experience with Portfolio Recovery Assoc?

[Anonymous]

Portfolio Recovery Associates has a collection item on my report. I paid it in full, and I asked them to delete, but they refuse. (They also refused to provide me a paid in full letter at the time I paid - made me wait to get it in the mail 21 days later. My other two CA's sent letters that same day.)

Anybody have experience with them? Will persistence pay off? Should I keep requesting the delete?

[Anonymous]

Unless you negotiated a PFD (pay for delete) settlement, there is little chance they will delete the tradeline.  What they will do is update the entry as PAID, update the status date, and possibly status as CLOSED.  This will do nothing to improve FICO, though most lenders prefer the collections in a paid as opposed to unpaid status.

In the future if you are dealing with CA's.

1.  DV

2.  If you are going to PIF or settle, attempt a PFD agreement.  When you are offering money, they are more likely to agree.  Once you have paid, they could care less.

You can persist and request deletion, but the results will almost always be no.

[Red1Blue]

Thay have been calling about a old providian/wamu/chase account that was co in 2004. I told them if they send me the letter confirming they will do pfd I'll send the payment. CA said they can not remove the entry in the report. I told her, my offer is if you agree to delete from CR I'll pay in full, if not you are not getting a penny from me. I am not paying a penny unless they agree to remove. For some reasaon agents from PRC seems to be lot more friendlier than other CA's which treat people pretty bad.

[IrishPM]

I've had some experience with Portfolio similar to yours.

However, put everything in writing and send them a letter to not contact you over the phone. My recommendation is to never speak to their CSR's over the phone.

After 7 months of back and forth and the assistance of the Hampton Roads, VA Better Business Bureau, I was able to get them to delete the trade line from all 3 credit reports. I did agree to pay off the collection and it was never my intent not to pay.

I did however wanted something in return for paying the collection and it was well within my right to ask for deletion of the trade line.

Eventually I won.

[Anonymous]

I absolutely agree that you should not get impatient and just pay it off.  Always go for some type of PFD.  Even if they say no, continue to negotiate toward some FICO/CR benefit.  Only when you have something they want will you have any leverage.  After you pay you have nothing.

[Anonymous]

I'm intrigued by the help you got from the BBB. I'm not 100% sure I actually owed this debt, but it was a couple hundred bucks, and I was in a hurry to get a paid in full letter to my mortgage lender.

Sounds like you did indeed owe the debt, so I'm really curious how BBB was able to help you get the item deleted? How are you within your rights to require them to delete? I'd love to be able to apply the same technique!

BTW, I have DV'd Portfolio at this point. I didn't even know what DV'ing was when I paid the bill

[Anonymous]

I just paid off three accts that PRA had picked up from old debts that I had.  Unfortunately I was a credit repair noobie when I paid and did not know to negotiate a removal letter.  At any rate, I have since called and asked them if we could work something out to get these removed from the CRA and the answer I got is that they don't do it as a matter of company policy...blah...blah...blah.  They were very nice to deal with and settled all my debts for ~20% of the OC debt.

[SanFranMatt]

I've sent them several PFD's over the last year or so, but I've been rejected every time.  I tried mailing to the address on the CR, I've emailed the president of the company, as well as other executives.  No dice.  Each time they say that they don't delete, but they'll mark it as settled or paid.  I'm still within SOL so I'm not bombarding them with letters, but once SOL passes I'll send them letters monthly.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure about Portfolio, but some CA's will not give you a paid for delete, but what they will do is. after you pay it....you DV and they will not reply and then it gets removed. try that. good luck

[IrishPM]

While I would not suggest this for everyone (depends on your circumstances) but using the BBB to file a complaint against a CA is an option. In my case, I documented, in writing, how Portfolio Recovery was violating the FCRA by continuing to contact me after I sent certified letters requesting that they cease and desist from harassing me on the phone.

The other part to this equation is that I used a technique I learned about from discussing this with an attorney who is also a friend.

I did in fact owe the debt. I want to be clear about that. However, what was suggested to me and what I followed up on was to write a letter to Portfolio Recovery and lay out my terms for payment (goodwill letter/GW) and stated that the terms were not negotiable. I went so far as to detail when the cashier's checks would be sent and method of how they would be delivered and that I would be including a "restrictive endorsement" statement on the back of the checks. I was very clear about my intentions.

I wanted my credit file cleaned up and they wanted to get paid. I appealed to their sense of greed and I wanted to clear my conscience and pay the debt. Win-win.

I had a stamp made up that I put on the back of each cashier's check I sent to them (with a letter attached) that simply stated that their "cashing or depositing the check was acknowledgement of the terms and conditions agreed to in the attached letter". This is called a "restrictive endorsement" and you should consult an attorney or check your state Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) to make sure it is binding (in your state). Remember that the front of the check is the "contract" and the back of the check is the "completion" of the contract.

According to my state law (and theirs), by their endorsement on the back of the check, they were agreeing to the terms and conditions of our agreement or "contract".

I want to make it clear that I am not advocating anyone do this but in my case it worked and Portfolio Recovery deleted their trade line from all 3 credit reports within 2 days of my payment.