WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Each month the U.S. agency charged with protecting consumers' finances receives thousands of complaints about debt collection, more than those filed about any other area, and most people say companies have pushed them to pay debts that do not exist.
On Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said that on average it receives 6,785 complaints about debt collection each month, followed by 4,210 complaints related to mortgages and 3,287 on credit reporting.
More than a third of the debt-collection complaints, 38 percent, "had to do with both first- and third-party debt collectors attempting to collect on a debt the consumer reported was not owed."
In other complaints individuals said they were not given enough information to verify whether or not they owed the debt being collected. The agency said consumers also had problems with communications from debt collectors.
As of March 1, debt collection represented 26 percent of all the complaints the bureau has received since people began filing complaints in July 2011, "surpassing mortgages as the most-complained-about product or service," it also said.
The two companies raising the most ire were Encore Capital Group and Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc. The CFPB said that last year it took action against the two large debt buyers for "deceptive tactics."