What is Portfolio Recovery up with this letter? Is it about their Illegal Debt Collection Practices?

[missmama]

So I got this letter this week (redacted info for privacy)

Kinda interesting with what Portfolio Recovery just put on my credit report, yet this account on the letter isnt on my report? I'll try to explain... I went 8 years with no credit of any kind, it was about 2015 my credit was trashed and I let all my debts go. I was too sick for too long to care honestly. I haven't recieved any notices in years. They all aged off and I only had 1 bank loan with 1 late on my reports, and some all good older paid in full closed account from prior to the disaster. I had just started getting CC's last year. Ironically after getting some credit going, all of a sudden (2) Cap One accounts with Portfolio Recovery collections showed up on all 3 reports. I did not apply for any Cap One recently with my rebuild so I didnt trigger it that way. The collections show the wrong year of date as 2020 (off by years!), I knew I needed to get them taken off but I didnt get to research if that would trigger them to start calling and sending me letters again. But now here comes this letter, but this is for yet another Portfolio Recovery but for an old Paypal debt in the 800.00's. Obviously they are watching my report in some sort of way and then started reporting all of a sudden to get my attention. And it was at Lawyer's Office that is known to go to court so why are they making this move? Is it my credit moves causing this or is it due to the trouble they got in and they are making shady moves or something? Plus Portfolio Recovery is still the same company as PRA so what is going on here? Anyone have any insite on this?

Here is the letter:

 

Here is a post about the trouble they are in:

Portfolio Recovery Associates to Pay More Than $24 Million

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-in-the-News/Portfolio-Recovery-Associates-to-Pay-More-Than-2... 

[GZG]

the debt itself doesn't go away after 7 years if you never pay it, it just stops getting reported to your credit. they still own the debt and they want to be paid for it, and there's nothing stopping them from asking (unless you consider cease and desisting them)

this sounds like them saying 'hey, administratively we moved this debt from being handled by the law firm (because we might sue you) to being handled by us' (because we probably can't sue you anymore) 

if they report to your credit, you should be able to dispute and get it off based on how long it's been, assuming you haven't made payments on it since 8 years ago

you can also consider settling it or asking them to stop contacting you about it through a cease and desist

[OmarGB9]

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@GZG wrote:

the debt itself doesn't go away after 7 years if you never pay it, it just stops getting reported to your credit. they still own the debt and they want to be paid for it, and there's nothing stopping them from asking (unless you consider cease and desisting them)

this sounds like them saying 'hey, administratively we moved this debt from being handled by the law firm (because we might sue you) to being handled by us' (because we probably can't sue you anymore) 

if they report to your credit, you should be able to dispute and get it off based on how long it's been, assuming you haven't made payments on it since 8 years ago

you can also consider settling it or asking them to stop contacting you about it through a cease and desist

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In addition to the above, I want to clarify something about the 2020 date. I know exactly what you're talking about. You're talking about the "opening date" field, yes? If so, then that's not inaccurate, as it's not talking about the date the *original* account was opened - its talking about the date/year they acquired (or re-acquired) the file in their office. Either way, the 7 year reporting period is based off of the date of first delinquency of the original account, so if they indeed went delinquent and never got caught back up to current in 2015, then they're past the 7 year reporting period and can be disputed off.

[missmama]

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@GZG wrote:

the debt itself doesn't go away after 7 years if you never pay it, it just stops getting reported to your credit. they still own the debt and they want to be paid for it, and there's nothing stopping them from asking (unless you consider cease and desisting them)

this sounds like them saying 'hey, administratively we moved this debt from being handled by the law firm (because we might sue you) to being handled by us' (because we probably can't sue you anymore) 

if they report to your credit, you should be able to dispute and get it off based on how long it's been, assuming you haven't made payments on it since 8 years ago

you can also consider settling it or asking them to stop contacting you about it through a cease and desist

---

Thanks. I totally know debt never goes away, nor would I want it to. I believe we each go through our own things to make us who we are, growth is the key and I wouldnt change a thing in that regard.

I was more thinking to help with data here... questioning if these old collections are watching our reports and if so when and why do they decide to start reporting agian? It got to have something to do with my reports since I did apps and then there they are. Maybe there is some data we can figure out here on it. Then we know what actions to take and when. After all... I am a firm believer that knowledge is power... in EVERY aspect of life

[missmama]

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@OmarGB9 wrote:

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@GZG wrote:

the debt itself doesn't go away after 7 years if you never pay it, it just stops getting reported to your credit. they still own the debt and they want to be paid for it, and there's nothing stopping them from asking (unless you consider cease and desisting them)

this sounds like them saying 'hey, administratively we moved this debt from being handled by the law firm (because we might sue you) to being handled by us' (because we probably can't sue you anymore) 

if they report to your credit, you should be able to dispute and get it off based on how long it's been, assuming you haven't made payments on it since 8 years ago

you can also consider settling it or asking them to stop contacting you about it through a cease and desist

---

In addition to the above, I want to clarify something about the 2020 date. I know exactly what you're talking about. You're talking about the "opening date" field, yes? If so, then that's not inaccurate, as it's not talking about the date the *original* account was opened - its talking about the date/year they acquired (or re-acquired) the file in their office. Either way, the 7 year reporting period is based off of the date of first delinquency of the original account, so if they indeed went delinquent and never got caught back up to current in 2015, then they're past the 7 year reporting period and can be disputed off.

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Yes thanks that is what I mean, it is their date not the original. 

[bass_playr]

Portfolio has a long and distinguished history of not following laws.  Not sure if they still do, but they actually used to put, right under their name on their letterhead, "We give debt collection a good name!"  

I laughed to the point of wanting to vomit the first time I saw that.  

Anyway, debt collectors do watch our credit reports--but by law, they are supposed to have a permissible purpose to ever pull your credit to see what's on it.  If they own or are collecting on an account that you owe, that gives them purpose.  It's actually common for debt collectors to try to torpedo you if they see you're applying for credit, especially if you try to buy a house.  I cant count how many times I've heard of people applying for a mortgage, with clear credit, and then suddenly collections accounts pop up.  When that happens, most underwriters will demand that you pay off the existing collections accounts before they would approve you for a loan--so this gives debt collectors a relatively easy way to get paid.  

Honestly, with PRA, if you know the account is past the time they can sue you or report on credit, I would send them a certified letter telling them to cease all communication with you regarding that matter.  They can't report if it is too old.  They can't sue you either at that point.  The only way they can collect is if you decide to pay them.  But this is called zombie debt when it is beyond all SOL's.  When you send them a cease comms letter, they have to follow it.  Sometimes, they will sell off debts to even worse zombie debt collectors, but all you need to do to make them go away is the same cease communication letter.