PRA sent me a bill for a debt I paid 10 years ago - SCAM!!!
Complaint
Kathy Fuson
Country: United States
SCAM ALERT!!!
I paid Regional Adjustment Bureau 10 years ago in full for a bad debt. Recently, I received a bill from Portfolio Recovery Associates for the same account I paid off 10 years ago. The bill arrived using a name I haven’t used in 10 years and was also mailed to my mother’s house where I don’t live. I have found many complaints similar to mine on the internet. With this said, I find it hard to believe that this is just a “mistake”, like Portfolio Recovery Associates told me, but rather an attempt to deliberately collect money on the same debt twice. I think they are counting on people who won’t save their payment receipts for that long, and feel they would be an easy target. I don’t know how Portfolio Recovery Associates came across my information recently, but I will be finding out tomorrow. I will then be contacting the BBB and any and all other agencies as well, regarding their scam. Luckily, I have my payment information from 10 years ago.
I paid Regional Adjustment Bureau 10 years ago in full for a bad debt. Recently, I received a bill from Portfolio Recovery Associates for the same account I paid off 10 years ago. The bill arrived using a name I haven’t used in 10 years and was also mailed to my mother’s house where I don’t live. I have found many complaints similar to mine on the internet. With this said, I find it hard to believe that this is just a “mistake”, like Portfolio Recovery Associates told me, but rather an attempt to deliberately collect money on the same debt twice. I think they are counting on people who won’t save their payment receipts for that long, and feel they would be an easy target. I don’t know how Portfolio Recovery Associates came across my information recently, but I will be finding out tomorrow. I will then be contacting the BBB and any and all other agencies as well, regarding their scam. Luckily, I have my payment information from 10 years ago.
Comments
Thare are a lot of old phone bill records sloshing around the lower rungs of the collection industry, originating with the mergers of the various telecom companies 7 or more years ago, and sold off recently in the last 2 years. For example, Verizon dumped a lot of their alleged bad debts, purchased with their acquisitions of GTE and others a decade ago, on their outsourced customer service and debt collection partner, AFNI.
Much of this junk is of questionable accuracy, most of it is past SOL so they can't legally sue, and past 7 years so it can't even be legally reported on credit reports, but a number of debt collectors have been pursuing people they claim owe it anyway, trying to turn cheap "lead" into "gold".
Many complaints have been filed with FTC, BBB, and various AGs, resulting from both erroneous skip-tracing and dunning, as well as the employment of illegal deceptive and harassing debt collection tactics. Most complaints appear to involve "misidentification" of the wrong person, as the debt collectors attempt to rake in money by just sending bills out to any one with a similar name.
The other common thread in these complaints is that the debt collectors appear to not have access to original statements from the original creditors, either due to the cost and difficulty of retrieving it, or possibly due to contract restrictions, so they tend to employ various deceptive and abusive practices to discourage consumers from exercising their FDCPA validatino rights.
Other complaints imply that the recent original creditor had sold off paid off accounts, often where a billing dispute occurred with the original telecom company, but was corrected and the account considered paid off. After the merger, the new entity appears to have just screened all old account data for write-offs and sold off the resulting mixture of legitimate bad debt and settled or adjusted accounts.
1) RAB was collecting for the original creditor, who was paid 10 years ago, and in a scenario similar to the above the original creditor or their successor sold of a paid debt.
2) RAB bought the debt 10 years ago, you paid them, and they now sold it off even though it was paid.
Regardless, there is no point, legally or morally, in paying an already paid debt, and when anyone demands payment 10 years later you have a right to suspect they are likely to be engaging in deceptive collection.
Since you even have your payment information, preserve your rights by sending a letter disputing the debt and demanding proof you owe it. Send it certified return receipt requested.
If they threaten to sue or report the debt on your credit reports, or continue to harass you and demand payment without sending any proof of the debt, file complaints with FTC and your state AG. Include in your complaint that they are trying to extort payment on a debt you paid 10 years ago, and include a copy of your payment records.
Watch your credit reports, and if their collection account shows up, dispute it through the credit reporting agency. They should NOT post a 10 year old debt, as that is prohibited by FCRA, nor should they threaten to do so, as that is prohibited by FDCPA.
If they are attempting to collect on a debt you do not owe, you request validation, and then sue when they continue to harass you without providing it.
If they sue you, but fail to serve you and get a default judgement, you get an attorney and ask the court to throw out the judgement for their failure to serve you.
If they sue you, you have to defend yourself, or they will get a default judgement. If they sued you but could produce no proof that you owed the debt, a good attorney would have been a good investment.
Otherwise, they will walk all over you.
"Attorney General's News Release
August 18, 2009
Attorney General Koster takes action against fraudulent debt collectors
--Koster says businesses tried to collect debts people didn't owe--
St. Louis, Mo. - Attorney General Chris Koster today filed suit against two debt collection companies that are operating scams to collect debts from citizens who do not owe the money.
Koster filed law suits in St. Louis against Portfolio Recovery Associates, a public company based in Virginia, and Professional Debt Management located in Kansas City.
Koster said Portfolio buys old and bankruptcy-discharged debt, often from another bad debt buyer, and then tries to collect, sometimes through court action. He said the company often is attempting to collect on accounts that are already paid or have been discharged in bankruptcy; sometimes they try to collect from the wrong consumer or for the wrong amounts. He said the company has threatened to garnish consumers' social security checks, which they have no authority to do, and has refused to provide consumers with proof that the debt is valid.
Koster said Professional Debt Management uses scare tactics, leaving messages on consumers' phones that there is an emergency. He said that like Portfolio, they attempt to collect on accounts already paid or from the wrong party.
"The Attorney General's office intends to take aggressive action to protect Missouri consumers," Koster said. "I am asking the court to issue a permanent injunction prohibiting these companies from violating consumer protection laws and to order that they provide full restitution to the people they have harmed."
Koster also is asking that the court impose monetary penalties and require the companies to pay all court costs.
"
Doesn't change what they are doing.
Just says that AG's should make sure they file for the violations of laws they can enforce.
PRA called and left a message so I called them back in an effort to get my new number off their list. I told them that the number is new, that I am not the person that owes them money and take me off their list.
They asked me to prove that I am not the person they are looking for, didn't beleive me when I told them the number was new and would not take the number off their list.
I am beginning to think that harassment is how they do buiness even if it means that people who don't owe them money and have never owed them money is part of their fun and games
I am sure my complaint is one of many.
File a complaint with the state of Washington Attorney General.
NEVER agree to "settle" unowed debts, as debt collectors who pull this stuff cannot be trusted in any way.
If she has further problems, she should contact a consumer attorney with experience in dealing with such debt collectors. You might try www.naca.net
Hope everyone saves every payment they make for the next 100 years!
Send a letter, mailed certified, disputing the alleged debt, and demanding that they obtain proof from the original creditor and send it to you.
If you send that letter within 30 days of receiving their first contact letter, they MUST cease all collection activity until they obtain and send validation. If they continue to try to collect without sending validation, get an attorney and sue them. You might try www.naca.net