Dealing with Portfolio Recovery

Anonymous · ‎06-10-2020

Hi,

i had a credit card account with Barclays Bank Delaware that they closed 3-4 years ago because of late payments. the balance was around $20,000 at the time. in April 2018 the debt was bought by Portfolio Recovery and now they are showing on my credit report as collection for $21,908. i'm trying to put my life back together and fix my credit for the last six months but this one is hurting badly. i was told that they usually buy debts for pennies and that this could be negotiable. i also heard that they were hard to deal with so i was wondering if anyone had a good experience in dealing with them and had a suggestion on how to negotiate that debt?

i was thinking about offering $10,000 instead of the $21,908 and split the payments over 20 or 24 months. I also heard that i shouldn't contact them by phone but only through mail, is that correct?

Please let me know your thoughts!

Red1Blue · ‎06-10-2020

Others might have a different opinion. I dealt with PRA on 5 Collections and they are not that bad to deal with. You can call them over the phone. Just be cautious when you are speaking with them. I forgot to ask. Is the account bought out by PRA or are they acting as collectors to Barclay ? Is Barclay still showing the balance on their account in your credit report or is it showing as $0 ? I would not put $10k offer first. I would start with 10% as the settlement offer and slowly go up as needed. You might be able to get settlement with for less amount. All the best.

Brian_Earl_Spilner · ‎06-10-2020

Look it up on their website. It'll show you what options they're offering.

Anonymous · ‎06-11-2020

I have a collection I am currently paying. The original balance was 750. It went to collections back in 2016 I believe. I made a few payments at the time but stopped. I got the balance down to around 600. I went on their website and looked at the options. I am paying 20 every 2 weeks and settled on the website for a little over 300 I believe. Once the payments are done, they will delete. So I would start by using their online portal first. You can also put in your own number and it will accept or deny. They also have live chat, so that's good if you want something in writing.

Red1Blue · ‎06-11-2020

@Anonymous wrote:
So I would start by using their online portal first. You can also put in your own number and it will accept or deny. They also have live chat, so that's good if you want something in writing.

I did not know about the PRA Web settlement offer. Around January, I had 5 accounts with PRA and I called them over the phone and settled them all at the same time and paid using my debit card. The CAs dropped off in about 6 weeks from all my reports.