Afni

Afni Inc. alleges that i owe ATT $80.00 dollars which afni claims ATT has placed this acc with them for collections.
ABSOLUTE LIE!
After getting a better deal from a local cable company (Time Warner) for a service bundle of cable TV, digital phone service
and high speed internet, i took the offer, which involved transferring the ph service from ATT to cable service comp.
At the time of of transfer acc balance at ATT was $0.00
ATT continued billing me for four month after the transfer. Each month i got in touch with ATT just to hear them telling me
how sorry they are. i should not be concerned with the bills because they are taken care of... EACH moth.. for four months...

After four months, i got tired of playing their game, thinking they would have to get their their heads out of their butts to do
their accounting, i electronically sent them $80.00.
They caught it. within weeks i received an ATT refund check for the amount i sent them with a note saying i must have made a mistake since i didn't owe... etc, (ATT Ref Ck #[protected] amount: $80.00 issue date 07/01 /2008)
Wouldn't one think its done? heh, heh, heh, he... we are dealing with ATT, don't you know...
A month later, i received a collections notice from Money Control, informing me they are collecting for ATT.
I sent them the info i had ck number the date the amount and asked " if i owe money to ATT why are they giving me a refund
after i sent it? which evidently made sense, after checking to see if i am telling them a story or...
A month and a half or so later i received a collection notice from Collection Bureau of America, who bought the bill from
the first dip... Of course they received the same info, the ck number etc... The third came from Bay Area Credit Service LLC
after getting the same info to check and seeing nothing to collect who promptly sold the bill, after harassing me a bit...
to our friends at CBCS. who tagged some more money on the original "debt", and receiving the same info wrote back to tell me
they would settle the "bill" for only $43.50! Now there is a collector with a heart...
That brings us to Afni inc. they did like the others, sent me a collections notice, i sent them the same info, and...
About a week ago i became aware of some changes... on files at credit reporting agencies, Afni alleging that ATT placed the
account for collections with them BUT... WAIT! I am going to post (cut and paste) their email to BBB after I filed a complaint
with them (state attorney of Illinois, state attorney of california where i live, FTYC and bunch of boards as well)

AFNI's reply to BBB/ central Illinois:

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,

The communication through the Better Business Bureau, as well as his simultaneous multiple emails to various people within Afni, is the first indication that Mr. Celasun disputes the account, despite an initial notice being mailed to his current address on April 22, 2011. In response, I have requested an investigation and validation to be mailed directly to the consumer. This may take up to 30 days. He is welcome to manage his account online at www.afnicollecitons.com or call a Consumer Relations Specialist at [protected]. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Lisa Anderson
Compliance Manager
Afni, Inc.
404 Brock Drive

OOOOOOO Lisa, Lisa, Lisa... How did that go again? "on or about March 2001, AT&T notified Afni the above referenced account remained due and owing from Mr. Celasun. This account was established on March 1, 2008 and was considered delinquent by the creditor on October 24, 2008. The service address for the account was his still-current address.

Looks like Afni is a tat confused... how, just how did ATT deemed appropriate to contact Afni "on or about March 2001
an acc established on October 24 2008?

See, people what i have to deal with...?
When I got the wind of it they are claiming i owe money to ATT but should pay them... but weren't too pleased with the info,
a particulars of refund check, etc. and in retaliation flagging my credit files with "collections" notices... as I mentioned above,
with the State Attorney's Office, California, State Attorney's Office Illinois, FTC What they are trying to do is legal? HAH! They are claiming ATT referred the alleged acc at alleged amount TO AFNI on 2011. ( like they contacted afni "on or about year 2001 for an acc established 2008) Total falsification of records which i have copies of. See what they are trying to do? By claiming without shred of evidence ATT placed the said bill with Afni.
I am an old man. i am deaf cannot use phone for voice communication. I have worked hard to stay on top of bills THEIRS
IS THE ONLY COLLECTIONS NOTICE ON MY FILES AT CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES...EVER!
I will pursue this matter, will post for all to see what they are about.

Thank you.

for collections (ATT DID NOT. They placed it with "Money Control" ) they are trying to extend the life of the alleged debt.

I am a forgery victim in the state of california for forgery with a bill I cannot clear out of my credit report with t-mobile for 389.04. I have filed a complaint with the ftc and sent in appriopiate paperwork incuding a police report and filed affidavits with this organization. Over 80% of the case has been cleared including the credit report. The case started in 2003 with 2 final bills left to clear out . I am fond of the company's but not the situation.

I have received a paper in the mail from Afni Inc stating that I have a balance due totaling $214.70. It states that the original collector is Contel of the South Inc and this is their attempt to collect a past debt. They are offering that if I pay half they will consider my account settled. It says that the disconnected phone number the balance is attached to is [protected]. I don't have that number nor do I ever recall having that number in the past. I have never even heard of Contel of the South Inc. I am afraid that this is a scam. I tried to call the number they gave me on the letter and the options the automated person gave me are check your balance, pay your balance, and speak to a representative. I tried to speak to a rep however I waited on the line in silence for over ten minutes without anyone responding. I have looked a little bit online to find a lot of other people with the same exact problem. I have found that this is affecting people's credit and I sincerely hope that you can help before it affects to many more!

I have been contacted by this "company" and offered a settlement of half of the bill (200.76, asked to pay 11.38) that I owed for Verizon North Inc. Smells fishy since this is NOT the collection agency that was dealing with this (true) debt. (my sister was divorced and I got her a phone in my name and she honestly forgot to pay the bill when she moved again) and we had no idea about this debt until I was attempting to buy my house and checked my credit report and I contacted Verizon MYSELF to get this debt resolved and they sent me to their collection agency, which was NOT AFNI!

I recieved this settlement offer from AFNI on 7/7/2009 and I was staying with friends at the time and it came to their address in my name, how they got that information, I have no clue. I did not move into my new house until 7/14/2009 so this was fishy from the start.

We got our tax returns so I was settling debt and when tried to go to the website listed on the collection it didn't exist, and upon a google search I found this site, and thank goodness!

BE CAREFUL out there!

I hope people do realize that by law a company cannot attempt to collect a debt that is over 7 years old. If you are being billed for a debt that is older than that, the most likely scenario is that it is fraud.

These people lie! Why aren't these people stopped? They said I owed AT&T or Bellsouth 74.31 from an account in 2003. I have NEVER had a phone company account in my name for AT&T, Bellsouth or any other company.

The interesting thing is that they said they would "settle" the account for $25.00. How many unsuspecting people would think maybe I should just pay this so I won't have to worry... it's only $25.

Well, $25 here and $25 there adds up quickly and easily become $1000's and that falls into the felony range. Why isn't law enforcement doing something? Judging by the other complaints I'm obviously not the first!

My name is Kimberly Utz and the collections letter that we had recievced was in my 14 years old son's name. His name is Nathaniel Moore, but they have it spelled Nathanial Moore. I looked up the phone number on switchboard and it is a active number and I also called the number and the answering machine came on and it said to leave a message for Bennits. the collection letter said that the number had been disconnected for some time. And switchboard said that the number was a landline number and was under Verizon company. The number disconnected is [protected] and that number is in Madison, Indiana and we live in Carrollton, Ky. We have lived here since 1996. Nathaniel was born in Madison but we moved by to Carrollton when he was 8 months old. He was born in 1995. If you need anymore information please called me @ [protected] or [protected].
Thank you very much and please help,
Kimberly Utz and Nathaniel Moore

I received a collections letter stating that I owe T-Mobile $690.04 and that I need to pay or else they will report me to the Credit Bureau. I knew immediately this was bogus because I have been a client of another wireless provider for the past more than 10 years and I have never been remissed on payment of bills. Should I even bother to respond to this?

My name is Victoria A Morgan. I have not had an account with Sprint PCS since 2005. I at that time was n ot the primary account holder. The Bill was paid in full in 2005. We have our receipts. Any further harrassment in reguards to this SCAM of Afni Collections will result in a bitter lawsuit, inwhich you Afni Inc. will lose. I have already contacted the Attorney Generals Office in both states, Illinois and California. Any other contact with me other than a letter of apology, again as ststed above will result in a lawsuit. Thank You for Time, Victoria A Morgan phone number [protected]

I received a bill from them from 2017 for 35.00. I sent them a letter like this one http://www.creditinfocenter.com/forms/sampleletter9.txte5c
In return I got a letter from them telling me they made a mistake and they will take no further action. It was all very simple and cost me about $5 to sent the letter return receipt request. I realize I was lucky they only wanted $35.00 from me. I almost paid them just to get rid of them. It was all very simple in the end. And I filed a complaint with my State Attorney General and the FTC. By law you have 30 days to dispute any charges. The only way to keep the rats in the sewer where they belong is to fight back.

Buying "zombie" and "false" debt from AT&T, MCI, and AT&T Mobility! We also need to file complaints with the companies that are selling our information! Accordiing the the FBI's definition of money laundering, these cases would seem to apply, here, because most of the monies they are collecting are NOT going to the original companies to begin with! Check it out on the FBI's website! Also I've reported the companies that have sold our information to the Attorney General's Office, Georgia State Consumer Protection Agency, The Governor of Georgia, and to Peter King, director of Homeland Security. Who knows who and where OUR information is being sold to! This is real scary! I've also e-mailed Nancy Polski, Speaker of the House, demanding that something be done about this! I would highly suggest we all take similar action! It may help change things to help secure our personal information! Good Luck everyone, our country is going where, and what's with the handbasket?
Katrina
Macon, GA

I recently received a letter from a collection agency called afnicollections stating that I owe an outrageous amount of $893.65. Now I know for damn sure I don't owe any money to any phone company in any amount. I tried calling this company to find out about these allegations, but could not get through. After trying to call this number all day, I decided to go to this website to see how else I could get through. after seeing all these complaints of fraud charges/collections I am convinced that this letter is bogus. shut these guys down!

Wow! I really thought I was alone with my AFNI issues until I see all these reports. I've been monitoring my credit reports almost weekly for the past several months due to being on a contract to buy a new home. Back in March I see a collections account reported by Afni on my credit reports, which I have no clue on. Never even got a letter until weeks later, stating that I owed them something and I had 30 days to dispute or it would be put on my credit reports. THEY ALREADY HAD IT ON MY CREDIT REPORT before the date listed on the letter. So I write them a certified letter requesting to validate the debt before the 30 days... no response. I still give these idiots 2 more months and send them a second letter... NOTHING... I again send a 3rd letter 2 more months later and of course NOTHING. I disputed this account to the credit bureaus and it came back as verified. I am now getting ready to send a letter to the credit bureaus to request which methods they used to verify this bogus account and I am sending them proof of all the letters I have sent to AFNI. This is outrageous that these people can get away with this. I am about to loose my house because this is not getting resolved. But rest assured that if that happens I am filling a charges.

What is it with CINGULAR I just got a bill from this collection saying I owe Cigular $65.95 but, afni Balance due $75.84. I had Cigular about 8 years ago I had settled out. Then year later a different collection angcy saying I owed them money it seem every year or so collections are saying I owe them money which now AT&T own them now. I;m getting really tired of these collections. The bad thing about this they like to wait a few years and scare you then you can't find your proof cause it was missed placed then when you call the company you had paid to the can't open your file. How can you put, a stop to this hassle? Thanks, Paula

I was contacted by Identity Guard Service about a change in my credit report. They gave me the info on the company giving the change along with their phone number to reach them. When I called Afni the recording tells you that they are a collection agency and they are looking for info on a debt. When I got to a real person she was very nice but was looking for info on me. I gave her the number I had gotten for an account from Identity guard but she said it was not the hole number. Told her it said I owe $447.00 to a Factoring company, no other name. I had given her my name, address, old address and again she wanted my social security number. They had nothing on their computer about me. I asked how you can put something on my account without knowing who I am. I told her I had very good credit and it looks like a scam to get money from anyone that they want to by putting something on their credit report to make it look bad. Now she tells me to contact Equifax to get the right number with my credit report. I received the report Afni did put it my report. I called Afni gave the man my name and the account number on from the credit report an was told it is not the right number again an to call Equifax back to find the right number. He again tried to find me in their computers file but still could not find my name. He was helpful in checking but nothing was found.

I called Equifax an talked to a woman there. Gave her the confirmation number of the report they sent me and she checked my credit report. Nothing from Afin, Inc was there now. They had removed it from my record.

This company, Afni, Inc, looks to out to make you jump through hoops or pay them money for nothing.

Hello all,

Any suggestions for what I should include in my second response letter to Afni?

Here is all my info:

Around 2/11/2008 I received a Collection Notice from Afni, Inc. (PO Box 3427, Bloomington, IL [protected]).

They were asking for $81.11 from Verizon Select Services. Inc. This was for a phone number that I have not had since around 2000, which was closed and paid off at the time.

Research online immediately revealed a volume of complaints of fraudulent bills from Afni.

I didn't bother to call them. I wrote a letter saying the following:

1) I dispute the validity of the debt.
2) I've never had an account with Verizon nor have I ever been contacted to pay any sort of balance with them
3) The FTC and Fair Debt Collections Practices Act prohibit debt collection by a third party after statute of limitations (4 years in California, 5 years in Illinois, where I used to reside). Therefore, this debt cannot be legally be requested or reported to credit reporting agencies.
4) I request immediate cease and desist of all contact with me unless the original creditor has contacted me first with a certifited letter.
5) Afni must file a letter with all credit agencies that I have disputed the claim of this billing

In retrospect, I should have just disputed the validity of the debt, cited the statute of limitations and requested a cease and desist - Best NEVER to even remotely imply you'd be willing to pay bill.

Also, I CC'ed the VP of Afni Inc, the Attorney Generals for Illinois and California, and the Federal Trade Commission in DC.

---

About 11 days later, I received the following curious response:

"This letter is to inform you that in accordance with 15 USC 1692c(c) we are acknowledging your request to cease communication with you regarding this debt.

Per your request, we have validated the account with the original creditor, including account number and balance due. The name of the original creditor is Verizon. The original creditor's address is 1135 E. Chocolate Ave, Hershey, PA 18033.

This letter is from a debt collector. Consumers have the right to inspect their credit.

Afni, Inc.
404 Brock Drive
PO Box 3427
Bloomington, IL [protected]"

...ALSO included was an empty, blank return envelope, and a "bill" dated April 16, 1999.

...The "bill" said the following:

"05483- BILLING FOR GTE LONG DISTANCE
COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES
BILLING FOR GTE LONG DISTANCE
ADDING AND CHANGING SERVICE
[protected]
SERVICES PREVIOUSLY BILLED BUT NOT USED
GTELD INTOUCH 24 DAYS @ 3.00/MO 2.40-FS Q
0407
CUSTOMER SERVICE REMOVAL ORDER [protected]
GTELD INTOUCH CREDIT 24 DAYS @ 3.00/MO 2.4 FS Q
SUBTOTAL .00
TOTAL .00
TOTAL FOR GTE LONG DISTANCE CHARGES .00

--

I laughed when I saw this. They say they "acknowledge" the FDCPA (which I had cited in my letter). Yet they won't say "we made a mistake, never mind" (hey, ya never know...). Instead, they still vaguely slip in a bill, hoping that I'll still pay them - which I will not.

I'm not sure what entirely to make of this "bill" - anyone can fabricate a bill. And this one seems intentionally confusing - it says I owe total ".00" and yet my final bill is $81.11...?

So now, I have to write them back a second time and reiterate that they can't ask for collection on this "bill", per statute of limitations, and they must cease contact with me and confirm that my account is closed.

------> Does anyone out there have any suggestions for other things to include in my reponse? Thanks for your prompt insights.

I have no doubt that I am obliged to pay such a fraudulent balance and that I'm protected by the law. I've pulled all three of credit agencies of my report and they are all perfect, with nothing reported from Afni. So far, the most annoying thing has been the giant waste of time.

Good luck to you all!

Susan
Los Angeles

I received 3 letters from this so called collection agency. I was a fraud victim in the pass since 1994. I explain to them that I did not open these account with some telephone company back in the 90, I indicated to them that I can proof my address in last 15 years, does not match there records. They harassed me, so I paid for one account, just so I can get them off my back. Now I received another one. Which they told me I could dispute the account by there so called Website, which I thought I did. Now I happen to read the comments from your web site and I am wondering are they fraud as well. I need for some one to help with this, I have been trying to clean up my credit from the pass fraud problem. Now this company is trying to collect something from the las 12years. I NEED TO KNOW IS THIS LEGAL.