Afni
Reviews and Complaints

Received a collection notice from this company stating that we owed $94.82 to Qwest. I called Qwest and the account number Afni had listed wasn't even valid. When I called Afni to request a copy of the invoice they stated we owed, I got hung up on. DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY TO THIS COMPANY! THEY ARE FRAUDS!

Recieved settlement offer for a 10 year old phone bill with unknown number and area out of the blue. They say I owe $171 and will take $85.50 and be settled in full. It's in my maiden name and I have no record of living anywhere with that number. upon looking at all the thousands of complaints towards the company, and also have the same issue with the national home gardening club, RMCB is their collector and they state I owe them $226. I am finally begining to get the idea this new scam will worsen with the public in the next few years, if not legally dealt with. It's too time consuming and frustrating and that's why they get away with it. Some people just give in and pay to shut them up. I don't owe them and I don't have money to pursue a legal case! This has already taken to much of my time today!

I received a settlement offer for a BellSouth Mobility bill and i have not had service with Bell South in more that ten years. there were no details, account number or what the charges were for, and they are threatening to report this to my credit rating... Can something be done to stop this false and surely illegal company from distressing innocent people.

I have received a "second attempt" (never received a first attempt) to collect on a debt originally from Verizon from this AFNI, Inc. They are offering me a settlement offer of half the amount due if I pay now. I do not owe the bill and will be contacting my attorney!

Afni, Inc. has been harassing me about an 8 year old phone bill they say I never paid. The address, phone number and dates are wrong. I never had a phone through the company they state as the original creditor, nor did I have a phone in my name on the dates they provide, and the phone number was wrong. I also did not live at the address they claim. After telling them the information they have is wrong, upon requests for more information they submitted suspicious looking "bills" and just modified the phone number and addresses. (They actually just used the a false address they had previously submitted from a city I never lived in and used it as a new address that used a city I had lived in.) I told them in writing that the bill was not mine, but they continue to harass me.

I posted the following as a comment to another complaint about AFNI but, after seeing so many other complaints and comments, I thought I should repost it as a complaint so more people would see it. Whatever you do, DO NOT pay the debt and DO NOT even give them the impression that you might consider paying it.

In late September 2007, I received a letter from AFNI addressed to my husband for a supposed debt to Contel South. We had never dealt with Contel South before, and my first thought was that someone else had created the debt in my husband's name. A few days later, I received another one addressed to me, also showing the creditor as Contel South and showing a different phone number, so I started researching. I found that Contel South was connected to GTE, which in turn became Verizon. A then realized that the phone numbers were legitimate numbers that we had more than 10 years ago through GTE, but we owed nothing on either of them. The P.O. Box on our letters was the same as some other I've read here, 3427, but they came from Bloomington, IL and I've seen other comments here that stated they came from other states with the same P.O. Box.

I knew that it was a scam so, in each case, I went to their website and used their online contact form to dispute the debt, and simply said that it must be an error on the part of the original creditor, hoping that they would send me something else to use against them. Within three days of doing this, I received a form letter from AFNI for each case, enclosing a photocopy of a single page from an old bill, which looked identical to to the bill format that GTE used to use. In the meantime, I did some more research and found that, in most states, the statute of limitations on a debt of this type, even if it were legitimate, was three years.

Once I received the second letter in each case, I sent a letter to AFNI by certified mail with a return receipt to prove that they received it. Both letters I sent were identical except for the specifics regarding the amount, account numbers, dates, etc. Here is what I said:

"To Whom It May Concern:

Responsive to your letter dated October 9, 2007 (copy enclosed), I must reiterate that this debt is hereby disputed. As stated in my communication submitted through the AFNI website on October 8, 2007 (copy enclosed), when the referenced account was closed at my request more than 10 years ago, the account was paid in full and there was no balance due. Further, the photocopy of the bill dated October 13, 1997 enclosed with your letter referenced above confirms the zero balance. The notation on that bill referring to the amount of $97.22 as “UNCOLLECTIBLE (WRITEOFF-ACTIVITY)” is quite obviously an error on the part of the original creditor.

However, after sending the above referenced communication through your website, I contacted an attorney and verified that, even if the debt had been legitimate, which it obviously was not, the statute of limitations for debts of this type through Virginia courts is three years. Therefore, the statute of limitations for collection of this debt expired more than seven years ago.

Accordingly, I hereby request that you take the following actions regarding this debt:

1. Please contact any credit reporting agencies to whom you have reported this alleged debt, and inform them that I am disputing the debt; and

2. Please also forward a copy of this letter to the creditor who alleges that I owe the debt at issue, and inform them that I am disputing the debt.

Except as specifically outlined herein, I am hereby requesting that you immediately cease all contact with me about the alleged debt. Any further contact should be in strict conformity with the FDCPA. Specifically, it should be limited to informing me that you have ceased collection efforts on the alleged debt, or stating that you are taking a specific action in relation to the alleged debt such as commencing a collection lawsuit. Obviously, I would raise the statute of limitations as an absolute bar to any lawsuit.

Any further contact should be made in writing, and should be submitted to my home address by mail."

Regardless of whether or not your debt is legitimate, this letter should take care of it because it shows them that you are more informed than they thought, and there is no way that they will show their face in court. I received my return receipts and have heard nothing further from them, and I don't expect to. But, if I should hear from them in the future, I have copies of everything as proof, (including the name of their employee that signed for the both of the letters) and, if I have to, I will file a harassment lawsuit. The most important thing to remember is to dispute it from the beginning and never, ever give them the impression that you might be willing to pay or are even considering paying the debt because, as I understand it, the statute of limitations would then start over and they would probably harass you for another 3 years.

I just received a collection notice from Afni, Inc for a Verizon bill for $271.44 for a telephone number that I never had. When I called and spoke to the rep named Natasha, she stated several addresses that I never lived at but seemed to have the last four digits of my correct social security number. She instructed me to go to their website and complete a fraud affidavit online. After reading several complaints about this company I am really scared now. I work in the financial services industry and see customers who are victims of Identity Theft all the time. Something should be done by Verizon and Consumer Affairs to stop Afni, Inc. from victimizing others.

I received a letter from AFNI stating that I owed AT&T Long Distance a balance of $76.12, but AFNI was allowing me to get off the hook for half that amount.

To my knowledge, I never had a long distance account with AT&T, but I decide to call AT%T to verify (sometimes this stuff can slip your mind). AT&T had no records and said my account was just fine. I went to 3 different people in AT&T--all of them said the same thing and had no idea what this AFNI letter was about.

So I called AFNI and asked for more information on this. She said it was a delinquent account from 1993? They gave my parents address (I never had my own account there).

When I asked the operator to give me more details, she said, 'what kind of details do you want?' I said, 'Understand, that if you expect anyone to write you a check, you are going to need to provide more details, such as the original phone number, etc.' She had nothing more than an address I was at in 1993. I then asked her if they were going to put a mark on my credit rating and she said 'no'. She said they purchase these accounts from creditors and try to collect for half.

So the letter is crafted in a way that makes it look like you will get a bad mark if you don't pay up, but in actuality, all they are doing is making a basic statement about the laws of creditors in general. A very sneaky company. This woman sounded as if she had already had a million conversations just like this one.

I have just received a second collection notice from AFNI, Inc. This second one is a "Settlement Offer"; giving me the option of paying half the original bogus overdue account. This so-called creditor is Verizon California, Inc. Like everyone else who has posted here, this bill is 100% fake. The website "www.afnicollections.com" is also all wrong. One of things that's a dead giveaway about that is the VeriSign logo on the site. If you hover over the logo and watch the bottom of your screen, nothing happens. If the logo was legitimate, it would show a web address in the bottom of the screen for VeriSign. This is all outrageous!

You cannot complain to the Attorney General of your state, either. This is mail fraud, and as such, is reportable to the United States Postal Service. DO NOT contact AFNI, Inc. To do so somehow gives their claim against you some kind of legitimacy.

Instead, go to the following address:

http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/MailFraudComplaint.htm

Copy and paste into your browser address bar. You can file a complaint this way. Be sure to ask for confirmation that your complaint has been received. It will take several weeks, but you will receive notification by mail. If enough complaints are registered, the USPS is far more likely to investigate these rip-off artists! Do it now!

well first of all i had gotten a bill stating that i had service in the name of Pamela Gabel well that had been my maiden name & i have been married for about 13 years. the company should have asked the person who was using my name for more description of who they had been. I have been trying to get my twin sister for fraud because, i have found out that she has been the one using my information quite a few times and i really don't appreciate being the one fault for what she has done. First of all she has lived in Clyde, Ohio quite a few times in apartments. I haven't lived over there and i dont like being the one getting blamed for something that i did not even do.

This fraud should stop. I don't understand why BBB said they are in satisfactory. Where are the justice? I got a letter saying I owe version (which bought GTE company) 300 in 1999. I called Afni and according to what I get from them, the address and the time frame that I have the GTE phone service didn't match. I didn't live in that address during that time. I don't think I have long distance service at all. I never knew GTE phone company. That's one red flag.

Second: It has been 8 years, never receive any bill or any notice from any phone company.

Third: The guy trying me to pay 175 to settle and close the account. I argue down to $25 and after battling a while, they agree to take $25 and I have to provide them my bank account info or credit card #. I am not an idiot and not going to pay, off course.
This is very frustrating and harassing to me. These guys definitely should get punished!

I received my second such notice from Afni, the first one having come a year or two ago. Like the one that arrived just yesterday, it's for a bogus Verizon charge (bogus because we've never been Verizon customers) for a phone number we've never had. Last time I called and spoke with someone who initially gave the impression of "oops, we've been caught red-handed in this scam" but then agreed to remove the charge. Now I've got to call and deal with those bozos again.

I received a collection notice that I owed $136.01 for an unpaid bill in 1997 for a Verizon Northwest, Inc account. The telephone number was not even my number from that timeframe ANFI says that there was an unpaid bill. Further, my telephone service provider was not Verizon during that time. In reviewing my canceled checks all monthly payments were made to my service provider, GTE, during the timeframe in which AFNI claims that there was an unpaid bill.

This is clearly a SCAM operation and should be filed with the Attorney General of Illinois consumer protection division as the AFNI Collection Notice came from that state with a copy to your state's Attorney General. Federal telecommunications authorities should also be notified.

A few days ago, Id decided to purchase a vehicle and was told I had negative Item posted on my credit report from AFNI, INC. To my surprise I called them up and informed them that this is an error and remove the false entry form my report. I was accused of blaming other for my poor paying habit. Can you believe that S_IT ? I always monitor my credit and check my score to ensure it’s over 775. I wouldn’t compromise my credit for a mere 200 dollars. They are so rude and unprofessional and I will fight this tell it gets resolved.

Afni is also going after me also for a verizon bill, how weird is that? For an outrageous amount of 529.79. What is hilarious about the location and phone number they are using is in another state that i used to live at in 1997 and the bill was for 2017. I moved to Nevada in 1997 and they are saying that it is from 2017. I don't think so, I have been living in Nevada since 1997. This company needs to be investigated. This company is going to make too many mistakes and find out they chose a person that can have close people that are in law enforcement check this out.

This company has sent repeated collection notices to me regarding a 7 year old bill allegedly from Verizon Select Services Inc. for $178.94. I've called Verizon and verified that I do not owe any amount for this account, and that the account was closed by Verizon and never sent to collections. When I called Afni, Inc., "Stacia" told me repeatedly that Verizon was wrong, that they have a statement from Verizon requesting that Afni collect money from me, and that whoever I spoke to at Verizon has no idea what they're talking about because they can't access my old account anymore since it's been purchased by Afni. This is fraudulent.

this acct is not mine; it's for Dish Network that I never had at this time. I also never lived at the address it was associated with. I disputed it once when listed through ER Solutions and it was removed from my credit report. Then appeared again under AFNI, INC. I cannot find a physical address for this so that I can write them and when I disputed online thru Experian, AFNI reported back as this was a correct billing. They are lying through their very souls. IT is causing my credit rating to be lower. I am at my wits end. Cannot figure out what else to do. This is not my account and I wish companies like this who just won't do things honestly can be held accountable for ruining someones credit. I am really angry. It wouldn't have been removed the 1st time had it not been invalid. Any ideas what to do next?

Three years after Cingular sent me a paid in full invoice with a thank you, I get a nasty note from afni.Inc. The letter said I had an outstanding Cingular bill for $299 that was three years old. I called afni and spoke with the rudest person I have ever had the misfortune to speak with. I wanted to get to the bottom of what I was certain was a mistake. He won’t say anything except that if I did not make a partial payment immediately he was going to trash my credit. I was polite but firm, I wasn’t going to pay anything until I was certain I owed it.

BIG MISTAKE. That heaping pile of parrot droppings at anfi slammed my credit, most likely the moment I hung up. However, I did not know that at the time. I immediately called Cingular. They admitted that they had screwed up by sending a final bill, one they had not told me about on the phone, to my son’s college address SIX months after he’d graduated. I paid on condition that they call off anfi. The polite, but apparently clueless CS Rep, assured me that Cingular would do the right thing. WRONG!

BOTTOM LINE: Even though I have never missed a payment or been late on any payment EVER. AMEX lowered my credit limit without bothering to tell me my cards were over the limit. For the first time in my long life, I had my cards refused at a merchant to my deep embarrassment.

AFNI put a false account of $665 dollars on my credit report!

I require a signed, dated copy of this account. Thank you, Glenda Hasler

They are flakes... I filed a consumer complaint with the State Attorney for Illinois, that is where they re.. State Attorney of your home state, Federal Trades Commission, BBB, Postal inspector using USPS to defraud public. They tried the same thing with me.
i did what i was telling you above. Afni replied to my complain with BBB... look what their reply email is saying... but don't laugh!
(i did... and wet me knickers):

June 27, 2017

Dispute Resolution
Case Manager/Business Practices
BBB Complaint Department
bbb@heart.net

RE: Mr. Tim Celasun Case # [protected]
Afni, Inc. Account [protected]-01; Verizon Account [protected]

This is in response to your letter to Afni, Inc., regarding the above referenced matter. We appreciate your assistance in bringing our consumer's concerns to our attention. In that regard, on or about March 2017, AT&T notified Afni the above referenced account remained due and owing from Mr.XXXXXXX. This account was established on March 1, 2017 and was considered delinquent by the creditor on October 24, 2017. The service address for the account was his still-current address.

let me explain it to you--not everyone is as smart as they are LOL

It says on or about March 2017 AT&T notified Afni ... an account will be established by Mr. C on March 1, 2017 and will be
considered delinquent by the creditor (AT&T) on October 24, 2017>

How in hell is that possible... I don't know... but look on top of their letter, ...it says Verizone which i never has... and with this
crap in their hand, went and flagged the credit files... NON of the accounts mentioned here not, never was my account...

That doesn't work here. You have to send it to them.

2008, are you still alive, or did you get an education and a real job? The Federal Consent Order signed by their Leader proves everything the writers have said here. There is more. They were Hacked. Instead of notifying the victims of their Failed IT Security, they sat on it and caused further harm to the as individuals. Inter-State Fraud ? Tell us more about "Identity Theft" silly man and don't forget to capitalize every pointless word you write, just like a true drama queen. It's not enough to seek justice or prove ID Theft. The burden is on THEM to prove the debts they claim, and all the 3rd worlders calling on all the Fake Numbers will never change that. Making money off them needs to be exposed as what it is, Racketeering After The Fact. But it's not just them. It's their "clients" that will be exposed, they know their illegal methods, and it just so happens, Attorneys are winding that clock. Class Action? Let the games begin.

https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_afni-inc_consent-order_2020-11.pdf

Exactly right, the fraudulent behavior of these companies is the "PROBLEM", not honest people who because they are NORMAL, ETHICAL, and INTELLIGENT would not only question such ignorant conduct and blatant disregard for the law by these deceitful companies, but EXPECT it be stopped! How do you stop any crime, by telling others, reporting it to the authorities and holding those who are responsible "accountable", exactly what these people are doing. Keep on reporting to your state attorney generals office and the FTC people, it is time the people and legal authorities in this country start standing up against parasitical companies such as these. They need to get off their lazy rearends and WORK for a living..con artists belong in prison, not on the street..crime is crime, white collar or blue.

I will take the uptight collection agent's advice. Complainants on this board can hold AFNI accountable. We have ample evidence to pursue a class-action against AFNI and the thinly-veiled association of cellular carriers that keeps AFNI in business. Let's make a difference and hold AFNI and the telecoms accountable for their flagrant disregard of FDCPA and consumer rights.

Who knows? Maybe AFNI will be driven out of business and a shady collection agent may actually find a vocation that will change his outlook.

Peace/Karma/Pay Forward

No one cares what you "think"! Neither you nor the "investigative" company you supposedly work for have any right to determine anything based on your gut feelings or assumptions. We all know what assumptions lead to, and you are living proof.

You have no idea what other steps people have taken before or after they gather here to complain about an entity who uses deception and unethical practices to harass and make themselves a general nuisance to people that they know do not owe the debt they are trying to collect.

Your lack of grammar or cohesive statements is probably a testament to your thought processes and lack of intelligence. The "investigative" company you claim to work for is probably as unethical as most. You claim to be highly trained, but you don't sound trainable. They hire people like you who are too intimidated or too unintelligent to question their unethical practices. You, and they, are a boil on the butt of humanity, living on the troubles of innocent or unfortunate people. You sound more like a barely trained monkey. Every fact here "sounds guilty" to you because of who you are. You probably can't trust anyone because you yourself are not worthy of trust.

Get over yourself, try to get an education, and find a job with purpose. I am sure there is a community college or trade school somewhere that will accept even you. While it may be too late to change what nature gave you as far as intelligence, it is never too late to change your standards.

Yesterday 11/08/2017 I received a collection notice from Afni Inc in reference to a disconnect bill from Verizon in 1998 in Maryland. They informed me the phone was connected in March 1998 and was disconnected in November 1998. The address was just down the block from where I did live in Maryland, but I lived there only from Sept 1984 to June 1986. They told me "just pay the bill". When I asked them to send me any documentation they had stating it was really me he told me that I HAD THE BURDEN OF PROOF that this was not me. At that point I contacted Verizon and they have no record of me owing them anything, but if it was sold to Afni they would have ALL of my records. I again called Afni -- now the scary part -- when I asked them for the last 4 digit of my SS # they were right. When all of this phone connection and disconnecting took place in 1998 I had already been living in upstate NY for 6 years. I move to North Carolina in 2017 and am now just hearing about this bogus collection attempt.

It appears that Identity Theft is here somewhere. I have contacted the Credit Bureaus and FCC to report this Identity Theft.
After reading all of the complaints against Afni it makes me wonder if they are in any way involved.

Any help you could offer to help resolve this problem would be greatly appreciated. I don't know what else to do.

AFNI are con artists - identity thieves...

I also received a "COLLECTION NOTICE" from these idiots. They claim I owe MCI $104.12. Never had MCI. I have tried to contact them to no avail. I will be calling my attorney tomorrow.

They get names from old phone books and some are 25 years old.
Total fraud.

Recently pulled my free credit report and credit score, the other night, to see what my score had looked like. My report should have shown no negative entries, just an open credit card account, which is in good standing.
To my surprise, there was a negative entry from AFNI Collections. I further investigated my credit report, as I was quite shocked as to what I would be reflecting negative on my credit report. It was for a Qwest account, for $142.00. I have not had Qwest service since 1999, it is now 2008 almost 2009. This bill has been paid in full years ago. It states that this account has been past due since 2008. I have disputed this entry on my credit report and hopefully it will be removed soon.
Also, check out budhibbs.com. We will be writing a cease and desist letter, as well as contacting the Il Attorney General and adding a complaint to there long list of complaints already filed against AFNI.
This certainly is the last thing I need on my report. I am in the process of buying my first home and certainly do not need this affecting my chances of getting the loan.

I just got a bill for $141 from afni for Qwest. Hmmm, that is funny because I DO NOT HAVE QWEST as my telephone service. I thought I had been the victim of identity theft, but after investigating the phone number they provided, Quest does not even have any record of that phone number.

I will be filing a complaint right away.

This company is a scam. Do NOT pay the bill, and do not worry about any credit ratings by this company. If they do put a bad credit rating on you, you can sue them for $1, 000, 000 or more.

I didn't realize they were fraudulent, sent them a check. They changed the amount to 143.43 instead of 43.43. They are calling to harrass me because their doctoring of my check did not go through.