Dealing with Portfolio Recovery PFD ?

[Shadowfactor]

About 3 weeks ago I sent a PFD letter through certified mail to Portfolio Recovery for a collection account I have with them. They recieved the letter according to the post office. I tried calling them 2 days ago to talk to them about the letter and see where I stood with it. The person I spoke with stated they didnt get the letter. Not sure if he just didnt know about it or what ? He told me that they don't do PFD, its a company policy. Any body have any luck with this ?

The amount of the collection is $670 and its from March 2015 to Capital One.

I would really like to get the PFD request pushed through. Any Suggestions ?

What are my other options ? Settling ?

I'm looking for the best option to clean up my report and improve my score.

[Sandman771]

Good luck with Portfolio Recovery. They are obstinate, aggressive and a general PITA. There have been some success stories on here, but few and far between. On a personal note, I would think more collection agencies would act like Midland and offer PFD's. You would think it would enhance their recovery rates. 

I too have one with them from Synch and I can't get it deleted for anything although it was PIF.

[Anonymous]

I absolutely loathe PRA. LOATHE. I was recently in a similar situation as you are. $720 collection account with PRA from a charged off Cap One cc. I requested a PFD and about 10 days later they removed the account from all 3 bureaus but didn't respond to my letter. I then called them and PIF for a few different reasons. I know that many in this community will say it was stupid that I did because it strips me of negotiating power,  but I am applying for a mortgage soon and would have needed to pay it anyway prior to closing. I could have paid a negotiated amount but my mortgage will require a manual review, so I knew if it was re-reported it would look better if the debt was PIF.

Anyway, I paid them on 12/5. They deducted the money from my account on 12/7 and re-reported the collection account to all 3 bureaus on 12/8. I spoke to a supervisor who told me he had "no idea" why the account was removed. In addition to re-reporting, they added a remark, "Dispute resolved, customer disagrees." I don't even know what the heck that is supposed to mean, but I'm assuming it's PRA's way of trying to make me look bad during a manual review. (Also, I'm not their flippin' customer and never was.)

They will not do a PFD unless you have a valid and legal reason for them to do so. If you can find ANY instance where they have acted inappropriately or in violation of the FDCPA then I suggest you negotiate using that. They will not PFD and they will not do a GW removal unless they are legally obligated to. If you Google them you will see they have been heavily fined in the past for their shady collection practices, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that they've made a mistake with your collection. Read every post you can about people on this forum who have successfully gotten a PFD or removal. They do make mistakes. If you find one, exploit it.

They are total @#$%! and (in my opinion) go out of their way to report in ways do that do as much damage to a consumer's credit report as they can. 

[Anonymous]

I absolutely loathe PRA. LOATHE. I was recently in a similar situation as you are. $720 collection account with PRA from a charged off Cap One cc. I requested a PFD and about 10 days later they removed the account from all 3 bureaus but didn't respond to my letter. I then called them and PIF for a few different reasons. I know that many in this community will say it was stupid that I did because it strips me of negotiating power,  but I am applying for a mortgage soon and would have needed to pay it anyway prior to closing. I could have paid a negotiated amount but my mortgage will require a manual review, so I knew if it was re-reported it would look better if the debt was PIF.

Anyway, I paid them on 12/5. They deducted the money from my account on 12/7 and re-reported the collection account to all 3 bureaus on 12/8. I spoke to a supervisor who told me he had "no idea" why the account was removed. In addition to re-reporting, they added a remark, "Dispute resolved, customer disagrees." I don't even know what the heck that is supposed to mean, but I'm assuming it's PRA's way of trying to make me look bad during a manual review. (Also, I'm not their flippin' customer and never was.)

They will not do a PFD unless you have a valid and legal reason for them to do so. If you can find ANY instance where they have acted inappropriately or in violation of the FDCPA then I suggest you negotiate using that. They will not PFD and they will not do a GW removal unless they are legally obligated to. If you Google them you will see they have been heavily fined in the past for their shady collection practices, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that they've made a mistake with your collection. Read every post you can about people on this forum who have successfully gotten a PFD or removal. They do make mistakes. If you find one, exploit it.

They are total @#$%! and (in my opinion) go out of their way to report in ways do that do as much damage to a consumer's credit report as they can. 

[Shadowfactor]

Let’s say after a couple months of trying. If I end up settling the debt and paying it. Would that help my report or scores any ?

What happens if I contact Capital One and pay them directly ? Then am I able to dispute it saying it was paid in full to original creditor ?

[Sandman771]

The only thing that helps is a clean report, although a PIF collection is much better than one that reports every month. I'm not trying to be opaque, but that is just my experience. I paid mine and they are still there just aging slowly. 

[Anonymous]

My guess is that Cap One will direct you to PRA if you attempt to pay the debt through them. 

Even if Cap One accepted the payment, PRA is still going to claim they own the debt and continue to report. You don't want to find yourself in a position where you have to pay the same debt twice!

If you're not in a position where you need to utilize your credit in the near future then you can take some time to evaluate your options. Just keep in mind that PRA is known for suing consumers even over small debts such as yours. A judgment is going to be a lot more damaging than the collection activity. Also, they'll tack on court and attorney fees and the amount you owe will skyrocket.

[RobertEG]

Paying the OC does not establish any basis for requiring deletion of a reported collection.

In fact, CRA policy is that furnishers should not delete reporting based on consumer payment of the debt.

The basis for that policy is to maintain the completeness of consumer payment history profiles.

In the extreme, if payment of the debt were basis for deletion of reporting of adverse history information, consumer payment history would no longer provide a complete view of credit history, and would loose predictive value.

Reporting of a collection is placing of record in a consumer's file the fact that the debt was assigned or transferred to another party for attempts to collect on a delinquent debt.  Ultimate payment of the debt does not negate the fact that involvement of a debt collector was part of the history of obtaining payment of the debt.  There is no disputable inaccuracy in collection remaining in a consumer file based on payment of the debt.

The CRAs do have a policy of instructing debt collectors to delete their reported collection if their collection authority is terminated with the debt remaining unpaid.  In such situations, a new debt collector can subsequently obtain collection authority, which entitles them to then report their collection.  The CRA policy of deletion based on termination of collection authority on an unpaid debt is intended to prevent plural collections from simultaneously being included on the same debt.  It does not apply to collections concluded by payment of the debt, regardless of whose hands the payment is placed in.

[Shadowfactor]

Any advice on dealing with PRA ?

If I just settle this amount. Will it help my scores any since it will report as a paid collection ?

[Anonymous]

No, it will not improve your score unless it's a scoring model that does not factor in paid collection accounts. Vantage 3.0 and FICO 9 are two of those models but aren't widely used by lenders at this point.