Portfolio Recovery Associates

Carrie,
Go and check this site, and read the article, and then ask questions on 'what to do in your case' -the author of the article answers questions for free, you will find out step by step 'waht to do':

http://hanavee.hubpages.com/hub/You-Can-Beat-Credit-Card-Debt-Collectors

there are a lot of cases like yours, and you will learn of things that you do not know until you read.
your questions will be answered, also you will find a lot of comments re: different situations like yours.
it will be a very good, 'huge' help for you.
good luck!

If you owe it pay it and stop whining on line if you don't, trigger cease communication with the agency and keep records.  For real information about debt collection and resolving debt go to askdoctordebt.com/ or maybe more name calling is always helpful to weasel out.

Such is the attention span of a "pay yuz bills" shill, catcalling the OP who was a *representative* of the debt collector. The problem and the available solutions are not nearly so black-and-white as you or your suggested website would paint them. "Doctor Debt" is a public relations vehicle of the debt collection industry, slapped up a few years ago as scrutiny of its lawbreaking ways by the public, the courts, and regulators became too hot for comfort.

To amplify on the reply by Resident47:

From their own website at http://www.acainternational.org/about-foundation-92.aspx :

ACA International Education Foundation receives its support from the generousity of ACA members and the debt collection industry. We have a simple mission to help increase consumer financial literacy, which we carry out primarily by building awareness and use of Ask Doctor Debt...
--

Emphasis on: "receives its support from...the debt collection industry."

Sort of like a Chicken Coop Security Advisory Council, funded by the association of Hungry Chicken Eating Weasels, Foxes, and Associated Predators.

Not my idea of a trustworthy consumer resource ; ) .

Here is an updated list with even MORE of their numbers:

204-949-3108
205-423-4020
205-588-8181
212-000-4956
215-944-8989
239-642-8598
404-580-0720
404-592-5171
404-968-4848
405-329-5714
407-347-4014
407-575-1863
407-583-4913
407-982-2990
407-982-3681
410-282-1420
412-235-6111
412-282-1420
416-800-9148
440-580-0720
443-313-1380
484-489-2840
510-355-1780
512-519-3650
513-878-4916
518-207-3600
561-203-9983
602-264-2270
602-286-5100
602-795-1383
604-637-3300
605-782-2890
616-608-0982
620-662-1492
620-662-8870
626-209-2241
626-209-2244
661-673-4507
678-265-1568
702-410-7069
702-410-7497
714-408-3640
714-680-3192
714-992-2282
724-250-9158
727-637-8527
731-215-8010
731-984-7690
757-321-2508
757-321-6271
757-321-6279
757-321-6280
757-321-6281
757-321-6282
757-519-9300
757-847-4539
757-864-0020
757-961-3544
757-961-3545
757-961-3546
757-961-3547
757-961-3548
786-206-8643
800-294-7691
800-427-7142
800-453-4440
800-473-7994
800-772-1413
818-996-0404
847-678-9710
847-791-0193
847-994-2540
847-994-2544
855-218-9622
858-346-1184
859-586-9557
859-918-0780
859-918-0782
864-268-3762
866-240-7530
866-658-7508
866-691-3568
866-887-0973
866-891-3257
866-940-7640
877-275-8236
877-533-6688
877-749-9731
877-803-0008
877-876-8723
888-218-5212
888-543-6072
888-772-7326
914-513-0163
914-595-7031
918-442-0320
937-428-4121
973-947-4806
980-939-7534

The site is "Who calls me?" .com.  It is so people can share information about who is calling them.  It's not on here for trollers to show up and tell people to rudely shut up.  Obviously YOU have nothing better to do than come on here and try to start arguments with strangers.  (Seems funny coming from someone who seems to think they have no troubles of their own and ALL the answers.)  Idiot.

Here are a couple more numbers for PRA that are Atlanta area numbers. These are current as of Today. Thanks for all the info that is contributed here!

407-347-4021
404-719-4368

Peace

Bob is a complete ass. Weezle out? You sound like a debt collector that buys old debt and pretends that your doing the "noble" thing not a money making adventure. Fact is that some debts are accurate, but many aren't. Do you really think I'm going to pay for a debt from a stolen credit card that was already through the courts? Debt collectors do, in fact they're so lazy they don't even want to investigate if a debt is correct or not. The debt collector has avenues to go to including court, stop crying like your a victim if someone won't pklay with the dirtbags that collect bought debt..

Calls from Puerto Rico to any number of Portfolio Recovery doesnt go thru.  I need to call ASAP

Why would you call?  Did you receive WRITTEN notice from them????   Otherwise consider a call from them worthless (no matter what they say).

They called after 8:00pm and said I owe a debt from 1995.I have never laughed so Hard!!!
Really I told her if you didn't get it then you are never going to get!!!

My dad was receiving letters from them. I looked at one about a Month ago, and their statement had this big advertisement "ACT NOW AND SETTLE FOR 25%". Looked like a special from Kohl’s, or Target being advertised.

My dad mentioned that they called his home looking for him. It turned out to be the wrong person with a similar name, which eased my concerns of I.D. Theft.

Can anyone confirm if these were violations?

1. The Collector gave the last four of the persons SSN to my dad (different from my Dad's)
2. My dad asked who they were and they said: "We're sorry to have bothered you (hang up)."

SHUT DOWN Portfoio Recovery & other Scammers & Con-Artists like them!!  KNOW YOUR RIGHTS & REPORT THEM!! As of 10/16/2013 new laws & rules are in effect, go to Privacy Star's website or facebook page for info or refer to this article from their website: http://www.privacystar.com/new-telemarketing-rules-effective-october-16-2013: http://www.privacystar.com/new-telemarketing-rules-effective-october-16-2013

Quote from article:
Telephone Consumer Protection Act Further Protects You – Know Your Rights When It Comes to Who’s Calling You

What is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)?
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) was initially implemented in 1991 to protect you from unsolicited calls. In addition to setting the regulations for what is allowed, the TCPA provides guidelines for individuals to file lawsuits and collect damages for receiving unsolicited telemarketing calls, faxes, pre-recorded calls, or autodialed calls.

For detailed information on what is allowed and what isn’t, please check out know your rights when it comes to telemarketing and debt collection calls.

I would backtrack to the dunning letters, and assume until you say otherwise that they too were meant for your Dad's not-quite doppelganger. Those and their phone calls violated the FDCPA rights of *the other guy* for discussing that person's debt with a stranger to him, your Dad. I would need doc scans and transcripts to weigh for violations against your Dad, but those would come down to how specifically PRA asserted that *he* owed something.

Point #2 could go in a few directions without case details. The rep's sudden exit could have been from dawning realization that they had the wrong person and might generate privacy violations. Jumping off the phone in a hurry to avoid disclosing a company name as requested would violate FDCPA regardless of who wants to know.

Okay, but as countless losing lawsuits have made very clear, the TCPA is not designed to address or cover debt collection agencies. A minority of anti-DCA cases have applied TCPA successfully only when mobile phones were abused *and* when a narrow and mitigated standard of privacy violation has been met.