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Aargon Agency Fighting back against a New Low in Unfair Collection Practices Las Vegas Nevada
Prologue- I have for years held a high credit score, regularly monitor my reports, and believe in paying what you owe.
On Jan. 13, 2011, I checked my credit monitoring website and was shocked to see that my score had dropped 61 points. I hadn't received any phone calls, letters in the mail claiming I owed any debt, so my heart stopped, thinking my identity had been stolen.
Then when looking at the details on my credit monitoring site, I quickly saw that a company called Aargon Agency, Inc. had reported a collections debt of 59 dollars to my report. One, I haven't heard from any collection agency, much less this one, since I was in my twenties, and that is a LONG time ago. Two, how in the world could such a trivial amount cause a 61 point drop in my credit score?
Next, I called Aargon, got a service rep., immediately asked what this debt was for, and all she would tell me was that I owed 59 dollars dating back to 2008 for an emergency room visit. I remember that visit, remember paying every bill I'd gotten as a result of that visit, relayed this to her aswell as the fact that I hadn't heard from Aargon or any other collection agency regarding this alleged 59 dollars until now,and requested a detailed invoice of this debt... validation of it sent to me viaUS mail.
She immediatelyasked 'Validation?', as if she'd never heard of this.I explained what 'validation of debt' was, and she respondedunbelievably with 'But you already have validation. I'm telling you right now that you owe this, what hospital it's from.That's your validation'.Swallowing my disbelief, Iinsisted she send me viamail proof of this debt, that I wasn't about to pay anyone for anything until Isaw for myselfvalidation that I owed something, and just as importantly, that it was owed to Aargon Agency, Inc.
Finally, she told me thatI could view the details of my billif I went to payaargon dot com, but as she was reading to me thereport number/code I would needin order to log in and see this 'proof', the phone suddenly/conveniently went dead on her end three digits in. I went to this address, and after several attempts, I was finally able to access my account by entering/hyphenating/fiddling with theaccount number filed on my credit report. Lo and behold... nodetailedinformation at all.
All too long story short, I spent the rest of the day researching this company, found other complaints similar to mine, researched my options, considered just paying it off in order to get this done and over,ultimately deciding tothenofficially dispute this charge through my credit monitoring service. Additionally, I filed a complaint against Aargon with the Nevada BBB, and with my state's Attorney General's office.
It's only six days later, but as of today, Aargon's charge has been deleted from my account, my score is back to the normal I worked so hard to get it to, and if it were just me, I'd let this go at this point. It's not, though. I believe that this collection agency is preying on people with good credit, bypassing any actual attempts to contactus for paymentand going straight to reporting because they know that our type are the most likely to just try and pay something off without questionin order to protect our credit rather than risk disputing it. I believe that this companywould've contacted me ultimately with this strategy in mind had I not foundout and responded as quickly as I did. Therefore, I plan to share my experience with this company on any and every forum I can find that might help someone else fight back.
If you hear from this company about any amount they claim you owe, I cannot stress enough... request validation of the debt, call and send them a letter if the phone call's not enough, immediately dispute this with the three Credit Reporting Agencies, if they rule against you, disputeagain,and if you honestly feel that unethical or illegal practices on the Collection agency'spart are being used, complain to the BBB, your state's Attorney General's Office,... even to your local new station's consumer reporter. You have rights... use them!!
3 Updates & Rebuttals
eripaul
Dallas,Texas,
United States of America
A direct request to Aargon Agency.
#4Author of original report
Sat, June 25, 2011
I know that you visit this site, as you've responded to one complainant's report here, and am therefore at a loss as to why you've failed to defend your agency regarding the other complaints, including mine. If you are indeed a legitmate collection agency, you'll answer to the best of your ability these questions, which I have kept as simple and as fair as I humanly could:
1. Why do you have a lengthy record of buying a person's alleged debt, submit it to a credit reporting agency, who accepts your claim and drops said person's credit score significantly, then make absolutely no attempt to contact the person whose credit you just altered for payment? I would think you would want to be paid, especially after purchasing an account, which to me means you would want to actually contact those whose credit reports you tarnish.
2. Some, after going through a thing or two regarding this, might wonder if perhaps your agency is in some sort of cahoots with some credit reporting agencies. I have heard from a multitude of enough people whose credit scores altered only after joining a credit reporting agency to feel confident enough in asking you this- 'Are any of your debt collection attempts assisted in any way by a credit reporting agency?'. If they're not, once again, please explain why you'll easily report a debt, do nothing to try to collect on it.
3. Why did you respond to one consumer's complaint, and not the rest of us who complained about you, even when one of us challenged you, begged you for an explanation?
You obviously know how to use the rebuttal button, yet you've only used it once. That tells me volumes. Prove me wrong, Aargon. I challenged you twice after seeing that my credit was butchered unfairly by you, and both times, you apparently couldn't prove otherwise, had no rebuttal, and fixed things. Do this for the others who aren't as rabid as I am, would you? Either fix this or man up enough to explain here to complaints as to why you could possibly think you have a right to affect lives the way you do.
Don't get me wrong; I think that too many people run up too much debt, then dodge it. If that's who your agency was going after, I wouldn't be here.
Looking forward to a reply here... not expecting to see one, but am SOOOOOOOOOOOO ready to respond to one, nevertheless.
eripaul
Dallas,Texas,
United States of America
Standing up for yourself counts!
#4Author of original report
Sat, June 25, 2011
After the last update here, I contacted both Aargon Agency and the credit originator they claim the debt was bought from, asking for any original documents explaining this debt to be mailed to me and that I refused to pay an alleged debt I had never heard about until checking (on my own, mind you) my credit monitoring service, then called the CRA's to ask just what system they use to validate, if they truly confirm/validate a debt or use a computerized 'numbering' system that's highly inaccurate. I contested the dispute with the CRA's, contested again when one claimed the dispute was validated via the above computerized system, and again contacted Aargon and the original creditor, demanding they either show me proof via original documents that I do actually owe this amount I'd never been contacted about before, or remove it from my credit immediately if they couldn't, that I would file suit if either of these demands weren't met, then sat back and waited, and waited, and waited.
Yesterday, I got an email from my credit monitoring service, telling me that my score had changed. I winced, wondering what Aargon could possibly have done to me now, logged in and YES!!!, the charge is now gone. My credit score is restored, and though nobody bothered to respond to my demands, apparently they received them. I thought I was going to have to go a great deal further, was elated to find that wasn't the case.
Still, it bothers me that I have had to fight at all, that a collection agency can erroneously victimize people like this, report anything they like on a person's credit report with no validation, and that the CRA's will do next to nothing for you. I don't understand why, either. Both times, Aargon has reported something on my credit report, dropping my score by huge points, and both times, I found out on my own by checking my monitoring service, not because anyone contacted me in attempts to collect on either debt. This makes me highly suspicious of credit reporting agencies... think about it.
I have no idea what unimagined curveball may come next, but for now, I am celebrating being able to stand up for myself and succeed, and to any of the rest of you who may be having a similar problem, I repeat... challenge every charge with every party involved... let them know you're not going to lie down and take it!
eripaul
Dallas,Texas,
United States of America
Unbelievably at it again
#4Author of original report
Fri, May 13, 2011
Got an email from my credit monitoring service (which I check religiously), this morning that my report had changed. I go to check, and yes, it's changed again. Dropped roughly eighty points this time. And this time, Aargon claims that I owe them over three hundred dollars, a debt that seems to have appeared magically out of the blue, because with a 140 IQ and pretty decent memory, I think I'd have remembered not paying someone this amount.
Once again, not a phone call, not a letter, and this time, there is zero information as to where they say this debt originated from. I've already filed attorney general and BBB complaints regarding the first time this happened, and here I am yet again, doing the same, not to mention instantly disputing this with my 3 CRA's. I repeat, I am not a person who hears from creditors or collection agencies, and I once again believe more than ever that this is exactly who this agency goes after.
AArgon, I see you've actually posted a rebuttal to another complaint on this site. I beg of you, publicly respond to mine and explain why this is the second time I've found out via subscribing to a credit reporting site and not by any contact from you that you've directly reported to the credit bureaus that I don't pay my bills. Please explain to me how any contact between your company and myself has been on my part, and why your agency seems incapable of validating debt when I have contacted you. Also, if you could explain why I shouldn't sue you, I'd be all ears. Ultimately, though, if you could just answer one question for me and none of the others, it'd make my day to hear the answer to this one... 'How do any of you sleep at night?'.