Even though issues related to debts continue to plague servicemembers, the number of complaints associated with debt collection has been surpassed by issues that those in the military are having with credit reporting, according to a report issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Debt collection complaints accounted for 26% of all servicemember complaints filed with the CFPB between April 1, 2017 and Aug. 31, 2018, well behind credit reporting, which accounted for 37% of the complaints filed. The amount of credit reporting complaints has soared in recent years. That particular type of complaint accounted for only 11% of servicemember complaints in 2015, while the number of debt collection complaints has dropped from 46% during the same timeframe.
Within debt collection, the most common type of complaint filed with the bureau were attempts to collect a debt not owed (39%), written notification about a debt (16%), and took or threatened to take negative or legal action (15%).
The report did highlight anecdotal issues with telecom debts and medical debts that servicemembers are having. Of the seven anecdotes that were included in the report, four of them were related to issues with debt collections, including medical debts, telecom debts, and student loan debts. Here is one of the reports:
“In [date] I was deployed out of the United States. Before leaving I took the proper steps to suspend my [telecommunications] account due to military deployment with [company]. I suspended the account on [date]. On [a later date], and once I was no longer in the states, [company] reopened my account for another individual who moved into my old apartment. The customer service stated they had the right “because they knew my address” which was an address I no longer lived in due to being deployed…Once the situation was brought to the company’s attention I was verbally told the amount would be credited to my account. On [date], I returned my router and equipment and had to talk to another individual at [location] because the problem still was not resolved. She was extremely helpful and wrote down voucher numbers for each credit that was supposed to be on my account. I was charged [amounts] and a large amount of late fees due to myself not knowing or paying the charges because I was no longer in the states. The late fees were dropped, and after the encounter at the store the [amount] was dropped and no longer held against me. I found out that once again [company] had not cleared me of the [amount] which was disputed on [date] for the third time. After which I was told once again the charges would be dropped. I also called each credit bureau to dispute the charges off of my credit…I moved to [country] on military orders in [date]. Now on [a later date] I received a letter from a Debt Collector by the name of [company] stating that I still owe [company] the [amount] that was disputed and closed two years ago. I have called the collector and am once again disputing the charges…I do not owe these charges and it is completely wrong for [company] to keep harassing me for an amount I do not owe, and was closed two years prior after being repeatedly told that I would be credited.”
