I just got my bill in the mail from AFNI claiming that I owe them $400 for a Bell Atlantic bill from 1998. I called AFNI and the first gentleman was very rude to me. I told him that I was never going to pay for a bill that Bell Atlantic or Verizon had never sent directly to me and that i would need to confirm it with Verizon first. The man then told me that it needed to be paid and that he would write it down and unwilling to pay.

I just recently called them back and another gentleman, very nice man, said that because it was so old that they would reduce it by half to about $200.00. He also mentioned the name of an ex-boyfriend of mine was also apparently on the account as well. I told them I would call them back on Friday after I talked to me ex.

I called Verizon Communication to ask them about this and, sure enough, I was told that they sold everything about my account to AFNI. So Verizon has no record of my account and has no information about it. I was told that Verizon Communications only holds on to accounts as far back as 7 years. All accounts before that have been sold to AFNI to collect on, along with any information associated with those accounts. I think Verizon needs to rethink their practices. How hard is it to at least keep a record of the customers name and how much they do in fact owe for the account.

So it does seem legit and, unfortunately, we will have to pay for it.

It still seems a bit fishy to me but at least they brought the amount down to something affordable.

My parents received a letter from AFNI (from Charter comm.) about a week ago. My father called me and gave me all the information from this letter. The weird thing about all this is that my parents have moved in to a new house since I left the house, and they do not receive any other mail for me. When I called Charter they said they didn’t have my account; which seems to be the classic sign that the account or file was sold to some trash collection agency.

I called AFNI and I tried to be nice about this whole thing since niceness usually gets you a bit further but with these guys it wasn’t true… right off the bat they started out rude and were not willing to answer any of my questions, they instead wanted me to give them the classic personal info which I refused to share. They said the debt was owed from an address that I had never heard of. I have a very common first and last name, so I asked them how they got my parents new address which they would not answer. It seems to be that I’m not the person they were looking for and instead of doing some research they just looked for all the people with my same name in Fort Worth TX and sent them all letters including me which is weird because I have never lived at my parents new house.

I will be filing a complaint and I plan on doing a search on the internet of my name and calling all the other people with my name which will take some time, but if my theory is true they could be in some deep doodoo.

Anyone owing money to these people do not pay them, once you pay them you open a can of worms. For example if they say you owe $1000 and they settle with you for lets say… $100 that’s you admitting that you owed $1000 and once they get their $100 they will try to get the other $900. If you’re not the person that owes money but they contact you please file a quick complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. This will take an hour of your time but it’s worth the time and can help take a crappy business out.

I got a phone call from this company telling me that I owed a Bell Atlantic Phone Bill for a landline phone from approx. 7 years ago for $379.32. They told me it was mine because it had my name on the bill and what is funny, I never lived at that address at that time! They sent me a bill recently asking to settle for half the amount. I will not pay this because it's not mine. I believe they are fraudulent from reading all the other reports from people that have dealt with them. I have checked my credit report and its fine! They should be checked for identity theft because they are problem doing this to many people!

Afini Collections used my husband and my address, used an old Verizon Telephone Number of ours,
going back seven years ago, researched my daughter's out-of-state address, sent her a bill with our address, and accused her of owing a bill for over $350.00! She never had a Verizon Account. Futhermore, how did they go about accessing Verizon's data, and sending my daughter a bogus bill to
my daughter's current address. This against the law.

If you've received a collections notice from AFNI, do not pay it AND do NOT call their 800 number.

Here's why.

AFNI is attempting to collect on old debt from many companies. The letter I received from them was for a phone number with Verizon California.

AFNI buys old debt that is uncollectible and PAST the statute of limitations for collection.

They then associate anyone and everyone remotely related to the phone number or service address with the debt.

For example, the house you lived in 10 years ago has had 5 occupants since you moved out. One of them didn't pay a bill with Verizon so AFNI trie to collect from everyone who has ever lived at that address. AFNI knows that you are not responsible for the debt but they've got nothing to lose by asking you for the money. I'll bet a lot of people just send them checks.

I'm not sure if what AFNI is doing is legal. I am positive that is in unethical.

Even scarier...AFNI got your personal information from one of the credit bureaus. They are customers of these bureaus so they are allowed to make inquiries. They can even make an inquiry to collect on a debt if you've put a freeze or fraud alert on your account (which would normally stop unsolicited inquiries.)

So what do you do?

FIRST: send them a return receipt letter via US mail (Any correspondence should be in writing sent via US mail return receipt requested. NO Phone calls,) asking them to provide the following information which by LAW they are required to provide to you.

1. the amount of the debt
2. the name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed.
3. verification of the debt including proof of the debt, proof that you contracted for and agreed to pay for this service, and/or a copy of any judgment against you involving this debt.

(do not include your phone number or they will call you and harass you)

This letter SHOULD solve the collections threats since AFNI will be unable to provide any of this info to you.

SECOND: file a complaint with your state's attorney general. So many complaints were filed in New York that the AG opened a formal investigation.

THIRD: forward your letter and complaint to your congressman and state representative. Legislators in a few states have opened their own investigations of AFNI.

FOURTH: file a complaint with the FTC at the following link :

https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup

Don't worry if you don't have time to write a full report. Get the company name and a general description of the scam. We're looking for volume of complaints against AFNI. Once the FTC gets thousands of complaints, they'll have to take notice.

Fifth: file a complaint with the Central IL BBB. Let the BBB know that they should be warning the public about these scam artists.

SIXTH: (and this is where it gets fun.) contact the consumer reporter for your local TV station. They love stories like this. Provide them with links to the various complaints and investigations so that they know you aren't just some deadbeet who doesn't pay his debts. I offered my local reporter a copy of my credit report so he could verify my payment histories.

SEVENTH: request a free copy of your Transunion credit report to make sure that AFNI hasn't messed with your credit. Also look to see if they made an inquiry. I'll bet they have.

You can get a free copy of your credit report at the following site:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com

The credit report is FREE. They will also ask you if you want to pay a few dollars to see your credit score but this is NOT required to get your free report.

Good Luck

send me an email and let me know what happens.