Ever hear of AFNI?

I received a letter today for a settlement from afni. Has anyone dealt with them and know if they are reputable? They show in the letter that they are licensed in New York City. Would appreciate any info before answering them... btw--it has to do with Cingular and they are offering me to only pay 1/2 of what Cingular says I owe. I think it's a great deal I just want to make sure they are on the up and up. Thank you all!!! (((HUGS))) for being so great to all here.

I would take the settlement. Make sure you get something from them stating that the account will be paid in full after you make the payment. I just heard today that afni is hard to work with. So you are lucky to get a offer like that.

I'd send a debt validation letter, make them prove they're the ones entitled to collect the debt. If they can prove you pay them, then I'd take the offer.

I would have to agree with puddlejummper. If they're licensed and it sounds like a good deal, I'd jump on it before they change their minds.

I thought it was a good offer since the amount stated is what is owed-so I am going to take the offer and I can get a PIF letter either online or by mail. Thank you all so much!!!!

I'm pretty sure that's the name of the company that offered me a settlement. They did send a letter stating this after I paid them. They were affiliated with DISH network.

Just a follow-up to this. I received a notice (at MY address, but in my ex-husband's name) from afni collections regarding an old phone bill with Contel of the South - which I found out is owned by Verizon. Neither my ex nor I ever had service with Contel, but we did with Verizon. However, all bills with Verizon have been paid, either by him or by me, or will be discharged in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing.

I did some research this morning on AFNI...there are MANY complaints against them if you do a Google search on them, many are dated this month or last, and almost all of them involve AFNI buying old "uncollectible" Verizon debts for pennies on the dollar and then attempting to collect them using whatever means possible.

I completely plan to dispute this debt on the basis that 1) It's not mine, but was sent to my address under my ex's name. 2) To my knowledge, all Verizon debts were paid in full or were included in my Chapter 13 filing. 3) This company provides no information on what the phone number was when the debt was incurred, and also names a phone company I never had service with. (Contel)

I suspect the complaints I'm seeing are valid, and that my case may be another one where the debts were paid and something didn't get recorded correctly by Verizon...therefore AFNI thinks they have the right to collect it.

I would advise anyone in this situation to send C&D letter to this collection agency if you are certain the debt is not valid. Do a little homework of your own and be sure the debt is not valid, then send that letter, via certified mail, return receipt requested.

This collection agency is one of the few that buy sol debts,uncollectables,and other trash. I always advocate sending a validation letter to make them prove they have the correct debt and the correct consumer.Don't trust collectors to be your friend and always protect your interests.

Thanks Cajun, for the clarification on this agency. I was pretty floored when I saw how many people were complaining about them - and what was really interesting was a large number of the complaints were recently dated (within 1 month of today), and almost all of them were from the same state or regional area.

Thank you! I haven't sent the settlement payment yet. I will look into this further.

Sue,most of the time when you get a spike in a certain region this is a sign of recent purchase of debt.Some of these agencies have the proof and some don't.To each his own,if you can't prove I owe you,I see no point in paying you period.

That's my point, too, cajun. I fully plan on demanding validation - that doesn't start the SOL all over again, does it?

Ok, here's an update on this. I called Verizon (which owns Contel) - this bill is not even mine. It belongs to my ex from a business he once owned...and here's the kicker - he already paid the bill, and afni is trying to collect on it. Creeps.

Sue,since it is not yours proceed directly to the cease and desist.If you feel charitable you can inform them that they are collecting on a non-existant debt since it has already been paid by the correct person.Certified mail of course.

Yup! That's my next step - I'm not even going to bother with validation, since this is not my debt (whew!), and I'm not going to give them any info on my ex either...but I sure as heck am going to send them a C&D letter based on the fact that he doesn't live at my address.

Heh. I got an afni letter recently myself. T'says that I owe $200+ to Pac-Bell c/o Verizon for an unpaid account from 1996. I never had a phone turned on in my name, although it is possible that some sheisty characters I was dealing with may have... I don't know. However, I'm wondering if I should go the "identity theft" route, the "sol" route, or just go the "c&d' route? Anyone?