Affinity Global

I was curious and skeptical about the letter, so I called the number (855-240-6541) on the paper on behalf of my mother. Some guy with an army-like voice answered and asked to speak to my mother and have her consent to have me speak on her behalf. The only verification he needed was her full name and home address. Seems fishy to me. When my mother handed back the phone, the receptionist began telling me about the situation of the letter, the amount to be paid (this dated back in September 2012), and then asked whether we would like to pay by check, etc. I asked for clarification at this point. I asked him for the paperwork of the balance owed, dates, transactions, etc., in which he said he had no record of them. He then added that his client JCPenney/Synchrony Bank has all that information. So I asked him to request that information sent to my email or home address, then we hung up.

My next step was to call JCPenney credit card services. They asked my mother to verify using full name, social security number (we denied), and then her birthday. After explaining them about the situation, they acknowledged it was the case. They added to the effect that they don't have any information or paperwork on the balance due because they handed off to the third party called "Global Credit". I told them that the third party collection did not have any information, so they recommended that I talk to a person. I thanked them for their time and called Global Credit & Collection Corp once again.

This time, a guy (Jeral **) answered, verified, told me about the collection, and then asked whether I want to pay with check, etc. Do these people expect people to pay them immediately? I told him I wouldn't pay a dime until I have proof of paperwork. I realized the original account number was prefixed with ** on the mail letter, so I asked him to verify the full number, in which he said he does not have it. So I hung up. See ya!

I ask for an amount they claim he borrowed and they did not have that info, only that he owed them $998.00 that included interest, but they don't know how much he had borrowed. Wow, they even say that my daughter co-signed the loan. When I called my daughter she told me that last year she was threatened by this same company and they even called me last year telling me they had a warrant for her arrest. She paid them a settlement of $300.00 that she had owed Bank of America and they stopped harassing her, and started calling and harassing her again this week with more threats. I'm glad she told me it's fraud, to ignore them. My husband does and has no online loan, and this looks like it's fraud 100%. Don't pay or send them money.

Again, I refused to give her any information about where I live and I told her that if she showed up at my job, there would be problems. She told me that she had a job to do and her last statement to me was "Sharon **, this is your final warning". So today, I was out with my brother and told him and he said "Oh yeah, someone called a few weeks ago and I asked what it was in reference to but they refused to tell me so I didn't give any information". While I am afraid that someone will show up at my job, I am also prepared to file a complaint if they call me at work, if they show up at work or if they call my co workers or supervisor. It is a shame that this company is allowed to get away with it and hasn't been shut down.

In total I have had over 45 falls, I've broken all my toes, torn ligaments in my knees and broken my tailbone. My hips have been so badly bruised they ache constantly without letup. I have repetitive shingles outbreaks from the stress and anxiety my situation has left me in and I don't have a personal support network in place as my family are not there for me. I asked T. D. Bank if they would forgive me my debt as there was literally nothing I could change and that was at the advise of the Debt Management Agency of B.C. The bank never responded to my plea, nor the Doctor's letter of substantiated evidence on my behalf.

I am so sick that instead of freezing the debt at that time they allowed it to accrue interest on the unpaid balance and now the outstanding amount owed is $21,994.28. To Top That... the above mentioned credit collections agency is now offering me a one time only settlement offer of 50% off that amount. Now that would bring it down to almost the amount it was back when I phoned Visa and told them I could no longer make payments to them. Isn't that IRONIC? I live on a provincial disability pension of $926.00 a month. I have no car, no property of real-estate, no RRSP's, no pension fund, nothing valuable and I walk with supports such as canes, mobility walkers, or wheelchair assistance.

How can I make a difference in my situation that would satisfy the wolves ever-constant at my door. I know I have tried my best and that is all I can do. My situation is not one of recovery and each time I receive a notice or threat from this collector my last threads of dignity are plucked from me and I feel the sad humiliation of defeat and basic poverty again.

At this point my HR lady came out with a sticky note (obviously she heard my conversation with him) that said "Advise him he is not allowed to call you at work". I told him that this is a business phone and by law he is not allowed to contact me here. He said, "well, give me your cell number". I said, "You managed to get my work number so I'm pretty surprised you don't have my cell, I will be calling the toll free number he provided earlier at my convenience and deal with this matter then". He said, "I will give you until 2 pm to contact me or I will be coming to your place of employment to serve you". I just hung up on him. So, I called the toll free number later that afternoon when I left the office.

They only answer the phone as Global, I gave her the claim number and she said will you verify that you have received mail at..... I said first off before you start asking me questions let me ask you who you are and what this is about. She said I can't give out any information until you verify your identity. I said "why would I verify my identity to someone I don't know and to a company that seems so far to have less that savory business practices?? She said it was in regards to charges that have been brought up against me and that they were a pre-litigation company that needed to serve me papers. I advised her that they have already broken the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by contacting me repeatedly from a private number at my place of work and failure to identify the nature of these "charges", so I wasn't verifying anything. But she can give me a fax number or address so I can hit them with a Cease and Desist letter.

She said she was glad that I knew my laws but they were completely within their rights with what they were doing and that they don't give out their address or fax number (but they are such a reputable business, huh?? ) and when I was ready to take this matter seriously, I could call back and until then she wished me the best of luck. I laughed and hung up. I went to a meeting shortly after and while I was there, I received a phone call from a number with my are code I did not recognize. Being that I was in a meeting, I just silenced it. They called back 6 times in a row back to back and I finally answered and lo and behold, it was my new best buddy John **. He said, "Yeah (my name) I was just contacting you back because it is almost 2.......". I hung up, didn't even let him say what he had to say. This unprofessional, for lack of a better word, dummy really just called me again after I had already contacted the number he gave me and they knew I didn't really care what they had to say.

Once out of my meeting, I called the number back, it rang and rang then said "the federal investigations line does not accept incoming calls". Ooh, guess I was supposed to be real scared now. I have racked my brain thinking of any place I owe money and other than an old medical bill I can't think of one. Whether or not I owed anyone anything is besides the point though, if I had legitimately owed, I would have not paid just because of their horrendous methods to collect. After my meeting, I went home early, which doesn't happen often, so I took a nap. But before I did, my mother tells me that she received a call from John as well. Really?? When I wake up after about an hour, I have 8 missed calls from yet ANOTHER number in my area code, this time though with a voice mail. I checked the message, yup, you guessed it, my buddy John. "I gave you a chance to contact me before 2 pm but you failed to do so, so now the next step is court. Your claim number is ......and if you don't contact me immediately I will have to serve you papers at your place of employment. You have been officially notified".

By this time, I'm shaking in my boots and just can't wait to settle this mystery debt/charges/claim/whatever, right?? Umm, no!! I am very angry and so I call the number back again. Give them my claim number, AGAIN, and again get the same. "You have to verify your address first, otherwise we can't tell you about your account". Amused somewhat and wanting to play their little game with them, I advised them I would not discuss my account until they verified their address. Same thing last person said, they won't give it out. He said, obviously a little put off by my smart comments, when you call your cell phone company and cable company don't you verify your information with them?? I said yes I do, but I am calling them, I know they are an actual legitimate company unlike you who will only tell me you are with Global, I have to protect myself because for all I know this is a scam. Conversation goes on for a few minutes with me having an attitude and trying to get an address.

He finally says you can have your attorney contact our compliance department and I wish you the best of luck. I think they are trained to say that, like it's going to invoke some sudden change of heart on my part and I'm going to hand over my account information to them. Anyway, haven't heard a word from them since and was glad. Until today, I received a private call. I usually do not answer these calls at all but I answered against my better judgment. "(my name)??" I said who is this? "This is Claire from Global how are you"? She seems very cheerful and nice right?? She goes on to say they were a locating firm and were attempting to locate me and my claim had been flagged as incomplete. So she just wanted to follow up with me to see if I wanted to handle this matter before they had to take further action.

I advised her that I had spoken to them already and advised them that my attorney would contact them to not call me anymore. She said well, she just wanted to make it easier on me and if I was interested in taking care of it. I said "No, y'all have contacted me illegally (she interrupts, it's not illegal). I continue, "yes it is illegal when you call my job numerous times. Call me from private numbers. Fail to tell me the origin of this "debt". Threaten me, try and intimidate me. And call numerous times to my cell". She said "well our next step is court and as your attorney will tell you, you don't want a judgement against you because after that, we will garnish your wages". I laughed and said "You can't garnish my wages in Texas". She interrupts again this time yelling, yes we can garnish...I cut her off and said "Don't try and play me honey because you will lose every time.....at that point, I hung up. I don't have time for these people.

I am a fairly educated woman and they don't scare me a bit but I feel sorry for more timid people who fall for this and get scared and pay these people. From what I have read on the internet, they have been hit with millions of dollars worth of fines, which does nothing to a billion dollar company. I hope enough of our stories will make someone do something to stop this.

I looked up the number on the internet and it said this was a telemarketer that has been FLAGGED, and I saw a few other people who went through the same lie I went through. This happened on March 4th, 5th, and 6th, 2014. I then looked up the Loan shop she said I owed, and the address was out of the country, West Quay, Ramsey, IM 99. I then called Lifelock they also did the research to find out there has been a lot of complaints against this company. At first I was nervous, because I know I didn't want to go to court, but now I know this company is trying to get money from a lot of people.

The thing to do, is not give them any personal information, credit card information, because there are so many people who have had their identity stolen,as I have. They make it sound really good to scare you into giving them money, BUT PLEASE DON'T DO IT. KEEP YOUR MONEY FOR YOUR BILLS OR WHATEVER. There are so many people out there playing games to get people's hard-earned money.

Well Since Experian monitors TransUnion, They put the hard hits on their system and this filtered down to Equifax. I am not in collections on any of my accounts and when I pull my credit report, every account states paid on time and is green. So all of this is a mistake or just a scam to make me purchase a credit lock. After research, I have found this company is not even in the USA. They are based out of Canada and can do whatever they want to your credit. You don't even have to owe money to anyone. They have the power to get your information, pull unauthorized credit reports, open fictitious accounts in your name and just stick a balance there. It could be $1.00 or $100,000.00.

I reported them to Ftc.gov and Experian quickly removed them. I talking less that a day. I think Trans Union needs a good class action lawsuit for releasing my personal information and causing me all the time to clean up their mess. Even though fictitious information is removed from my credit report. The perpetrators still have all my personal information forever.

I called the # 866-262-2290 and there was no answer the first time. I called back a while later and someone answered and said their name was "Jimmy John" and seemed surprised when I called him out on it. He said the business was named Global. I asked him what kind of business this was. He said it was a Pre-Litigation company. I asked if it was a debt collector. He said no, it was pre-litigation. I asked why they were contacting my sister and he said that he couldn't give me the information. I asked if there was a lawsuit, which he implied, who was on it and why wasn't it registered with the courts. He said there was no lawsuit yet, but there was a complaint filed to them by a business regarding my sister. I asked how they were serving paperwork if a lawsuit had not been filed. He told me just to have her call them. I said I would advise her not to contact them until actual paperwork had been received. He said that I was doing her a "disservice" if I did that. Then I hung up.

Ray continued to call her other relatives, even calling family across country and trying to get contact information for her. In the meantime, she called the number Ray called from and was not able to reach anyone. He does not answer and his voice mail is full.

I believe they use a computer program to have their phones match area codes to make you actually believe they are in your area. The ironic thing is my cell's area code is completely different than the state I live in, but they didn't catch their mistake! He called my cell four times in one minute so when I finally answered he refused to give me any information except I was "number two on his route" and he was on his way but again wouldn't give me any information. But he said the same to me, that I needed to call Global at the toll-free number and gave me the same claim number.

I called Global and upon giving my claim number was transferred to someone in "processing" who said I had fraud charges filed against me and she could take care of it if I provided my credit card information for 18-months worth of payments! I refused to give her any information and asked her repeatedly to provide me with written documentation of this supposed debt, as I believe it's all false and a scam. She kept telling me "They don't do that," and refused to give me any of their contact information, not an address, fax number, email, website, nothing! When I asked to speak with a supervisor, the supposed supervisor says the same things to me.

I finally hung up and started doing research online about Global, which in 2013 changed it's official business name to Affinity Global. They have been fined millions of dollars for all their illegal business practices but are a billion dollar company. I believe they profit off people who they succeed in scaring and who don't know any better. I continued to receive phone calls from them and their horrible, screaming "locator" through the next morning, again before 8 am, which is illegal. Through the BBB's website I found their information and a supposed email that doesn't work. I tried the fax number and have faxed three letters asking them to stop contacting me, my family and place of employment and asked them to only communicate with me via mail to provide written documentation of the supposed debt.

I'm pretty sure they received my faxes because I haven't heard from them which is why I know they are collecting under the name Global, but operate according to the BBB as Affinity Global. It's all the same company and they operate out of North Dakota and Canada and you will notice their accents if you pay attention. I filed complaints with the BBB and consumer financial affairs with the government. When BBB sent my complaint to them, they tried emailing me to tell me they couldn't find any information on me, which I don't believe. They also told the BBB they tried calling me to resolve the issue but my number was disconnected, which is also a lie.

Their story is it wasn't them because they have no information on me and their name is now Affinity Global, not Global. If you call the number they've listed with the BBB it calls a company called Affinity Global but the collection number they threaten you with will and answer as Global. It's all one giant mastermind! They must have their local BBB in their side as well because the BBB person who contacted me seemed to clearly be in their side and wouldn't listen to what I was saying and was happy to close my case when I told her I clearly wasn't getting anywhere. I'm not sure if anything will come of the complaint I filed with the consumer financial agency. Just google Global and Affinity Global and you'll see all the information I found.

I am in process of filing bankruptcy and totally stressed between health and finances. The man at Global said collection laws do not apply to them and would not stop yelling at me so I hung up. I told my family do not open the door to any stranger and to accept no papers or phone calls for me from anyone. Sad since I do ministry and now have to hope those in need leave a message. Guess I will have to change my phone number which I have had since 1998. I have wept over my financial struggle but this company preys on people in the most inhumane manner.

So to get even, I just send money to the indebted Rogers & Fido account by internet banking. Here are numbers Global has called me from: 1905, 11-866-339-1995, 11-877-342-3271, 1-604-2274083, 1-587-3336246. Here's the number they want me to call: 877-337-3836. Yet the numbers they want me to call on the letter are: 877-330-1817 for "HL Waldman", a real estate lawyer; 866-350-1405. Both form letters for my indebted Rogers and Fido accounts are form letters with a computer printed signature. Re: the lawyer. He's moonlighting as a collections agent.

I passed the message along. A few hours later, this same woman calls me asking if I had passed along the message. I told her I had and asked who she was working for again. She still wouldn't tell me. I asked her to stop calling me and hung up. Not 2 seconds later, she calls me back again. I answered and she started all over with trying to find my relative. I told her that I wasn't who she was looking for and that she needed to stop harassing me. She told me that she wasn't harassing me. I hung up. 2 seconds later... she called back. I told her that I felt that I was being harassed and that if she didn't stop calling me, that I would call my attorney and hung up. She called back again!! 6 times all together.

I told her to stop calling me or I would report her to the BBB and call the police. She was talking over me the whole time, saying that I have to give her an address, phone number and place of business for my relative. The next time she called, I didn't pick up and she left me this message on my phone. She was talking, practically yelling, saying that the message was for my relative and gave me the claim number. Said that she has received an order submitted to her office and she needs an address and place of business so that she can formally send the papers, saying that she has charges and claims against her. That she has one opportunity to contact them to discuss the matter. The number was 866-250-3467. Then said that I have been officially notified!

I'm not the person she was trying to get a hold of! This lady is crazy and apparently doesn't stop! When she called the number to see who she was calling for, a machine said that it was Global. Couldn't get a hold of a real person though. While I was typing this up, this woman called me again! She was asking if I had passed along her message that I said I would. I told her I said I would and to stop calling me. She then tells me that she is headed for her evening rounds and needs to make sure that my relative knows what is going on. I told her to stop calling because it wasn't my business. She told me that she was going to stay in contact until she got her papers delivered!

So that makes 7 calls and 1 really bad voice message in 1 day! Her name is Patricia ** and claims to be representing Global. She is harassing and threatening. If I could put the voicemail on here, I would!!