We received a phone call from First Source Advantage. They claimed that we owed $515 to our bank for overdraft protection advances. We knew this was not possible. They refused to give us any information as to whom at our bank or how they had received this request from our bank to collect from us. They were VERY nasty on the phone. They refused to tell us who we could call either at the bank or in their company to get it straightened out. They simply wanted us to pay them. At no time did they even entertain the possibility that we were telling the truth and that this must be a mistake. They hung up the phone and said we would be hearing more from them.
We knew we didn't owe it. We called the local branch of our bank. They confirmed that we did not now, nor did we ever, owe them any money. They suggested that we contact their Fraud Department, which we did. The Fraud Department of the bank stayed on the phone with me while I called First Source back. I told them I had verified with the bank that we owed no money; I also told them that I had a rep from the bank on the line with us.
THEN the FSA employee asked to verify the last four digits of our soc sec number. THEN, he says "sorry, I have conferred with my supervisor and the soc security number doesn't match so it must be another person". Just like that. He said that FSA would straighten it out and we wouldn't be hearing any more from them. I told him that the bank representative on the phone with us was from the Fraud Department and that if they didn't fix this, we would pursue legal remedies.
Your credit and your credit rating are too important to treat lightly. I think that collection agencies should HAVE to tell you who/how you can verify the debt that they are trying to collect. And, they should have to give you something IN WRITING saying that they made a mistake when they screw up. We are still very upset about this incident.
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