tried to tell the CSR this information they told me they would get back with me in 3-5 days they call me back and stated they was sorry for this collection but its in my name and I needed to pay it no matter the age or time the account was active. Kris birmingham, Alabama U.S.A."
You gotta love dumb CAs... I had one just yesterday, even after MANAGEMENT was told that the # they were dialing was a cell #; and that all comms were to be done in WRITING... decided to disregard the TCPA and call the cell phone with their auto-dialer, AGAIN... 2 separate TCPA violations within 5 hours, not to mention the FDCPA violation. I love CAs who choose their first communication to be a $2,000.00 check.
Another consumer complaint of Afni collection of an account that is NOT hers. Original error traceable back to Verizon, who repeatedly allegedly "fixed" the error, yet this is in collection with Afni, after being in collection with 2 prior CAs. Indicates that Afni is dunning based on name match only, with no confirmation of correct identity via SSN, which would have indicated the error just as Verizon determined. Also indicates that Verizon is passing off to collection supposedly corrected accounts without the corrections they claimed to have made. http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff247524.htm "Category: Corrupt Companies Submitted: 5/8/2007 8:10:33 PM Modified: 5/8/2007 8:11:00 PM AFNI - Verizon Ripoff, dishonest, fraudulent Bloomington Illinois Company AFNI Address: 404 Brock Dr Bloomington Illinois 61702 U.S.A. Phone Number: 866-352-0474 Fax: I received a collections letter frm AFNI Inc., regarding a Verizon account which does not belong to me. After checking with Verizon back in September of 2005 (this is the third time a collection agency has tried to collect this debt on behalf of Verizon), I was told that somehow my name had become to another person's social security number in Verizon's system. Each of the two previous times, I contacted Verizon, and after hours of being bounced around to different departments, was given confirmation numbers that the problem was taken care of. I have sent a certified letter to AFNI disputing the debt. Sarah Erie, Pennsylvania U.S.A."
Another consumer complaint of Afni collection of an account that is NOT hers. 5 year elapsing between when consumer was at the alleged address, and when the account was allegedly opened makes actual "id theft", supposedly with the consumer's SSN and DOB tied to the account, unlikely. Probably NOT the address of a relative, as Afni is known to use that to claim "id theft" and demand that the consumer must either file a police report, or pay, in those cases. More consistent with old address matching without matching the name on the original account, then claiming it was this consumer's "account". Afni's possession of SSN and DOB could be obtained via skip-tracing thru Accurint, or by pulling CRs. In reply, "Steve" appears to be generally aware of what Afni is up to, but does not appear to be aware that they may have access to SSN and other identity info thru channels other than the original account information. http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff247277.htm "Submitted: 5/7/2007 12:39:43 PM Modified: 5/8/2007 5:04:11 PM Afnicollections fraudulent billing and attempted identity theft Bloomington Illinois *Consumer Suggestion ..Lorri, i think you should explain your charge of identity theft Company Afnicollections Address: Bloomington Illinois 61702-3427 U.S.A. Phone Number: 866-307-0283 Fax: I got this notice a few weeks ago and had no clue as to the phone number for the bill and forgot about it. Today,May 07, 2007 I get another notice!They'll settle for $276.92 1/2 the bill owed. I call the company to find out where-when the the bill is from.It was from a small town in IL. that I only lived in for 1 yr.and been gone since 1990. The bill is from 1995-96.The guy "Henry" I talked to kept telling me they'd be more than happy to resolve the issue with my credit card # etc. He wanted my phone # but no way was I giving him that. Doesn't the idiot have caller ID anyway? Apparently they had gotten ahold of some old phone records because he had my correct BD and social. I was told in order to resolve the issue with them was to file a police report-what are they gonna do about it anyway?;-send them proof of my address for the years 95-96;photo copy of my Driver License or State ID along with my notice. Red Flag here! They had a good excuse as to why the prefix to the town the # belonged to was wrong also. Get this, because it had been recirculated too many times! Lorrie Benton, Illinois U.S.A."
Another consumer complaint of an Afni collection of a Verizon account that is not theirs. Has been a Verizon customer in good standing all along, so it does NOT appear that Verizon considers this to be the consumer's account. Consistent with erroneous identification by Afni. http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff247476.htm "Submitted: 5/8/2007 1:15:40 PM Modified: 5/8/2007 1:16:00 PM Afni What The Heck!!! Bloomington Illinois Company Afni Address: 404 Brock Drive P.O. Box 3427 Bloomington Illinois 61702 U.S.A. Phone Number: Fax: I received a letter from afni stating that I owe $229.30 for a Verizon telephone bill. I contacted afni to find out "What the Heck" and they advised that the telephone bill is from 1996 and 1997. Are they kidding? I have been a Verizon customer since I have been an adult and I am 37 so I have been an adult for a while and Verizon has never had a problem sending me bills. What happen they forgot about this one? How is it that now over 10 years later the "Bill Demon" is advising that I have this mysterious bill? 1996, are they serious? If anyone finds a solution to this problem please advise. Seriously "What the Heck?" Myra Rancho Cucamonga, California U.S.A."
This reply could be from the Afni training course. It is also consistent with other replies on this same complaint forum from other alleged Afni employees, with regard to debts originating from consumers "forgetting", debt responsibility extending from the name on the account to other consumers at the same address, consumers and Verizon are both stupid, and Afni employees are always well trained and professional. Allegedly, the consumer was concerned that it might be a scam, so of course she checked out Afni's website, had no problems at all getting thru to Afni on the phone (even though there have been many consumer complaints of 30 to 45 minute waits, or messages to call back later), the Afni employee was very helpful and polite, provided lots of information, and that allowed the debt to be traced to an allegedly co-signed phone account, the information could be verified easily directly with Verizon, the problem was all traced to a forgetful relative (her stupid husband) . . . Sounds a little too perfect. If legitimate, no indication that any "validation" was offered, requested, or provided, despite the consumer allegedly having no records or receipts, and Afni and Verizon allegedly having records of everything. Husband was supposedly stupid for not keeping those receipts, yet if he had merely co-signed, and the bill was in the name of some other person, he would not normally have had or handled receipts, bills, or payments on this account anyway, and would not normally have received any documentation on a final bill, nor would it normally have been forwarded to him via a mail forward, if it was in the account owner's name, and not his. Yet digging thru (some other) old records resulted in determining this was legitimate. Supposedly all checking was done by phone, and this was sufficient to determine that the debt was fully legitimate. How would Afni "substantiate" that the husband was a "co-signer", without sending a copy of the original contract? Is this his SSN? If so, it must be him, I mean, his account, regardless of how or where they got his SSN. Since Verizon allegedly could look up the debt quickly, and there was no mention of confusion regarding having had no Verizon account, this would have to have been a recent Verizon debt, and not an old GTE/Verizon account. Also keep in mind that in checking with "Verizon", you may still be talking to Afni CSRs, since Verizon outsources both customer service and assigned collection accounts to Afni. Claims of "co-signing" are consistent with the alleged "debtor" not being the primary name on the account, or maybe not being on the account at all, and may be an unsubstantiated claim by Afni, asserted based on their theory that any household member is somehow responsible for any unpaid phone account if they lived at the billing address. Consistent with Afni regarding address matching as a legal determination of who owes the debt and who they get to dun. No mention of the person under whose name the account was opened, and whether Afni had contacted, or attempted to contact, that person. "Ellis" states she regards her husband as "stupid", and Verizon as "stupid", but no mention of the specific person on the account? All of the roommates were collectively "stupid", but wouldn't the specific one on the account be worth singling out as particularly "stupid"? Why exactly would you use co-signers on a phone account anyway, other than perhaps by a parent on a child going to college, instead of just putting the one party with good credit on the account? Why would Verizon want or accept "co-signers", if they're all just college students as claimed with the limited credit where a deposit might be required anyway? And why, having allegedly had a co-signer on the account, did Verizon not take any action to bill that co-signer, or even put the TL on the co-signer's CR? Oh, that's right! The consumer was stupid, Verizon was stupid, but Afni is smarter. Sounds more like Afni's script, than Verizon's, or even a consumer's. http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/3894/page/7 "18 hours 39 minutes ago by Ellis I just received this Afni letter in the mail, under my husband's name. At first, I thought it was a scam, but called Afni while making sure of their webpage. I found this webpage as well. I was not on hold, and was immediately connected to Mike at Afni, who was quite cordial. I asked him a lot of things, and my "scam sense" was not going off. With the information he gave me, and a bit of digging in old records and poking my husband, I found out that the bill was from a place he lived while in college and had stupidly co-signed for and kept no receipts. A call to Verizon corroborated the story unfortunately. This is indeed a debt that is real from a place he lived with his roommates, and they were stupid. Even more stupid, Verizon waited all this time, never tried to collect, didn't even report it to the agencies (otherwise I would have seen the debt on his record yearly) and then just sold it to some agency. There might be some scams and some errors, but unfortunately ours is real. "
Another pissed consumer. Both she and her husband received Afni letters, several months apart, for different Verizon "debts", neither of which are theirs. For some reason, she doesn't appear to buy the explanations offered by Afni employees, and has filed complaints with the usual agencies. She believes their tactics prey on old people. Several consumer reporters in my area, both TV and local paper, are aware of Ripoffreport.com as a window into current consumer complaints on problem companies, and have referred to that source, either by attribution in articles, or with their screen as background to consumer fraud stories. It would be interesting if Dateline looked into it, as suggested. http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/3894/page/7 "2 hours 46 minutes ago by Dondie Gorski Well, Im back again....My husband got his notice from Afni in January and now I got mine. Guess what phone company??? Oh YES, Verizon!! My bill is for $468.93 . My husbands back in January was for $529.79. I just love how these lame thieves give these crazy odd numbers. PEOPLE, IM WARNING YOU, DO NOT PAY THEM OR GO TO THEIR WEBSITE AND GIVE ALL YOUR PRIVATE INFO. IT'S A SCAM AND SHOULD BE DEALT WITH!!! I cant believe I read one of the complaints that this company has been going on for 70 years....ARE U SERIOUS??? LOL. Was my Great Grandmother involved with this scam also?? Just gotta love America!!! If a company has been going on for that many years scamming people and not getting caught, believe me, there is a lawyer/shark out there that would love this case. MAJOR CLASS ACTION SUIT. I feel so sorry for these people that have actually paid this. I contacted the show DATELINE NBC to think about investigating this sort of practice. This company AFNI got real sloppy, by going after me 4 months later ...after they were after my husband. These people are getting real DUMB. Yes, they told me to go to their website and file a dispute letter. It wants all your private information, how crazy is that??? Whats sad about this....is, you know older people who dont understand about all this, will just pay it, because they are scared of their credit being ruined. I contacted so many agencies and done my research. Make sure you send a letter of dispute and stating Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Section 809(b) Validating Debts. You will be protecting yourself. Make sure you send the letter Certified. Do not provide any social security number. I am a bit nervous, because, I did sign my name after the dispute letter. Can they do something with my signature?? I made sure I have made all copies of everything...complaints I have posted, emails I have sent to agencies. We watch on the news a person going in and robbing liquor stores, gas stations and banks with a gun....and we watch in horror and hoping that person is caught and sent to prison and jail. Afni is a robber. They are holding our credit report our credibility for homes, cars, credit cards . They are no different than that robber holding a gun to someones head and demanding money. Everyone needs to report to Trade Commissions, BBB, State Attorney General. I believe what has happened with this company, Afni is.....people who have paid off a collections notice in the past, Afni knows about and knows you are doing everything to protect your credit. They believe their scam will work on us. 1 hours 27 minutes ago by Dondie Gorski Oh, and forgot....all the employees that are logged into this website and reading all the complaints about the company you work for......Get off the internet and continue on with your robbery. I WILL MAKE THIS CLEAR!!!! OVER ACCOUNTS THAT ARE NOT LIGIT!!! FRAUDALANT ACCOUNTS. Why would people be so upset and waste so much time over a TRUE DEBT? NOT. Ask yourself that "Employees of Afni" Im sure you all are paid such BIG MONEY...hahahahahahaha ...to be thieves. I feel so sorry for you , that you have to work at such a pathetic job. Do what you are suppossed to do under Fair Debt Collection Practices Act 809(b) Provide all these people with original documents from the original creditor. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. PLEASE SEND THEM, PROVE US ALL WRONG. We all know what the outcome will be. NOTHING....Afni cant do it. I would love for Afni to take me to court. I know, it would be a FOR SURE THING that they would lose. I cant wait for your ignorant reply. For one of the comments about teaching our children about not paying debts....THAT IS A PATHETIC POINT. I bet you teach your children to go after people for money, that is not rightfully theres. Accusing people for oweing money that they dont owe is WRONG. Just remember people wouldn't be wasting this much time in mailing out certified letters and contacting the State Attorney General, Federal Trade Commission and BBB, if Afni was sending a TRUE DEBT to them. Why is there this many complaints about fraudalant addresses and phone numbers? Good luck trying to put anything on anyones credit ...stating its a 10 yr old debt. Do you really think were all that stupid??? Im sure you do, thats just your way of thinking. Im sure you would love for someone to pay a partial amount...HAHAHAHAHAHA sorry, but when Afni sends out original creditor notices....LEGIT ONES. People will pay, otherwise forget about getting any money. "
Another attempt to collect an alleged debt not owed by consumer. Erroneous skip-trace by Afni, Verizon claims to not have records, even though they sold the accounts. http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff248288.htm "Submitted: 5/11/2007 2:52:03 PM Modified: 5/11/2007 2:52:00 PM Afni doesnt listen nor care that the bill may be erroneous. Mercenary tactics. Bloomington Illinois Company Afni, Inc. Address: PO Box 3427 Bloomington Illinois 61702 U.S.A. Phone Number: 866-307-9197 Fax: Verizon sapparently sold thousands of old accounts from as far back as 15 years ago to Afni. Verizon kept no records that could be of potential help, and are as culpable as Afni. Afni is a ruthless company employing terror tactics to get paid. My bill was 12 yrs old and from an address in a state I never lived in. Not my bill, but Verizon who initiated this process maintained no roecords that could help me prove this. Further, I asked Verizon why they didn't address this billing issue 10, 7 or even 3 years after the disconnection. Their answer was-"we don't have that information anymore" you must talk to the 'jihadi's at Afni. Kj Royersford, Pennsylvania U.S.A."
Attempted collection on a debt not owed by consumer, implied threats via phone. Probably another erroneous skip-trace. Threat to take legal action, by debt collector who probably had no such authority, and on an alleged debt for which they could not produce a bill, a billing address, or even the alleged phone number, for a Cingular wireless account where the consumer had never done business with Cingular or any other wireless service, and had always had only a land line. Since they now have this consumer's address, they have 5 days to send FDCPA notification letter. Since Afni appears to contact first by letter, yet this consumer's first contact was by phone, there is probably some other consumer to which they sent that letter, possibly even several. With this consumer's address differing from the address to which they sent that letter, which would have been visible to the caller in their on-line records, they already have reason to believe there may be errors in their identification of the correct debtor, yet they still press for immediate payment, and make no attempt to inform consumer on how the debt can or should be disputed, not even their "id theft" gambit. Alleged debt was from 2002, so it would be reportable. Consumer disputed verbally, so Afni would be required to note as disputed if it reported. No penalty to Afni until that "error" is caught and disputed thru CRA by consumer, however. No verbal disclosure of dispute or validation rights, despite repeated disputing of debt by consumer. Kept asking for SSN, implying they may not know which of several people this consumer is, or who specifically owes the debt. CRA may show several people with different SSNs under similar names. So supposedly with no billing address, no original phone number, and not even matching the alleged debtor's SSN, Afni is claiming this consumer owes this alleged debt purely on a name match, of questionable specificity, threatening damage to credit, and threatening legal action, and the consumer knows with certainty that he had no such account with Cingular. http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff247980.htm "Submitted: 5/9/2007 7:35:41 PM Modified: 5/9/2007 7:36:00 PM AFNI Collections Ripoff pushy threatening with unverifiable fraudulant billing and seeking social securtiy and other info Bloomington Illinois Company AFNI Collections Address: 404 Brock Drive Bloomington Illinois 61702 U.S.A. Phone Number: 888-276-1908 Fax: 5:30 pm, Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 we were contacted on our home phone by Samantha of AFNI Collections stating that we had a balance of $944.41 that needed to be paid immediately and that she'd be happy to draft a check by phone. She asked my husband Steve to confirm that he was Steve S. He also provided our mailing address and even the company he works for. But when she asked for his social security number he was smart enough not to give that. When he asked for info on the debt, she said it was for Cingular Wireless Service [We've NEVER had that...our service has always been a land line] When we tried to get her to provide us with a bill, she said that it wasn't showing up on their computer. Yet she later stated that they bought the debt off of Cingular Wireless and that the dates of service were from Feb - Jun of 2002, but couldn't provide the phone number or billing address. We pointed out that this is not our bill, she continued to push for Steve's social number... he repeatedly told her he was NOT going to give her that, especially without confirmation of who they are and that there is indeed some kind of debt owed. She went on to say that this would adversely affect our credit report. When Steve said that without verification of a debt owed of which we have received absolutely no billing, we can only conclude that this is a bogus attempt to scam people out of money and that he looks forward to hearing from their attorneys. Immediately she stammered back with "well then I have no choice but to place this back into active collections and take legal action." Steve hung up. We have NEVER had any account with Cingular wireless... if we did, we can't imagine how someone could accumulate over $944 in charges in 4 months time! With the incredibly high pressured attempts to obtain my husbands social security number and threats at legal action and not providing us with billing etc. We STRONGLY BELIEVE THIS IS A DANGEROUS SCAM that is bound to bilk unsuspecting citizens of their hard earned money. El Indianapolis, Indiana U.S.A."
Another attempt to collect from a consumer who never had this account. Another "sloppy" skip-trace, either by sloppy name match, or possibly old address match alone. Verizon has only itself to blame for any reputation it gets as a result of Afni's escapades, since not only did it sell these accounts to Afni, but it uses Afni for its customer service and collection on accounts it still owns. Since they have an on-going business relationship, they could have put whatever constraints were necessary on Afni's manner of collecting to preserve their reputation, including avoiding deceptive accusations and requiring prompt validation. http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/3894/page/8 "Afni Collections Posted: 2007-01-10 by Vicki [send email] These rip-offs need to be stopped and punished for what they are doing! Complaint Rating: I received a collections notice from Afni, Inc., also Afni Collections stating that I owed Verizon Communications a bill for an outrageous amount of $637.25. I only owe Verizon for my current phone service. Verizon stated that I only owe for my current bill. I have never at anytime ever owed Verizon this amount. If I ever did, I seriously doubt if I would have any type of phone service available to me today. When I went to their website, it is a fake too! These ripoff con artists need to be stopped and prevented from pulling this with anyone else. Also from causing Verizon a needless bad reputation. The phone number they are using on the bill they sent to me is not even my correct phone number. These rip-offs need stopped and punished for what they are doing and trying to do! "
Erroneous account, way past SOL. Presumably a Verizon predecessor. Partial matching information, but with mis-matching in time, appears to be the pattern for their skip-trace errors. Time accuracy of old address information is poor, possibly in error by years. What they call "id theft", "You let someone use your id", "You must have co-signed", "You forgot to take your name off the account", or "You are as responsible as all your roommates." It is their job to make assumptions. Did they match on the name to find all addresses and numbers, did they match on the address to find all names and numbers, or did they match on the number, to find all names and addresses? Or did they just ignore the "charge off" reason, and collect again on an already settled timely disputed bill? What SSN (or SSNs) did they use to create their web "accounts"? For that matter, how many consumers got billed for this single "debt"? Date wrong, address wrong, OC wrong (they may have bought it from Verizon, but Verizon didn't exist in 1990), so how can you trust the identification or the amount? Oh that's right! In this game of "20 Questions", it is the consumer's job to guess why they might owe it! Come on! You just forgot, right? http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff248598.htm "Submitted: 5/14/2007 11:27:25 AM Modified: 5/15/2007 2:44:03 AM AFNI , says I owe a Verizon bill from 1990 on a number that I didnt even get until 1995 Bloomington Indiana *Consumer Comment ..Tell them to get lost Company AFNI Address: PO Box 3427 Bloomington Indiana 61702 U.S.A. Phone Number: 866-307-9197 Fax: I received a letter from a collection agency on a phone number.I didn't even have this number unil 1995. AFNI says I had service started in 1990 and hey even had my house number wrong Karen Fayetteville, West Virginia U.S.A."
In fact, if you think about it, errors in time are potentially a powerful way to detect various types of forgery and deception, whether reduced to paper, or merely deceptive verbal claims. The perpetrator cannot know the full complexity of normal people's lives, and assumes that most people have no clue, or way to prove, what they did when, 5 or 10 years ago. They cannot, however, know of chance events beyond their knowledge. You want to reconstruct where you were, and when? Keep your CC and phone statements. For that matter, keep your processed checks. You normally pay your bills from your checkbook at home? If you wrote a check that day, you were at home. You normally charge your gas, and meals, on a card? You can track every significant trip you take, and prove dates and places. Of course, if you are up to no good, that can work against you, as often seen with both CC charges and cell phone records in criminal cases. And as a consumer dealing with OOS debt, why should you have to?
This Afni employee doesn't have a clue. Essential argument is that since no one has stopped us, what we are doing is legal. 1) Afni complaints, as measured on ripoffreport.com, have jumped from about 2 per month up to the end of last year, to about 4 per DAY beginning in 2007. Patterns that might fly under the radar at 2 per month become visible at 50 to 100 per month. Past experience is no guide to future outcome. 2) BBB complaints are NOT just "over 100". As of today, they are 589 over the last 36 months, and 373 in the last year alone. Most of the 373 are since the beginning of 2007. IL AG and FTC complaint levels may be at similar levels since the beginning of the year, as most consumers who have indicated their likely actions have said they will file complaints with all 3. 3) Interesting, though, Afni is now a member of BBB, as of May 2007. Maybe they are feeling some heat, and need to appear to be doing something about it, or maybe they think that if they can intercept a consumer complaint thru BBB before it goes to a state AG or FTC, they can head off regulatory action. Those who have complained thru BBB still seldom report receiving validation. 4) Most consumer complaints claim that Afni fails to provide validation, on accounts they have no information on, since they did not open them. As this and other Afni employees confirm, they view it as the consumer's problem to "prove" they don't owe alleged debts, not their obligation to prove they do. 5) Probably 95% or more of consumer complaints are that they never had the alleged account. Many of these are in states/cities where the consumers never lived, many are NOT confirmed by the original creditors as being owed, and many Afni claims are for alleged debts at addresses at which the consumer had lived, but for accounts allegedly opened at times YEARS different. Many of these also involve current Verizon customers in good standing, many of whom had their accounts thru the period of the alleged "debt". This is not the usual pattern expected for "id theft", which as a crime of opportunity, generally requires that the id thief have that opportunity, generally thru having access to employer, account or credit application, or id records. It would be expected to show clustering in both space and time that overlaps with where the consumer lived, and when. This is also too high a proportion of all consumer complaints of "not my account" to explain it away as just "id theft". Some fraction of consumers, with legitimate id theft problems, do determine that they have been victims, and have some idea even generally of some characteristics of the thief, whether a relative, friend, co-worker, or even a total stranger. This fraction may be in the 20% to 30% range for relative id theft, and perhaps somewhat higher (above 50%) when you include co-workers with access to employer records, but there is no indication that these "not my account" cases match this pattern. This fraction should not be this close to 0. Afni having SSN info on these accounts is no proof such identity info was obtained with the original account. Original creditor not showing a bad debt under consumers' names is consistent with account info being "corrected" with skip-trace info. As long as original creditor validation is not provided, the degree of alteration cannot be determined. This is NOT consistent with "id theft". It IS consistent with Afni billing the wrong party, based on their own "investigation", by either sloppy name matching, attempts to trace and assign liability by address matching, or even just sending bills to multiple consumers with similar names. 6) Most of the rest claim attempts to collect on alleged debts for paid accounts, or amounts that match resolved billing disputes with the original creditor. One even claiming he checked Verizon's own records (as a Verizon sub-contractor), found his disputed charges from years ago, and that Verizon's records showed the disputed amount had been reversed as he had believed, yet Afni was trying to collect on it anyway. In accounting terms, Verizon would have written off the amount, although the customer would have had no liability for it. Afni consistently fails to validate, and fails to even check with the original creditor when consumers themselves have checked with the original creditor and verified they owe nothing. Original creditor showing no amount due has been reported for alleged Verizon, Charter, and Cingular accounts. 7) Afni employees have basically said, in response to some of these consumer complaints, that if you know a person at the address we have for the bill, then it must be "id theft", or if you haven't filed a police report, you must have let them use your name, so you owe us. They have even made this claim against consumers who were young minors at the time the alleged account was opened, despite the fact that a minor has no legal right to agree to a contract, nor would a minor have any legal capacity to allow someone else to open an account in their name, thus any such account would be determinable to be fraudulent based on the consumer's age alone. This little tactic avoids threatening the consumer with arrest (directly prohibited by FDCPA), yet produces the same coercive effect to pay a debt not owed by implying that either the consumer must pay, or the consumer must accuse some relative even with no evidence (Afni seldom validates), who may in turn be arrested. http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/3894/page/8 "14 hours 34 minutes ago by Afni Employee Sorry... I laugh... I wish you would read what i write, because there is true saying as to; you can listen, but can you hear. You folks are reading what i write but not actually paying attention to what it says. To dondie gorski who wrote on here just previously, you wrote a portion, that had to do with me because i am an employee with afni. You made a statement that i would really like all of you people to pay close attention and to really read my remark. Your remark... "people wouldn't be wasting this much time in mailing out certified letters and contacing the state attorney general, federal trade commission and bbb, if afni was sending a true debit to them" Please hear me... If so many of you have contacted these "peoples rights" places and such... Per what i have read, there has probably been over 100 complaints to the bbb, contacted radio and news reporters and so on... Have any of you stopped to think that if these were legit complaints... My company would not be alive... I wouldn't have had a job for almost 4 years, because all the law suits would put my company out of business!!! I mean really you guys... If all of you who have said that this is a fraudulent company and you've done everything to report this to who needs to know this. My company wouldn't be contacting you any more because we would be out of business or arrested. But if all of you have reported this "fraud", and nothing has been done... Doesn't your brain start to think... Hmmm... Maybe its real. If someone stole your identity, i apologize and wish you the best in fixing the situation, but if someone stole your credit and opened an account in your name and now my company is trying to collect on it, this doesn't make my company a thief, my company had to purchase the debt from somewhere... We dont just pull it out of our... If your identity has been stolen. Get that taken care of, but stop "waisting" ( how you put it ) your time trying to blame it on afni... We are just the collectors, we dont know you from adam... If you dont owe us... Prove it, and we will leave you alone. Its that simple. All we know is we bought it and we have your name and ssn, who actually opened the acct??? We know that question as well as you do... So make a police report and have it proven it was never yours, until then, you are and will be held liable unfortunately. But we are real... And we do collect on real debts. "
It appears some sort of mail incident happened at AFNI yesterday. Contact between debt collectors and consumers may result in strong reactions. CAMCO is reported to have had a couple similar incidents toward the end. What is perhaps more interesting is the strong polarization between pro-Afni workers and many ex-Afni workers, with a consumer comment thrown in from someone who got a bill for an account paid years ago. Although many Afni employees appear proud of who they work for, many ex-employees are glad they moved on. There appears to be an "us against the world" siege mentality. One employee implies they may not have medical insurance coverage, as they were told to use their insurance card if they had one, for what appeared to be a job related medical treatment issue that should have been covered by workman's comp. Afni appears to be operating under extreme cost pressure, with other companies choosing them for an outsourcing vender primarily based on their contracted price being lower than the customer's internal employee costs to provide similar services. Bloomington appears to have a number of different company call centers, including State Farm, perhaps due to depressed wages in the area. Starting wages appear to be $7.50/hr, and if you worked up to $12/hr you might not be worth retaining. Large amounts of cheap bad debt resulting from the 2000 recession may have led to call center expansion in around 2003 to 2004 built on low wage rates. As the economy improves resulting in competition for employees raising wages, and as competitive pressure from other junk debt buyers raises the costs for even OOS old junk debt (suggested by Bud Hibbs to be affecting the whole industry), the result may be a squeeze between falling revenue and rising costs. They appear to be responding to this pressure by trying to increase their profit margins by expanding or enhancing their offered services. http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/05/16/news/doc464b466536ba5433689168.txt "Wednesday, May 16, 2007 11:26 PM CDT Comments (83) Afni office evacuated after substance found in mail By Scott Miller scottmiller@pantagraph.com Advertisement BLOOMINGTON -- Bloomington Police continue to investigate a suspicious substance found in the mail Wednesday at the Afni Inc. offices on Martin Luther King Drive in Bloomington. Police took over the investigation after the Bloomington Fire Department evacuated the building and removed the substance, described by Afni spokesman Alan Angelo as a pink-white powder. With the fire departmentâ??s hazardous materials team out of town for training, the police department called the Federal Bureau of Investigation for help, said Bloomington Police spokesman Duane Moss. The FBI declined to get involved, he said, so police contacted the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to determine if the material found was hazardous. â??The impression that I get is that probably wonâ??t happen until (Thursday),â? Moss said. â??In the meantime, the package is secured and in a safe place.â? Moss didnâ??t know what step police would take if postal investigators refused to handle the case. About 250 Afni employees at the building were sent home about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Police handed the building back over to Afni about two hours later, and workers were expected to return to work Thursday, Angelo said. The building was evacuated about noon after a mailroom employee found a pink-white powder in a piece of mail, he said. Moss said reports of a powder were false but wouldnâ??t say what the suspicious substance was or whether the package contained anything other than the substance. He didnâ??t know if it had a return address but said the package came from out of state. The employee called the Bloomington Fire Department after discovering the substance, and firefighters immediately cleared the premises. Firefighters entered the building about noon with decontamination suits. Some were hosed down after exiting the building about 45 minutes later, standard procedure in a hazardous-material investigation, Moss said. During the investigation, employees gathered on the grass surrounding the parking lot. Some left for lunch. Others outside the building ordered pizzas. The mailroom employee who found the substance did not need any medical attention, Angelo said. "
Same pattern. Name mismatch, never had phone number, never had address (some P.O. Box), once lived in state, but at different time, but somehow they have his SSN. Consumer is skeptical that this is really id theft, as even though they allege a P.O. Box he never had, which would have taken some trouble to open, no additional accounts indicative of id theft have showed up. Consumer's name did not accurately match, but he has now corrected that for them. No indication any validation has been requested. Afni appears to have already diverted him down the "fraud packet" path. In short, not this consumer's account since multiple factors do NOT match, yet they matched by partial name, possibly combined with different address match in the state at a different time, and probably tacked on his SSN obtained from a different source to create the "account". Afni is playing it as the "pay us or claim id theft" gambit, in which case you have to file police reports, notarized fraud affidavits, send copies of id, proof of address at the time, etc. or they claim you have to pay them, on a 7 year old debt. With this broad a match, how many other consumers also "matched", and received bills for the same debt? http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/3894/page/8 "4 hours 24 minutes ago by Don Got my notice for $800 Guess inflation works for these guys too. Didn't even have my name right on the letter. Phone # never owned. Po box I allegedly signed up for the service with. At a time I didn't even live in the state in question. However, they have my SS#. How the hell did they get that? Means to me SOMEthing happened somewhere along the line. The date in question was when I was in college, so I can see some shmuk stealing my info and setting up a po box and running up a bill with my #, but 7 years ago? Nothing since then. I called and had my name changed before deciding to check them out online... I stopped all info since then, but it bugs me they already have my SS#. Should I fill out their fraud thing and hope to get it cleared up? Crap "
I will be filing against them in the VERY near future... They seem to not want to send a reply to my draft suit, oh, except "we're NOW ceasing collection activity" letters...
Although your most direct case is probably over continued collection, both without validation, and after acknowledging your cease communications, if you are dealing with an account that you never opened, did they claim to have, or show that they had, your SSN? Did they claim the account billing address was to an address related to one of your past addresses, at a time you never lived there, or were there other indications of "erroneous" skip-tracing, such as a mangled name.
Updated BBB report from www.bbb.org Afni BBB report, 5-18-07, 1 of 3: "The Better Business Bureau® Serving Central Illinois 112 Harrison Peoria, IL 61602 (309) 688-5124 www.peoria.bbb.org Afni, Inc. P.O. Box 3097 Bloomington, IL 61702 Telephone: (877) 403-0670 www.afniupsourcing.com The BBB reports on members and non-members. If a company is a member of the BBB, it is stated in this report BBB Definition: report - A summary of activity reflected in a company's BBB file. Includes basic business background, BBB membership information, and Bureau complaint activity over the previous three years. Also reports may include any known government actions, advertising issues or other information that results from activity conducted by the BBB. Original Business Start Date: January 1936 Email Address: Employees: 625 TOB Classification: Collection Agencies BBB Membership: This company is a member. Afni has three facilities in Bloomington, as well as centers in Illinois, Kentucky, Alabama, Arizona, Texas, and Missouri providing call center and credit & collection services. St. Charles, Mo., and the Bloomington, IL. office provides specialized claims management solutions to the insurance industry. Afni provides tailored call centers, collections, insurance and debt purchase services to the nation's leading companies.
Afni BBB report, 5-18-07, 2 of 3, continued: "Additional DBA Names Afni/Bloom Anderson Fin Network Anderson Financial Network, Inc. Anderson Financial Network BBB Membership Status This company has been a member of this Better Business Bureau since May 2007. This means it supports the Bureau's services to the public and meets our membership standards. Program Participation This company has agreed to use special procedures including arbitration BBB Definition: arbitration - http://www.dr.bbb.org/ComSenseAlt/bindArb.asp , if necessary, to resolve disputes through their participation in the following programs: Membership Identification BBB Definition: Membership Identification - A BBB program that allows members to identify themselves as BBB members in off-line media when the member signs a formal commitment to resolve disputes, if necessary, through arbitration. , BBBOnLine BBB Definition: BBBOnLine - A national BBB dispute resolution program offered to companies who transact business via the Internet and allows the company to display the BBBOnLine Reliability Seal. Refer to https://www.bbbonline.org/reliability/Rel_EN.asp for a fuller description of the program and eligibility requirements. Nature Of Business This company offers debt and credit collections. Customer Experience Based on BBB files, this company has a satisfactory record BBB Definition: satisfactory record - A business identified in our report as satisfactory has, based on Bureau files, been in business for at least one year, and has voluntarily provided the Bureau with all information requested about the business and its product or service. If any complaints have been received about the business, their number has not been considered by the BBB to be extreme, given the nature of the company's business and the volume of business transacted. Complaints are also generally typical of what might be expected for this type of business. A business stated to be satisfactory has not been the subject of any recent law enforcement actions concerning its dealings with the public. If the business has been contacted by the BBB about its advertising or selling claims, it has modified or substantiated its practices to the Bureau's satisfaction. In addition, the BBB has a clear understanding of the company's business, and the business is not in an industry which has raised significant marketplace concerns. with the Bureau. A satisfactory record BBB Definition: satisfactory record - A business identified in our report as satisfactory has, based on Bureau files, been in business for at least one year, and has voluntarily provided the Bureau with all information requested about the business and its product or service. If any complaints have been received about the business, their number has not been considered by the BBB to be extreme, given the nature of the company's business and the volume of business transacted. Complaints are also generally typical of what might be expected for this type of business. A business stated to be satisfactory has not been the subject of any recent law enforcement actions concerning its dealings with the public. If the business has been contacted by the BBB about its advertising or selling claims, it has modified or substantiated its practices to the Bureau's satisfaction. In addition, the BBB has a clear understanding of the company's business, and the business is not in an industry which has raised significant marketplace concerns. means a company has been in business for at least 12 months, and properly addressed matters referred by the Bureau. The company does not have an unusual volume of complaints, or any government actions involving its marketplace conduct. The Bureau understands and has no concerns about the company's products, services and type of business. This location is the headquarters location for this company. When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints. "
