One of the biggest collection agencies in the US is Portfolio Recovery Associates, which was established in 1996. For 4 to 10 cents on the dollar, the business purchases collection accounts from companies that handle credit card, auto, and wireless payments.
It tries to get the account’s outstanding balance. The business also buys consumer debt that has recently been discharged in bankruptcy.
What is Portfolio Recovery Associates? Are they authentic or a con?
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What Is Portfolio Recovery Associates? Are They Authentic Or A Con?
Portfolio Recovery is a genuine business. This organization actually collects debt. They are among the biggest buyers of debt. Banks, financial institutions, utility and telecommunication companies, as well as other service providers, sell their debts to PRA. It has earned a reputation for being a forceful debt collection agency.
Portfolio Recover is also known as PRA, Portfolio Recovery Associates, and Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC. There are 520 people working for Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC. They have offices in North Carolina, Tennessee, Kansas, Alabama, and Texas in addition to their Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters. It is a publicly traded company with the stock symbol PRAA, which is unusual for debt collectors.
Are You Obligated To Pay Portfolio Recovery?
Before Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC contacts you regarding a debt, you might not be familiar with them. They acquire debt from numerous primary and auxiliary creditors. The name of the initial creditor as well as PRA may appear on your credit report.
You might not be obligated to pay the original creditor or the current debt owner, though, for a number of different reasons. For instance, the debt might not be yours, the statute of limitations might have run out, or you might have already paid it off.
Take these steps when a collection agent at Portfolio Recovery Associates contacts you to collect a debt:
Validate Your Debt
When Portfolio Recovery Associates contacts you in an effort to collect a debt from you, confirm the debt right away. Act quickly because you only have 30 days to prove the debt.
Do you think verifying a debt is worthwhile? Yes, a 2013 FTC study found that collectors were unable to confirm close to 50% of disputed debts. Medical, telephone, and utility debts, as well as accounts that are older than six years, are the least likely to be validated accounts.
Verify that Portfolio Recovery Associates has legally validated the debt. Send them an insufficient validation notice if it doesn’t. There is no legal basis for collecting the debt if PRA is unable to verify it.
To protect your FDCPA rights, take the actions we outline in our article on Bills.com debt validation. No matter how strongly you may feel that you owe a debt, confirm it.
Learn The Statute Of Limitations On The Debt
How you respond to a collection call from Portfolio Recovery Associates will largely depend on whether the debt is older than the statute of limitations in your state. Take three steps to learn the statute of limitations status on your debt:
- Learn when the account became delinquent: When did you last pay this debt? Check your records, and if you don’t have any, check your credit reports to see what’s been reported, if anything. Use your own records as an accurate guide because the date on your credit report might not be accurate.
- Learn your state’s statute of limitations for this type of debt: To find out how long the statute of limitations is for your state, visit the Bills.com state statute of limitations page.
- Apply your state’s rule to your debt: Usually, the clock on the statute of limitations begins ticking when the account becomes past due. To determine if the statute of limitations expired, add 30 days to the date that your last payment was due and the number of years specified in your state’s statute of limitations.
If the debt was to expire, you would be fortunate. A collection agent like Portfolio Recovery Associates is prohibited from collecting past-due debt under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Send a written notice to Portfolio Recovery Associates to stop communicating if the time has run out.
If it can prove the debt exists and the statute of limitations hasn’t run out, go on to the following action.
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Is Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, A Reputable Business?
The company Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC is legitimate. Even though they are a legitimate business, they do not always act fairly. Before attempting to collect the outstanding debt, the company has a history of filing a lawsuit right away. If they are successful, they could levy your bank account, garnish your wages, and pursue other legal remedies against you.
When Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC sues you, they are hoping that you won’t pay attention to them. They will automatically win their case and can get a summary judgment if you do. Portfolio Recovery Associates and other debt collectors frequently use intimidation tactics like this to persuade debtors to make payments. Any time you are the target of a lawsuit, it is normal to feel anxious, but it’s crucial to keep your composure. It’s possible to have a strong defense in place even before the case officially begins in some lawsuits brought by debt collection agencies.
Can Portfolio Recovery Associates Be Deleted From A Credit Report?
Due to the possibility that PRA or another name the business uses will appear on your credit report alongside the original creditor.
Seven years after the delinquency date, the majority of accurate negative tradelines continue to appear on your credit report. Bankruptcies are valid for ten years, and if the creditor requests a renewal, judgments may be valid for even longer.
Inaccurate information on your credit report can be deleted. You can dispute the negative items on your credit report with the credit reporting agencies.
On the PRA website, it is stated that Portfolio Recovery Associates will ask for the removal of the PRA tradeline entry from your credit report once you pay off your collection account in full or pay a portion back as part of a negotiated settlement. Typically, the request is made 30 days after you have paid the account in full. The speed at which the credit bureaus operate determines how long something takes to disappear.
Partner with a debt settlement provider if you don’t feel comfortable negotiating. Teams of workers are employed by debt settlement companies who spend their days negotiating settlements. Debt settlement businesses rely on databases of prior settlements to inform their negotiators of the ranges that original creditors and collection agencies have previously accepted as settlement amounts.
What Should You Do If Portfolio Recovery Associates, Llc Gets In Touch With You?
Nobody likes working with debt collection agencies. It may be simpler if you are aware of what to anticipate and the procedures to follow when interacting with them.
Take the actions listed below if Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC has contacted you.
- Ask them to verify the debt: There is a possibility that it has changed hands several times by the time the business buys your debt. Mistakes can be made and frequently are. Along the way, paperwork can also get misplaced, which can lead to errors and make it difficult for the business to demonstrate that you are the one who is responsible for the debt.
- Removal from your credit report: You have the right to request that the business remove the debt from your credit report if they are unable to establish that it belongs to you. You can file a complaint with one of the three major credit reporting agencies, who will then be required to launch an investigation, if Portfolio Recovery Associates refuses to do this.
- Pay the debt: If Portfolio Recovery Associates can demonstrate that the debt is yours, you have two options. You have two options: pay the debt in full or try to negotiate a lower amount. The fact that Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC would prefer to recover some of the debt than none at all means that they frequently enter into these negotiations willingly.
It is crucial to work with a debt defense attorney if Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC has gotten in touch with you. A lawyer can present the necessary defense in your case and represent you in settlement negotiations.
The Company Portfolio Recovery Is Suing Me. What Do I Do?
When someone has been sued by Portfolio Recovery or another creditor, the first thing I tell them is that it’s common and that we will work through this together. We also know that Portfolio Recovery, one of the more litigious creditors we encounter, will work with you, particularly if you’ve gone through extreme hardship.
When a creditor or legal team acting on their behalf files a complaint with the state civil court, naming you as the defendant, that is when a debt collection lawsuit typically gets started. In the complaint, the creditor explains why you are being sued and what they are seeking from you in recompense. This frequently includes the amount you owe plus interest, potential late fees, attorney fees, and any associated court costs.
Frequently, the creditor’s lawyer or the creditor themselves will serve your papers to inform you of the lawsuit. The complaint and summons will be delivered to you as a result. For your personalized insights, there is a debt options calculator below.
Advice For Beating Portfolio Recovery Associates In Court
If Portfolio Recovery Associates sues you, you probably want advice and guidance on how to win in court. Fortunately, there are specific steps you can take to set yourself up for success in court. You can distinguish yourself from most customers, for instance, by simply responding to the Complaint.
Lawsuits for debt collection typically start when the debt collector (i.e. Portfolio Recovery Associates) serving you with a formal Summons and Complaint asserting that you owe a certain sum of money (i.e. the unpaid debt). Most consumers decide to ignore the complaint and take no action. This is a serious error because Portfolio Recovery Associates will simply move for a default judgment against you. If the Court grants the default judgment, Portfolio Recovery Associates will be empowered to take the following actions against you:
- Garnish your wages
- Take money from your checking account
- affix a lien to your personal property, such as, car)
Stop allowing this to happen to you. Go ahead and respond to the complaint formally by taking action. Spend some time in your response pointing out some of the lawsuit’s obvious flaws and shortcomings. Asking Portfolio Recovery Associates to provide evidence, for instance,, documents) showing the following basic information:
- You are the person in fact responsible for repaying the alleged debt;
- Portfolio Recovery Associates possesses the right to take legal action against you; and
- You owe the specific amount listed in the Complaint
It is crucial to request proof to prove these fundamental facts because it is common for these large debt collection companies to sue the incorrect party or fail to produce the essential financial records proving you are in fact responsible for the alleged debt.
You should, if appropriate, also take the passing of the statute of limitations into account as an affirmative defense. In simple terms, the statute of limitations specifies how long a party has to file a lawsuit before it can sue another person or business. You could file a motion to have the debt collection lawsuit dismissed if the case’s facts show that Portfolio Recovery Associates filed a lawsuit after the statute of limitations had passed. You can get assistance from SoloSuit in completing the required paperwork and navigating this process so that it can be submitted to the court.
Conclusion
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