EAST ST. LOUIS — A woman is suing a debt collection company for allegedly attempting to collect and report a false debt, which caused a drop in her credit score.
Lastarr Howard filed a complaint March. 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Tek-Collect Incorporated, alleging violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
According to the complaint, Howard alleges she has a "bona-fide" dispute regarding the balance of $170.42 being collected on a debt as a result of purchases using a closed Bank of Edwardsville account. She alleges that "to the best of her knowledge," the amount "greatly overstates" any amount she owes and that the alleged debt is from a checking account that was "closed with a zero balance."
Howard claims she informed the defendant of the disputed debt in December 2019, and was told they were no longer collecting on that account. They also allegedly informed her to contact the creditor. She claims the creditor was not even aware of the debt.
Howard also claims in her suit that on Jan. 11, the defendant re-reported the same debt as open and was reporting false information to the credit bureaus, which lowered her credit score by "at least twenty points."
Howard seeks monetary relief, trial by jury and all other just relief. She is represented by Richard Voytas, Jr., of Ross & Voytas LLC in St. Louis.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:21-CV-00230-RJD