Portfolio Recovery Information

I have been harassed for nearly eleven years.  It is due to a bill that PRAneeds to be paid.  I had my purse taken at a grocery store.  After calling the police who said they would take care of it.  I then called the company that i was suposed to owe the mony..  After explaining my situation, they said they would take care of it.They didn't.   I wrote several letters with the primary company and they said they transfered the account to PRA.  I would't pay it because I didn't owe this money.  They have been calling me several times a day for eleven years. Now, they are offering to lower the amount I owe them.   I don't no if I should pay the bill or not.  I just want to get them off my back.

Are you here for advice or to vent? It's difficult to follow your story. If you meant that you were an ID theft victim, it should go without saying that you should not have to pay for someone else's crime just to silence a phone. If so, you might try following the link to the FTC material I'd posted a mere two comments away from the one you'd replied to.

they do that so that you will pick up the phone to see who it is if you see the same number, you will not pick it up and talk with these terroristic frauders that keep calling about phantom payday loans that you do not have.

Buy a telephone tape recorder such as the Marantz PMD-201, hook that up to your telephone.  Buy a 3.5mm to 3.5mm jack to hook up your Marantz to your computers line input.
When they call YOUR PHONE, Record their consversation.  Inform them that all calls are being recorded and maybe posted on to YouTube.  If they tell you they don't consent, you tell them you don't consent to them telephoning you and by them calling your phone they automatically grant consent make sure you record this on to tape, if you want to sue them later. advise them to stop calling if they don't want their calls made to your phone recorded.  Download StepVoice Recorder. Install StepVoice Recorder.  Then upon up Windows Movie Maker and Paint use the text bar and type in SCAMMERS:  COLLECTION AGENCY TERRORISTS, THEIR PHONE NUMBER AND THE NAME OF THE REPRESENTATIVE.  Save the Paint File as a Tele1.BMP
Alt Tab over to Movie Maker click on Import Audio, import the file saved onto PC usually a MP3 file.
Then import Pictures/Video click on it, open Tele1.BMP enter
Drag the box with the BMP file over to video, stretch it out by clicking the end of the BMP file until the end of the audio file, save movie as click next and next.
Go to YouTube, upload the file, Presto!!!

Patricia, (Please tell me you did not use your real first and last names here)

Do Not Pay.  Do Not Reward Them For Abusing You.  Do Not Encourage Them To Abuse Others.

There Is A Better Solution.

I don't know what your state's statute of limitations is, but I am betting that these creeps are offering to cut a deal because they know they are trying to go after a debt which they are legally barred from pursuing.

YOU NEED AN ATTORNEY.  These guys are crossing the line and they need to be made to pay for it.

Please, go read up on the law.  Normally I would suggest that you go through a specific set of steps, but this has gone on for so long....  I'm getting angry just thinking about what you have gone through.

The process is normally to send a validation letter followed (if appropriate) by a cease and desist letter.  Even though the time deadline has long passed, I'm thinking a cease and desist letter stating that this is not your debt, and that it is the result of identity theft might be a good thing.  If you have a copy of the police report, that would be a big help.

But I really would like for you to speak with an attorney experienced in consumer law.  There is a special place in hell for these people, and I want you to get a judge to tell them that.

Call your Bar association and ask for the names of attorneys practicing in consumer law.  

In the short term, use a call blocker.  Panasonic makes phones with call blocking.  Google Voice is free, and you can forward your phone to it.  Make sure you keep a record of their calls.

Laws which apply, or may apply: FDCPA, FCRA, TCPA, Truth in Caller ID Act, Your State's law regarding the statute of limitations on debt, identity theft, etc.


Here are some links for you:

<http://fdcpalaw.blogspot.com/2010/01/consumer-sues-portfolio-recovery.html>  <- This could be you!

<http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpajump.shtm>

<http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcrajump.shtm>

Tell us your state, and I can give you more links.  

I would like to try and help you.  Can you reply here, and let me know if you will monitor this thread on a daily basis for a while?

Willdav713,

NO.  BAD ADVICE.  VERY BAD ADVICE.

What you are suggesting is childish and counter-productive.  Learn the law so that you can be effective in dealing with these sorts of problems.  Your advice could well destroy what is apparently a very good legal case against a CA who appears to be violating the law.

There is nothing wrong with recording calls.  If your state's laws permit it, I highly recommend the practice.  It doesn't have to be done with a Marantz, Tascam, or Olympus.  A Walmart, Office Depot, or Radio Shack "deal of the day" is just fine.

But posting it on Youtube is the behavior of someone who doesn't know how to fight back.  I want you to learn how to fight back.

Start by reading the FDCPA, and the FCRA:

<http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpajump.shtm>

<http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcrajump.shtm>

Read, Learn, Become Powerful, and Take Control.  But no more suggestions to get even with a collector using Youtube.  Save that for after you have won in court, and their check has cleared the bank.

Res,

It is a little hard to follow, I agree.  But I think she is asking what to do, not just venting.  If it is what I think it is, we really need to help her stick it to these jerks.  If I have misinterpreted her post (and it did take some interpretation) then that should reveal itself soon.

I took it to be an identity theft case.  If it is something weird, like the thief took the money she was going to use to pay a bill, and so she couldn't pay it, that will be a different story.

As always, I value your take on these things, as I do some of the other regular posters here.  It takes more than one pair of eyes to scrutinize some of the posts here.

Well, I had thought this was the woman from Oregon who every few weeks crashes into this and the other mystery call sites to moan and fume about her telemarketing job in windy run-on paragraphs. Looking back now, that person spells her last name with an extra 'e'. My apologies to anyone offended unintentionally.

My advice would have been close to yours, assuming ID theft is a correct reading of the story. I'd hit PRA with a dispute and a "shut up" in a single letter. If I'm deadly sure the debt isn't mine, there's really no point in demanding validation unless I want to see the agency squirm and/or break laws before failing to provide solid proof. I would as well be monitoring those phone calls for FDCPA violations until the cease-comm takes hold.

On a very long shot I would see if state law could smack the original creditor for selling an account which it should have known was a toxic asset. I'm a little surprised no one tried to sue after a decade, given how active PRA is in (at least) my court calendar.

Res,

I see no reason for you to apologize, you may very well be correct.  If she is so interested in help. she needs to check the thread and reply.  And her post was hard to make sense out of.

Besides, never apologize for acting on your convictions ;^)

i just received a letter from you people about an account i had years ago and it was claimed on a bankrupcy in 1980. so good luck to sears

Does Andrew Davis, commenting here fourteen months ago, sound like a PRA employee to you? Is there a header on this page which reads, "Welcome to Portfolio Recovery Associates"? Perhaps when you have worked out the answers and seen some of the advice in this thread, you will begin to build a proper defense.

No matter what number these jerks call from, I 'll never answer. You would think that after nine years that they would get that.

No nuisance caller can "take a hint", "borrow a clue", or "get the message" which you have not given. An autodialer is not capable of taking hints. It doesn't need coffee breaks or sick leave and it doesn't care how you feel or what time of day or night you get disturbed. If you want collection calls from known lawbreakers to cease, you have to actually make contact with their sources, and do so on paper and use a delivery method with physical proof of receipt. All of this has been discussed in this thread, and many others.

i am now with consolidated credit hot line 954-484-3328 and please do not take money from my checking account anymore like you did last month when i told you not to by phone and by email witch you never even
responded too. I would never tell anyone to use you. your customer service is awful they have no respect for anyone.

This site is not PRA, it did not make that call to you. Posting here and making the request that you have won't stop PRA from stealing money from your account nor will it stop them from calling you!

This site is NOT connected or affilated with Portfolio Recovery in any way!

You will have to notify them yourself. But posting as you have here is a misdirected effort that will achieve nothing for you!!!