Can i sue portfolio recovery

It is important to remember that you have legal rights and protections when it comes to dealing with a debt collector like Portfolio Recovery Associates.

There are also certain defenses you can raise if Portfolio Recovery Associates has sued you to try and collect on an alleged delinquent debt. These affirmative defenses could position you to prevail over the debt collector in court.

If you have no idea who or what Portfolio Recovery Associates is, you are not alone. Many delinquent debts are packaged, sold and resold to multiple third parties, including purchasers of delinquent debts like Portfolio Recovery Services.

To help provide some insight into this debt collection company, here is some general info on their operation:. Since it was formed in , Portfolio Recovery Associates has developed a reputation as an aggressive debt collection company that routinely deploys questionable and unethical collection practices.

For example, consumers have highlighted the use of false or misleading information in an effort to collect on delinquent debts and Portfolio Recovery Services neglecting to provide written verification of the outstanding debt that is being pursued. Below is a general overview of some of the highly questionable and troubling tactics used by debt collectors working on behalf Portfolio Recovery Associates when contacting consumers:. If you were contacted by Portfolio Recovery Associates and were subjected to some, or all, of these questionable tactics, you may be able to take legal action against the company and obtain monetary damages.

As mentioned earlier, consumers have the ability to turn the proverbial table and take legal action against a debt collector.

The FDCPA is a federal law enacted in with the objective of protecting consumers from being harassed and threatened by debt collectors who were using abusive and unethical tactics to try and extract payments for delinquent debts. If you are sued by Portfolio Recovery Associates, you probably want insight and advice on how to prevail in court. Fortunately, there are certain actions you can take to position yourself for victory in court.

If Portfolio Recovery Associates has contacted you, it is important that you learn your rights and how best to protect yourself before offering any response.

Examples of common complaints against PRA include trying to collect a debt not owed and improper communication tactics. The following two real-world examples of complaints against Portfolio Recovery Associates illustrate these types of alleged violations.

As a debt collector, Portfolio Recovery Associates is not legally allowed to threaten to sue you, or threaten to garnish your wages. They are allowed to contact you via phone, text, or mail. However PRA cannot call you at inappropriate times including before 8 a. Though they are not allowed to threaten lawsuit or wage garnishment, if you do not pay a valid debt owed to them, Portfolio Recovery Associates may legally sue you in a court.

If they get a default judgement against you in court, the judgement will state the amount you owe and allow them to garnish your wages for that amount. If you owe a debt to PRA and are concerned with the possibility that they might garnish your wages, it would be wise to speak to an attorney before it gets to this point. Our attorneys have assisted countless consumers in fighting back against debt collector harassment and protecting themselves against wage garnishment.

Contact us now to see if we can help you as well! Please call now or fill out our Free Case Evaluation Form and one of our attorneys handling Debt Collector Harassment can evaluate your case. If any of the above applies to your situation, our attorneys can help! Tarshish Cody PLC represents consumers experiencing harassment from debt collectors like Portfolio Recovery Associates, and our attorneys are experienced in protecting your legal rights.

PRA is one of the biggest debt collectors in the country. What this means is that one lender can transfer a debt to another lender. The cost of the transfer does not affect the amount that is owed. So what can you do if you are faced with a Portfolio Recovery lawsuit or collection notices? Well that rule holds true in the law. When a lawsuit is filed, the court system assigns the case based on the amount sought.

In small claims, there is a case management conference at the beginning of the case. Whereas in county court and circuit court, there is no immediate hearing but the defendant has a day response time from the day the lawsuit papers are served.

When one company is suing based on the records of another company, it may be that the records are inaccurate. This option may be more realistic if you are unable to come up with funds to pay the debt and you have a lot of other outstanding debt, meaning that more creditor law suits are likely to happen. For this route, you must consider whether you have other assets, income and liabilities that would make this option either too expensive or not good for your situation.

We built a Chapter 7 Calculator to help determine whether you qualify and a Chapter 13 Calculator to help determine your plan payment if a Chapter 7 does not work for you. It is good to speak with Portfolio Recovery if you do not and cannot have money to pay the debt. I can help with that conversation. If you need to buy time to get the money together to attempt to settle, you can also file a reply to the case.

Rest assured that we have had great success in this area or we can point you in the right direction if we are unable to help. In this case, you may want to have a free consult to speak with a reputable debt collection attorney. If you do not know a reputable debt collection attorney, you cannot afford one, or if you want to represent yourself, please write me directly as there may be alternative options.

How do you mitigate this potential problem? My advise is to find someone who can review your credit report and give specific advise on a strategy including how litigious your creditor mix is.

Others do this service as they have creditor lawsuit data, and we do as well, so we are happy to do so. Also, I advise you to not pay for a credit report. The government allows you to get credit report from the 3 bureaus once per year. They key to reviewing a credit report is to look at specific trade lines and balances related to those trade lines.

This is situational from state to state. We wrote an article specifically highlighting information on garnishment and state statutes when debt collectors sue. There are many times where Portfolio Recovery will be able to obtain a judgment without your knowledge. Say for example that you were not able to receive the court summons.

The creditor, in this case, may ask the judge to have a judgment passed to them regardless of whether you received the summons or not. In this case, it may be more difficult to negotiate with Portfolio Recovery, but that is dependent on such things as whether your state allows wage garnishment or whether there are opportunities for levies or liens against an asset. It may also depend on how likely Portfolio believes it can collect money from you. Portfolio Recovery is in the habit of settling debt via a payment plan or a lump sum payment prior to lawsuit.

You should be able to do the same. You also may be able to avoid a future lawsuit if you are able to get a structured settlement plan in place with them today. Feel free to contact us directly with any questions about how this may work your budget. Absolutely, we are experts here to help. Our conversations and emails are always free. We will never move forward to offer our services unless we believe it is best for your situation. Feel free to comment below with your questions.

First, I would recommend to speak with them and be completely open with your financial situation. We built a Bankruptcy Calculator to help compare your options and your costs.

We do not know why, but Portfolio Recovery is notorious for not wishing to provide settlement documentation in writing. This is a common practice amongst most creditors, so we do not know it has taken this stance. There are three common ways to deal with this:.

I have not personally seen Portfolio Recovery not follow through on the settlement, but I am not sure everyone can say that. Drop me a note if you have any questions. Your situation is unique, so you will always be the best person to understand what you should do in any situation. Group of guest writers and industry experts who have specific expertise in Chapter 13 bankruptcy, Chapter 7 bankruptcy, debt relief, debt settlement, and debt payoff.

We will file a report with FTC, then local police, then go from there. Hey Jill, thanks for the comment. Yeah, I believe PRA may intentionally make it broad, so that you call and they can get you on the line to try to get you to pay. Is it not already on his credit report? Generally PRA will get involved when the account has been on the report for quite some time.

This is definitely a strange situation, so I would recommend to also reach out to PRA to understand what is going on. Hey Tiffany, sorry to hear that you got a summons. It really depends on what you want to do. Portfolio would probably still settle before court, so that may be an option. I received a Judgement letter from PR from debt. The debt was from when I lived in Missouri, I now live in Texas. Are they able to garnish our bank account?

Also if the judgement was against me will they be able to garnish my husbands pay? Hey Vicky, thanks for the questions. You have a couple great questions here, so I am going to follow up over email to make sure everything gets addressed. What do you do if you are trying to call the attorneys for Portfolio Recovery to settle at a lower price after being sued?

They are not taking my calls. Should I fax them or call Portfolio Recovery?