Experience with Portfolio Recovery Associates?

[Boswd]

yeah that's the same boat I am in.   They weren't hararassing and worked very well with me.  I mean it was my debt and had years before SOL  and so far they have kept their word.

[Anonymous]

Weezie:

I was contacted by PRA back in October or November of '06. I sent them a total of three letters: Initially, a DV letter; followed by a second letter that combined both a second request for detailed validation and a C&D; finally, a third, more strongly worded C&D that hinted at my intent to sue if they continued with their collection activities.

They called me only once and left a message on my voicmail. I called them back and gently demanded that they never call me again; that I expected to handle this issue strictly by mail. 

After the third letter, they sent me a letter stating that they were closing the account, and no further collection activity would take place.

And, yes, this was over an account that was SOL (over something like a twelve-year old debt.)

By the way, in the second letter to them, I explicitly demanded that they not simply transfer this account to another JDB/collection agency if they couldn't provide validation of the debt. I really didn't expect them to get ugly over this, and they never did. They were actually quite easy to deal with.

[Anonymous]

this company is horrible.  my first dealing with them was over a discover card account.  they puy a levy on our bank accounts, when that wasn't enough to pay the debt off the put a levy on my husband's truck.  we were having a very hard time at that time so we only had that one truck.  the levy got lifted off of the truck because that was his only mode of transportation to work.  they eventually garnished his wages. (which only put us further into debt).  we almost lost our home over that.  fair warning they don't go away.  if you have any old debt out there that you think has been "charged off" by the company.  they will try to collect it.  they buy your debt for a fraction of what you owe.  and then they collect it in full plus interest.  i thought we had finally got our heads above water again.  until i received a civil summons.  they are suing us again for a new debt that they have aquired.  it never ends with these people.  if they threatened you with a suit, you better believe that they will follow through with it.  i am now trying to work with the lawyers that are representing them to work out a payment arragement.  good luck

[Anonymous]

This company has been indentified by the EveryCall.us community as having called hundreds if not thousands of consumers according to reports filed to our website.  The following are a list of telephone numbers that have been reported to have been associated with Portfolio Recovery Associates, we hope you find this information useful so when you see them call next time you know who it is and can ignore the phone call.

Link to company information about Portfolio Recovery Associates.

253-638-1471   866-298-3632   866-299-3463   866-691-3568   757-321-2519   757-321-6278   800-772-1413   772-664-4005   866-428-6589   877-803-0008   888-772-7326   866-532-9661   800-860-0644   800-803-0008   866-940-7640  

[Anonymous]

Hi Weezie,

I had a problem with these bozo's last year. They were "collecting" on an account that was past sol by years. 

Lodge an online complaint against Portfolia to your state's consumer advocate division. You can log onto your State's Attorney General's website and find the consumer advocate division. They will usually ask you to mail any back-up proving your claim.

This worked for me. I was assigned a consumer advocate who contacted Portfolio (he cc'd me on all the correspondence). The collection was removed promptly.

Of course, one month later, Portfolio put the account back on my report, but one email to my consumer advocate and the collection was removed again. It's been over a year and I haven't seen (credit reports) or heard a peep (telephone calls) from Portfolio since.

BTW - I wouldn't waste my breath or a stamp on Portfolio. Sometimes it's better to come out blazing with the big guns. That's all some junk debt buyers seem to understand.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

[mindacid]

Hi weezie,

I crossed paths with these guys last year.   If I can give you my two cents, I think in situations like this, it's better to request debt validation than to just ask them to stop sending you communications.  I say this from personal experience, because their next potential move could be to report the debt as a collection on your CRA files. That's what they did to me.  Now, the debt was absolutely too old to report (about the same as yours, 13 years) , but they had no problem in re-aging the debt to make it look recent.   A couple of DV letters later, sent by certified US mail, finally got their crap off my credit reports, but it took, 6-8 weeks.  It's better to just avoid the whole situation from the start.  

[haulingthescoreup]

Just an observation --this thread is from 2009. I don't know how many posters are still here and active.

[Anonymous]

I have received portfolio recovery (they are not the original creditor) collection letters indicating the account number and the amount owed but they are collecting a debt that was passed the Statute of Limitations in California.  The letter was dated April 12 and they require that i should respond within 30 days.  Today is the 30th day but i got the letter after April 12.  What is the best recourse on this. 

[llecs]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have received portfolio recovery (they are not the original creditor) collection letters indicating the account number and the amount owed but they are collecting a debt that was passed the Statute of Limitations in California.  The letter was dated April 12 and they require that i should respond within 30 days.  Today is the 30th day but i got the letter after April 12.  What is the best recourse on this. 

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Mail a DV letter CMRRR this week and you'll be OK. The 30-day notice is required of them by federal law.

[witanga]

I defaulted on a CapitalOne account a few years back it got turned over to them. I paid them and last week I sent them a goodwill letter to remove the account off my credit report and they did, so they are pretty easy to deal with.