Complaint Review: Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc.

Back in late 2008, ChevronTexaco began to alter my interest rate, apply incorrect fees, and generally tinkered with my account. At the time, I was paying rent, a car, and other bills. I was working. I had no reason not to pay my bill with them, but on principle I refused to pay money I didn't owe. I called them once about it, they refused to fix the problem.

Chevron continued to assess late fees and overages for four months before turning it over to collection.

Except I never heard from collections.

It eventually just disappeared.

In August of 2012, Portfolio Collections called me saying I owed money on this account. I was glad to work with them and try to coordinate the amount I owed.

The short version: They wanted $1200, and I said I owed $700. But I'd be glad to pay them $500 total to make the entire thing go away.

I had this conversation with three time with three people at Portfolio before getting a manager. All in all, nearly an hour of talking with people. We negotiated the rate of $500 and agreed to the terms. And I said, "send me a letter and an invoice." Standard operating procedure for debt — you don't just give your credit card over the phone to anyone. She insisted that I had to go to their website and pay there.

I said no. Send me an invoice to prove you own the debt. I'm not paying through the web either.

She got angry, the call ended.

And two months later they called again. I repeated my conversation. I said call me when you can send a letter indicating you own the debt.

They called one more time, but I was on the road and unable to discuss it. I never heard from them again.

In February, a new debt collection agency sent a registered letter indicating they were representing Portfolio. Their name is Machol and Johannes, LLC… a division of the law firm, but they are not lawyers. They mention this every time you call.

They too have been unable to provide proof of debt ownership and have not honored the original $500 agreed upon settlement. They have agreed to $650, but never were able to prove they own the debt and/or send any kind of invoice, etc.

In all, I've had about 7 phone calls in less than a year trying to square this away. They now claim I owe over $1700.

I have called one more time today to try to clarify the subject with Portfolio who claim they can do nothing. Machol and Johannes now claim they have the right to garnish my bank account (which is in another state, so good luck) and has to this date still been unable to prove they own the debt.

I am still more than willing to pay the $500 I actually owe, but bankruptcy is clearly becoming the only way to stop them from continuing their abusive persuit of money.