866-873-5293 Calling? What You Need to Know

When your phone rang with the number 866-873-5293, Cavalry Portfolio Services was on the other end. They called you because they want to collect on a debt they bought from another company, probably a credit card or bank that gave up trying to collect.

Cavalry isn’t the company you actually did business with, and recognizing the difference is the first step in dealing with the calls.

This number has been flagged on all major complaint sites. Consumers say the calls don’t identify the caller and won’t stop even after the caller has been told they have the wrong person.

A History That Needs No Introduction

If you suspect that something isn’t quite right about these calls, your instincts are correct.

Cavalry Portfolio Services has racked up $44.4 million in combined regulatory penalties and class-action settlements. That includes a $24.15 million TCPA class-action settlement after the company was sued for calling consumers’ cell phones without consent using automated dialing systems.

The state of Arizona fined the company $175,000 for ignoring debt verification requests. West Virginia forced the cancellation of $19.7 million in debts. More on these below.

Why is Cavalry Portfolio Services calling me?

They bought your debt from someone else

Cavalry Portfolio Services is a debt buyer, not a traditional collection agency. They purchase portfolios of charged-off consumer debt from the original creditors (e.g., JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, HSBC, Lending Club). They pay pennies on the dollar for it and then try to collect the full amount.

When the original creditor sells your debt to Cavalry, Cavalry becomes the new owner and starts reporting the debt to the credit bureaus under its own name. This is why so many consumers have no idea who is calling them or why a company they’ve never heard of is suddenly on their credit report.

They might have the wrong person altogether

One of the top complaints about 866-873-5293 is that the calls are looking for the wrong person. When Cavalry buys debt in bulk, the account data is often incomplete or outdated. Phone numbers get recycled. Addresses change. Names get mixed up.

A user on RoboKiller reported in January 2026 that she received a call asking for the previous owner of her phone number. The caller refused to tell her who she was, only saying it was a “personal matter.” A different consumer on 800notes reported getting daily calls until he finally connected with someone who asked for a person who used to live in his apartment. These aren’t edge cases.

What are consumers saying about this number?

Callers who refuse to identify themselves

Consumers across every complaint platform describe callers from 866-873-5293 who are demanding personal information while refusing to provide any information about themselves.

One 800notes user nailed it: He asked me twice who was calling, and I was told, “I just told you who I am.” Then he proceeded to ask me to confirm my name and address.

An EveryCaller user shared a similar story: When he asked me to confirm my wife’s middle initial and our home address, I told him that if he knew enough about us to call, he should already know those things.

These conversations reveal a playbook designed to extract as much confirmation as possible and provide as little transparency as possible.

Persistent calling that ignores consumer requests

The call volume from this number is well-documented. RoboKiller has registered 43,576 total calls from 866-873-5293. The number has been flagged since 2014. Nomorobo classified it as a robocall more than a decade ago, and it remains active today.

One EveryCaller user issued a direct warning to others: Cavalry will call you repeatedly, even when you are not the person they are looking for. If you talk to them, they will never stop calling you.

A CFPB complaint details one consumer who received five calls to their workplace and at least ten daily calls to their personal cell phone despite asking Cavalry to stop calling.

The regulatory history of Cavalry Portfolio Services and what it means to you

The $24.15 million TCPA settlement

In Horton v. Cavalry Portfolio Services LLC, the plaintiffs alleged that Cavalry violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by calling consumers’ cell phones without consent using automated dialing systems. The settlement, which was finalized in October 2020, covered more than one million consumer accounts and included up to $6.15 million in cash payments and $18 million in debt forgiveness.

That settlement tells you everything you need to know about the calls. They are being generated by an automated system designed to dial as many numbers as possible without any regard for consent.

State enforcement actions provide broader context

Arizona Department of Financial Institutions issued two consent orders against Cavalry. The first, in 2008, resulted in a $15,000 fine for failure to investigate identity theft claims. The second, in March 2015, resulted in a $175,000 fine after the state found that Cavalry had routinely ignored debt verification requests and was reporting debts without underlying documentation.

West Virginia Attorney General settled claims with Cavalry in February 2016 after concluding the company was collecting debts in the state without a proper license, harassing consumers with excessive calls, and failing to identify the owner of consumer accounts in collection letters. The agreement required $350,000 in penalties, cancellation of $19.7 million in debts, and deletion of the associated accounts from the consumers’ credit reports.

Where does Cavalry Portfolio Services operate, and why does that matter?

A national footprint with regional pressure points

Cavalry Portfolio Services operates nationally with offices in Connecticut, Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and New York.

But the company’s exposure to regulatory action is not uniform across all fifty states. States like Arizona and West Virginia that have a history of aggressive consumer protection enforcement have already proven they are willing to fine Cavalry and force the company to cancel debts.

In fact, Cavalry’s West Virginia settlement was a direct response to the company’s failure to obtain the proper state license to operate as a debt collector in West Virginia. State licensing requirements vary, which creates holes in the company’s broader compliance framework.

Consumers in states with aggressive attorney general offices have an additional layer of protection beyond their federal rights.

State-by-state laws give consumers leverage

Many states have imposed their own state-level restrictions on debt collection activities that go beyond federal law, including tighter restrictions on call frequency and additional disclosure requirements. Understanding which state laws apply to your situation can dramatically shift the balance of power in your favor.

Credit reporting is broken

Credit reporting is a fundamentally flawed industry. It’s estimated that as many as 79% of credit reports contain some kind of error. When a debt buyer like Cavalry reports a new account, there’s a good chance the underlying data was already wrong before it ever showed up on your report. That’s why credit report disputes are such an effective tactic.

How to protect your credit and get the calls to stop

Why disputing through your credit report is the best strategy

The real problem with the calls from 866-873-5293 isn’t the calls themselves. It’s the damage those calls can do to your credit report. A collection account on your report from Cavalry or one of its many SPV entities can reduce your credit score and impact your ability to qualify for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards.

The credit score damage is the real harm here, which means the most effective way to respond is to go through the credit bureaus.

When you file a dispute with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, you are triggering a legal obligation under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The bureaus have thirty days to investigate. That thirty-day clock favors consumers because debt buyers who oversee millions and millions of purchased accounts often don’t maintain the kind of documentation necessary to verify a given account inside that thirty-day window.

And if Cavalry can’t verify the account? The credit bureaus are legally required to delete it. That process attacks the weakest link in the debt-buying chain: the reliability of the records themselves, which have already changed hands at least once.

What not to do

One of the worst mistakes consumers can make in this situation is to engage directly with the calls or make a payment to try and get them to stop. When you make a payment, you are creating a paper trail of acknowledgment that can be construed as admitting you owe the debt, which can have the effect of resetting the statute of limitations or creating a legal admission that can make it much harder to dispute the debt in the future.

Similarly, when you confirm your personal data in response to a call from 866-873-5293, you are giving Cavalry data points it can use to strengthen the position from which it is reporting on your credit. The consumers who refused to verify their information on EveryCaller and 800notes were protecting themselves whether they realized it or not.

You have more power than Cavalry wants you to know

Reclaim your financial identity

Cavalry Portfolio Services needs consumers to do nothing. The company buys debt on the cheap, makes as many calls as possible, and counts on people either paying out of fear or ignoring the problem until it hurts their credit. The $24.15 million TCPA settlement and those two state enforcement actions make it clear what the company’s priorities are.

Financial sovereignty is the goal here. This isn’t just about one phone number or one collection account. It’s about reclaiming your credit report, understanding your rights under the FDCPA, FCRA, and TCPA, and refusing to let a debt buyer dictate the terms of your financial life.

If Cavalry Portfolio Services is on your credit report, FightCollections.com can help you understand your options and dispute any accounts that are inaccurate or unverifiable. We start with a review of your credit report to pinpoint exactly what Cavalry is reporting. Then we help you take the steps necessary to put you back in control.