August 14, 2007

I receive a negative inquiry on my credit report from AFNI, INC for an original creditor Verizon. I have never had an account with Verizon. This company AFNI has made my life and credit score pure hell. This negative collection reporting has taken my credit score from 701 (good) to 573 (very poor) score rating. I am in the process of buying a house and I just keep receiving denials about my credit having a collection debt, which I knew this was not true. So I order my credit report to find out this company AFNI had put a collection of a bill for 1,846 from original creditor Verizon. I alert all 3 Credit Bureau of this company AFNI, reporting a delinquent account to my credit. Again I do not have an account with this company and further more I do not even own a cell phone or home phone number in my living area they do not even offer Verizon service. I spoke with a representative name Charlene with AFNI, per representative this was a bill in Lynchburg, VA for a phone number in 1994 I have not live at the address they provided nor had a phone number of 804 for Lynchburg VA. Lynchburg VA area code has been 434 for the past 10 years. When speaking to the representative she stated that Verizon brought out some company with this bill of 1,846.00 and they had the account open in January 2006 and recently reported the collection to the credit bureaus July 2007. Never once I had any type of collection nor any reporting to the bureaus about having any thing from Verizon or AFNI it all of sudden pop up on credit report; no statements, no itemized bill or nothing was sent to me. Speaking to about 10 representative of Verizon Wireless and Verizon as well as the fraud department they could not provide anything for the account number or my social security number. This company AFNI has made my life miserable as well as ruin my credit. The problem with Verizon they are allowing this company to use their name and to continue to practice fraudulent tactics using there company name. I have spent money and time just to clear my name and seem like I am not getting anywhere. Per Charlene she said the company take this information from a public record but would not provide me with the company that have such public record she stated it's only for collections agency. This is a complete fraud to consumers and ruining people credit reports and scores. Never once have I had a debt reported to the credit bureau in reference to any type of bill for Verizon or AFNI. Please Complaints.com let the publics know what this company is doing to people lives.

Thank You

John Banks, Virginia

I think I have everyone beat. This company sent me a letter saying that I owe Verizon $944.84. Here is the funny part, I lived in NY about 25 years ago and never had a phone because I moved out my mothers home to NJ and had a phone under my married name. If anyone finds a lawyer that is interested in suing these bastards for doing something like this PLEASE post it.

Received collection letters from AFNI regarding Verizon telephone service for multiple accounts dated from 1994 to 1998. I really doubt the authenticity of the charges since common sense business practices would not allow a customer to open successive account while carrying balances from previous accounts. I can't understand how Verizon would open a new account for an individual while have an unpaid balance from a previous account.

I'm afraid this is a scam!

I received a Collection Notice from Afni, Inc. on 6/29/07 saying that I owed Verizon California Inc. $268.43 on a phone number that I had 10 years ago. So I called them and they told me that my Verizon account had been turned over to them for collection. My first thought was to pay the amount owed or at least a settlement amount, as I did not want this to reflect on my credit. After some thought I asked AFNI, to send me proof/validation that I did owe this account to Verizon, and they told me they would be the end of July. I did not get proof from them, instead I received another letter dated 7/17/07, asking for payment again. This time I decided to call Verizon and have them check their records for any amounts outstanding that I may have owed them. They could not find any records of any amounts I owed them. They told me to call AFNI, back and speak to the Verizon liasion, which I did call them and they told me anyone could help me and that the Verizon person there is for cell phones only and not land line phones. I know now that I do not owe this money after reading other complaints filed on behalf of this Company, they were just trying to see how much money they could get from me. I am glad now that I did not send them any money. I am going to write that letter to them, disputing this debt that I found on this complaint board.

Below is a good format to use when dealing with Afni or other scam debt collectors. Another 'Verizon' scam. I have never had Verizon as a phone carrier and I have never even owned a cell phone! I haven't lived in the state they claim its from for over a decade. It seems they figure Verizon's customer service is bad and went back 10-12 year old phone books and mass-mailed out these 'chain letters' with random amounts to many people figuring at one point we all had / have a cell phone and are or have been Verizon customers. If you use the below letter, make sure you send it certified mail and send copies of your reply and their letter(s) to the Illinois and your home state Atty General's office as well as file a complaint with the US postal service. DO NOT give them any information such as ssn, phone #, drivers license, etc.

Afni, Inc.
P.O.Box 3427
Bloomington, IL 61702-3427

Re: Dispute of Collection Action: Case # <insert acct #>

On <date> I received a written notice of the claimed debt, a copy of which is attached.

This is to inform you that I dispute the debt because <explain here>. I am hereby requesting that you confirm the fact that I owe this debt as required by any applicable state and federal laws. Please contact the creditor to obtain verification.

In addition, under the provisions of state and federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and related consumer statutes, I am hereby instructing you that you are to cease collection of the debt while efforts are made to obtain verification. Until you resolve this error with the creditor, you should neither contact me nor anyone else except the creditor about this collection.

Furthermore, any reporting of this matter to a credit reporting agency is premature. Until you have investigated my dispute, you should not relay negative information to a credit reporting agency. If negative information has already been reported, you will need to notify the agency to remove said report until the investigative process is over so that my credit report remains accurate, or at the very least, my credit report should be updated to reflect my dispute.

Your next contact with me should be either notice that the creditor has failed to provide verification of the debt and that the matter has been closed or that you believe that this debt is valid and are providing proof of my responsibility. If the former, please confirm that I am not being held responsible for the debt in writing and also that if the account has already been noted on my credit report, that you will contact the bureau(s) in question to have the account removed. If the latter, I expect that you will provide me with an explanation as to why you have decided not to remove this account from collections and a copy of all documents relevant to the debt such as the application, bills, records of communications and payments, and any other data that indicates my responsibility.

I am instructing you not to contact any third parties such as my employer, neighbors, friends or family members. In addition, you may not contact me by phone at work or at my home about this collection activity. All future correspondence should be sent to me in writing.

I am also forwarding a copy of this letter and all correspondence to the Illinois and <your home state> Attorney General's offices and The U.S. Postal Inspector.

I look forward to your acknowledgment that you have received this notice by <date allowing 2 weeks for response>.

Sincerely,

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your name