That annoying phone number, 866-322-5258, is actually Portfolio Recovery Associates on the other end. They called you because they claim you owe them money.
But, before you do anything, you have to know who you’re dealing with, and your rights when dealing with them.
Portfolio Recovery Associates is not just some debt collection agency that calls you and leaves a voicemail. They are actually one of the largest debt collection agencies in the country, and they have been in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission and state Attorney Generals for their “aggressive” debt collection practices.
Who Is Portfolio Recovery Associates?
Full company name: Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC
Parent company: PRA Group, Inc.
Company type: Debt buyer (buys debts charged-off from original creditors for pennies on the dollar)
Headquarters: 120 Corporate Blvd, Norfolk, VA 23502
Industry verticals: credit card debt, consumer installment loans, auto loan deficiencies, telecom, retail, and utility debts
Company size: 3,200 to 4,500 employees with operations in 18 countries
Annual revenue: over $1.1 Billion (FY 2024)
BBB rating: B rating with over 2,200 complaints filed in the last 3 years
CFPB complaints: over 22,000 entries in the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database
Notable original creditors whose debts PRA purchases: Citibank, Bank of America, GE Capital, Dell Financial, Gap, Old Navy, JC Penney, Lowes
Company has been penalized by CFPB twice (2015 for $27 million and 2023 for $24 million) for illegal debt collection practices
A Company with a Documented Pattern of Violations
You are not the first person to complain about this phone number. PRA has twice been fined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for debt collection violations, once in 2015 for $27 million and again in 2023 for $24 million. In both instances, the company was found to be collecting on debts they couldn’t verify and filing false information with courts.
In 2019, the Massachusetts Attorney General reached a $4 million settlement with the company after they found PRA had been aggressively pursuing low-income, elderly, and disabled consumers.
On PissedConsumer, one consumer complained that “I was getting several collection calls almost on a daily basis, and at least twice a day from Portfolio Recovery for 3-4 months. They would call my home phone and if I didn’t answer, they’d call my cellphone and vice versa.”
Why Is Portfolio Recovery Associates Calling Me?
They Claim You Owe Them a Debt
PRA did not lend you money or issue you a credit card. They buy debts that other companies have charged off, and then they try to collect the balance from you. They might not even have the correct information about your debt. When a debt changes hands, the data can get corrupted. Sometimes, PRA tries to collect debts that are not yours, or debts that you’ve already paid.
A consumer on ShouldIAnswer said that PRA called them “scammer claiming I owe money which I don’t owe.” On 800notes, another consumer said they received repeated calls from the number but that no one left a message or any information about the debt.
These aren’t isolated incidents. In 2015, a jury awarded an $83 million verdict to a woman PRA pursued for a credit card debt she didn’t owe. The debt actually belonged to a man with a similar name in a different state.
What They’re Hoping You’ll Do
They’re Hoping You’ll Pay Without Questioning
Here is what PRA is hoping you will do: they want you to pay them without verifying your debt. They want to scare you into making a payment without asking questions, and this is why they call you over and over. This is what they want you to do. But you shouldn’t do it.
Paying a debt collector can bring back a debt that is past the statute of limitations. You may end up admitting you owe a debt you don’t. And you could be committing to keeping a negative mark on your credit report for up to seven years. Never pay a debt collector based on a phone call.
They’re Hoping You’ll Call Them Back
They also hope you’ll call them back. Do not do that. In fact, your very first move should not be to call the debt collector. If you call PRA, they could ask for information that identifies you, they may ask you to admit that you owe a debt over the phone, and they may convince you to sign up for a payment plan you don’t need.
One PissedConsumer reviewer said a PRA representative gave out the last four digits of someone else’s Social Security number in a wrong number call.
Before you communicate with a debt collector, you should consult with a credit repair expert. They can advise you on the best course of action to take in your particular situation.
Your Credit Report Is the Real Battlefield
Focus on Your Credit Report, Not the Debt
This is an important concept to understand: this fight isn’t about whether or not you owe money. It’s about whether or not this information should be on your credit report.
Information about your debts is kept on your credit report, and it affects the interest rate you pay, your ability to rent an apartment, and in some cases, whether you get the job you want. Information on your credit report has to meet a certain standard of accuracy.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, if information on your credit report contains errors such as the wrong balance, the wrong date, or the wrong account holder, you may be able to dispute it and have it removed from your report.
PRA has been penalized by the CFPB for failure to maintain the accuracy of information used for credit reporting, and failure to properly investigate consumer disputes.
On Top of That, One Successful Dispute Can Expose a Larger Pattern
If you dispute one collection account and you find that it has errors on it, don’t stop there. That one successful dispute should prompt you to scrutinize every item on your credit report.
Debt buyers like PRA purchase thousands of accounts at a time. If one of those accounts had errors on it, others could have those same errors.
Credit repair is a process, and it is not a guessing game. Credit repair experts understand this process. They can help you identify inaccuracies in the information on your credit report and help you remove those items if they don’t meet standards of accuracy.
Why the Calls Will Not Stop on Their Own
134,765 Tracked Calls and Counting
The phone number 866-322-5258 has generated 134,765 tracked calls, according to data from Robokiller, and it is classified as “Severe” threat level call activity by Nomorobo. Consumers say that PRA calls dozens, even hundreds, of times from different phone numbers to evade call blocking.
One senior citizen posted on a consumer forum, “I COMPLETELY closed my phone account due to them calling and calling and calling all from different numbers. SEVENTYFIVE calls in THIRTY DAYS!!! AND here is the clincher — I don’t owe ANYONE ANY MONEY!!!”
The Calls Are Designed to Wear You Down
All communication with a debt collector should be in writing. Promises made over the phone are not enforceable, and collectors know that. They would rather keep you on the phone, where nothing is written down and anything can be denied later.
In a complaint filed with the CFPB, one consumer said PRA told them they do not engage in aggressive calling. The consumer had blocked over 100 different phone numbers from the company.
Written communication gives you a paper trail, and it forces the collector to verify the debt.
How to Take Control of This Situation
Get Your Credit Reports
First, you should pull your credit reports from all three major credit reporting bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Look to see if there are any accounts showing up from Portfolio Recovery Associates. Check the balance they are reporting, the date of first delinquency, and whether the information matches any information you recognize.
Do not assume the information is accurate just because it is on your report. As we said, PRA has been penalized twice by the CFPB for collecting on debts they couldn’t verify and for inaccurate credit reporting.
Get Help Before You Take Action
Your next move should be to consult with a credit repair expert. They can help you evaluate your situation and determine the best course of action to take. This is not a game of chance. Disputing information on your credit report is a process governed by federal law. Experts who work on these cases all the time can help you identify errors that you might miss.
At FightCollections.com, we specialize in disputing incorrect collection accounts from consumers’ credit reports. We review your reports, identify actionable errors, and handle the dispute process on your behalf.
Don’t Let the Phone Calls Dictate Your Response
Don’t Let the Phone Calls Control You
Portfolio Recovery Associates hopes the phone calls will control your next move. They hope you will pay them without verifying the debt, call them back, or simply do nothing at all. All three of those responses work in their favor.
The phone calls are not going to stop because you want them to. They will stop when you take action on the one thing that really matters: your credit report. The phone calls are a symptom. What is on your credit report is the disease, and that is where you have the leverage.
Take Action Today
You don’t have to navigate this on your own. You don’t have to contact PRA and negotiate with them. The dispute process is in place for a reason, and there are professionals who can guide you through it.
Contact FightCollections.com today for a free consultation and find out what your options are for addressing collection accounts that are showing up on your credit reports.
