I left an apartment in August 2015 and got into a spat with the apartment folks who claimed I owed $350 or so for painting, etc. I had been in the apartment for 3.5 years and would assume that I didn't have to cover the cost of the painting, etc. Anyhoo, I argued with them and they ended up claiming it on Sure Deposit who then put the folks at IQ Data International onto me.
IQ Data immediately posted the a/c on my CR's and sent me a letter requesting payment. I wrote them back with a very simple dispute letter. They wrote me again asking for the money. So this time I wrote them back requesting strict proof and validation per Texas Finance Code 392 (TFC 392). For anyone that doesn't know, TFC392 is similar to the federal law but has more teeth. Also, the timeframes are reversed in that under TFC392 you can request validation at any time (not just within the first 30 days of receiving their initial letter) and they must respond to you within 30 days (unlike the federal law which gives no timeframe).
I sent that request CMRRR on Dec 8th 2015 and it was signed for on Dec 12th. I just now got their response back (dated Jan 26) so it's way over the 30 day allotted timeframe! Good!
However, in the copies of the documents that they supplied, there is one supposedly for the Sure Deposit where the tenant acknowledges their obligations under the agreement. The signature purporting to be mine on this document is definitely not mine and is a clear attempt at a forgery. In fact it's very obvious when you look at it. My signature is VERY difficult to forge consisting of a couple of very fast squiggles with clear curves and lines. This bad attempt to forge my signature is very obviously done by someone trying to do it slowly and the lines/curves are broken and jagged due to them trying to forge it "slowly".
I have sent them a letter this morning stating:
- Per the TFC392 they did not respond within the 30 days and therefore the alleged debt is deemed inaccurate and further collection activity must cease immediately.
- Per the TFC392, they now have 5 business days to remove all accounts and trade lines for all my CR's.
- Per the TFC392, they are subject to statutory civil penalties for not responding within 30 days, and additional penalties if they don't remove the TL's within 5 biz days.
- To cease and desist contacting me trying to collect on the debt unless I specifically allow it.
- To make them aware that that one document contains a clearly forged signature purporting to be mine.
My question to you all is what do you think i should do about the forged signature thingy? I doubt IQ Data did this and would suspect either the original apartment complex or Sure Deposit to be the culprit in this case. Should I contact the AG's office? A consumer attorney? The BBB? Or all three?
The alleged debt was only for $350 or so and I do have a genuine dispute regarding the debt. I feel that the apartment complex is running something of a racket with exiting tenants by tacking on extra charges (but not quite enough to maybe merit a lawsuit) which they can easily fob off to Sure Deposit so they get paid, then Sure Deposit get lumbered with the task of trying to get paid by the former tenant by releasing their hound dogs IQ Data onto them.