Cinci
Cincinnati,#2Consumer Comment
Mon, October 19, 2009
People at PRS continue to call me to collect a debt from someone with a similar, but not exact name as I. The residence history is different too. When I tell them this, they accuse me of lying. Very aggressive, threatening and interrogate like the KGB. After checking them out on the internet, it is apparent that they are predators that prey on poorer and unsophisticated people that can't fight back. Wealthy people have attorneys to deal with this stuff. They need to be shut down! Since it operates across state lines, it is a Federal thing. Contact your Senator and Congressman and demand action! Obama is for the little guy so send emails to the Whitehouse too. Let get it done!
Daniel
Christiansburg,#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Tue, October 13, 2009
As a former employe of this company I stand with the american public and inform anyone that this company is a total RIP OFF. When 3 business men all friends thought up the idea of buying bad debt they invested their collective savings into it. They now own a major industrial site in Norfolk, Virginia and employe over a thousand employees. The company goes to all the major corporations and buys credit paper and loans for and average of 3 cents on the dollar. The company then imputs the information into a main frame computer system. Then in their most famous words state "let the games begin."
It doesn't matter if the loan is valid or not all that matters is if they can get the consumer to pay it. Loans and charges that may have been fraudulent are of no matter to these people. You can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that whatever they are calling you about is not valid it does not matter. I was employed at the time that after making millions the company began to buy auto loan paper. This company violates the FDCPA thousands of times a day. Each violation is worth 1000.00 dollars to the consumer harmed by these violations. However, no one is really going after them. Say you did have an auto loan and the car was repoed and you still owed money on it. The owner of the loan then writes the loan off to save on taxes then in turn still attempts to collect..After a short period of time money from the resell of the auto is collected and the loan is completely written off. FOR SEVEN YEARS this can be reported on your credit file then by law it has to be removed. However, Portfolio Recovery Associates buys the paper and now owns the loan and rereports it to the credit reporting agencies under a new name and it pops back up on your credit. This can go on for 30 years.
I have seen people be denied home loans or have their checks garnished. There is no end to the dirty deeds this company will employe. After an intensive class on how to be the most uptight a*****e you are given the opportunity to help the dirty three to continue to ripoff your fellow americans.
You want to hear a real scream? As an employee you are promised a commission on any account you collect. There is a control room in the center of the building in Norfolk with high tech equipment and computers where the owners sit day and night amd monitor EVERY CALL. I personally collected an 80,000 eighty thousand dollar account.My commission was supposed to be 10%. Eight thousand dollars. after I received account information to collect the money my call was busted in on and I was written up for violation of the FDCPA and stripped of the commission and my base salary and was fined by the company a thousand dollars. Come to find out the debt was from a deceased man and was over twenty years old and had been settled 18 years before. The widow of the man was selling her home to go into a retirment home and the sell was not allowed because the company that owned the loan in the beginning forgot to write it off as paid and sold the loan to Portfolio Recovery Associates by mistake.The widow not knowing any better paid Portfolio Recovery Associates again. Before anyone could step in a help this person she up and died of a heart attack. Portfolio Recovery Associates kept the money fired me when I took them to court. So not only are they ripping consumers off they rip off their own employees.
You cannot belive anything and I mean anything this company tells you. When they call and inform you that they are here to help you resolve whatever debt they claim you owe thell them you have resolved it. YOU HAVE RESOLVED NOT TO PAY THEM ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY WHATSOEVER!! When you are threatened with legal action tell them to BRING IT ON!! Trust me they won't. For one thing they must bring every written correspondence, phone conversation and all legal papers proving the debt and validity of such. 9.999999999999999999% of the time it can't be done. And by the way no one can threaten you with legal action unless they are prepared to follow through. Go online and download a free copy of the Fair Debt Collections Practice Act. FDCPA. When they yell at you yell right back...
In my uncles famous words tell to to go pound salt up their asses and hang up on them. THe only way these three are making money is through fear and ignorance. Once I found out, and that was within two weeks of being on the main floor and after collecting the necessary information for an eighty thousand dollar collection, I went to sue them.They then fired me, hell I wasn't going back anyway. It breaks my heart, I swore to defend this nation aganist all enemies and I failed this poor soul against a major enemy of the American consumer, Portfolio Recovery Associates.
Portfolio Recovery Associates are nothing more then THUGS. Stand up for yourselves people. GOD BLESS YOU and Semper FI. USMC Christiansburg, Virginia.
Dravendebtcollect
USA#4General Comment
Mon, October 05, 2009
BUT IF YOU ARE WANTING THESE AGENCIES TO LEAVE YOU ALONE, FILE A WRITTEN DISPUTE AND PROVE YOUR DISPUTE OR PAY THE BILL. WHEN MONEY IS OWED TO A COMPANY THEY HAVE A LEGAL RIGHT TO CALL TO COLLECT IT. YOU GUYS SAY HARRASSMENT. BUT YOU DO NOT EVEN UNDERSTAND THE TERM.
CALLING ONCE A DAY OR 3 TIMES A WEEK TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE TO GET A REASON WHY THE BILL HAS NOT BEEN PAID OR IS NOT BEING PAID IS NOT HARRASSMENT. I THINK IT IS UP TO YOU TO FIGURE IT OUT.
ACCORDING TO FEDERAL LAW, I, AS A DEBT COLLECTOR, CAN HAVE CONTACT WITH YOU ONCE A DAY, UNLESS ARRANGEMENTS ARE MADE FOR A SECOND CALL. SOME CITIES AND STATES HAVE A BIT STRICTER LAWS, BUT CALLING TO ASK YOU WHAT YOUR STORY IS, IS NOT HARRASSMENT. THESE COMPANIES YOU MENTION ARE LEGIT COMPANIES, THEY MAY CALL YOU, BUT CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD THE COLLECTOR AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
tailer
Poulsbo,#5Consumer Comment
Sun, October 04, 2009
I have not had any personal contact with this low life company, but I have had contact with others. I found an attorney who fights these people and I am in the process of setting a settlement. It is not much but at least it is a ding in their bank account. And if more and more people do this, then maybe it will someday hurt them enough financially. Portfolio needs to be shut down along with NCO, Creditors Interchange, CollectCorp or at least given hefty fines.
Dh
albany,#6
Sat, September 19, 2009
Anybody starting a class action suit against this group please contact me at (((Redacted))). I am with you 10 million percent. I hate dirt bags who scam innocent people. I am fighting to get a bill off my credit report that is not mine being collected by portfolio recovery associates. It takes up so much time. They should all be sent to jail for abusing consumers the way they do.
CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.
Bob
Somerset,#7Consumer Comment
Sun, April 19, 2009
They will only "go away" if you make them. I reported them with my own story and experience on this site as well as on others like it. I have contacted an attorney who makes them PAY! My case has been filed and the persons at Portfolio Recovery are required to pay damages and lawyer fees. They will also be required to remove the inquiry they made on my credit report and may also have to pay damages to my parents, who they called and harassed repeatedly before I got involved. You CAN NOT ignore them, they will not go away on their own and they will not stop trying to get you to relent. Use the internet to find a lawyer who does this sort of thing. Everything they have been reported doing is ILLEGAL! Regardless of whether or not the debt was yours to begin with.
Laurie
Haslet,#8Consumer Comment
Thu, April 09, 2009
This is Federal laws that collection agencies are required to follow - unfortunately CA's like this one don't give a d**n. If the OP had read this report on right here on ROR - he would know the BBB is absolutely worthless and why you cannot count on them to fix anything! Better Business Bureau or Buyer Better Beware? BBB ............Nationwide Alert! ........... THE FOX GUARDING THE HEN HOUSE *UPDATE Ex-Employee responds ..The Better Business Bureau is a fraud http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/001/ripoff0001343.htm Also if the OP had bothered with a quick internet search - he would find hundreds of complaints already filed as well as sites like www.budhibbs.com - that would have helped him. If ROR removes the link SEARCH THE INTERNET ON BUD HIBBS. When on this site - view the Dateline Videos - about bad debt collectors. What is very interesting is the ACA says they do their best to get rid of bad debt collection companies. yeah- right - they are not doing anything at all. Neither is our government!
Fdcpaviolationswinner
Lockport,#9Consumer Comment
Thu, April 09, 2009
When it comes to place of employment, if the agency knows that personal calls are not permitted, calls must stop.Otherwise, it's an FDCPA violation if calls continue. This request doesn't have to be in writing either. A great trick i tell debtors in this predicament is to have another employee call back the agency if they leave a voice mail or have them pick up in live contact and tell the agency "Joe Debtor cannot receive these calls at POE." Do you know how many collectors either don't know or dare to test you on the fact that Joe Debtor doesn't have to personally state "no calls allowed at POE" ? Especially if your company records all incoming and outgoing calls, these violations will be easy to track. Otherwise, make sure you have live witnesses that can confirm the continued calls and document date,time and witness signatures who observed the calls in writing. Take them to court and personally throw a few bucks afterwards towards "your witnesses" after you get your check for FDCPA violations. More often than not, agencies will settle out of court to avoid civil exposure under these circumstances.
Steph
Minor Hill,#10Consumer Comment
Mon, April 06, 2009
A bill collector has no right to call you at work and harrass you about a debt.It is against the law for them to call you at work. I had a couple ask me for mywork# and I refused to give it 1 even asked me for my bank imformation I also refused to give it. The next time they call you at work put them on hold for a long time
Robert
Buffalo,#11Consumer Suggestion
Sat, April 04, 2009
The most effective direct action a consumer can take is to SUE them in district court. You should go to the FTC website, www.ftc.gov and download the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the Fair Credit Billing Act and then SUE them for any violations they commit. Also, you should write to your representatives in Congress to INCREASE the statutory damages for FDCPA violations (the law was written in 1977) to reflect today's economy and create a real deterrent of FDCPA and FCRA violations.