Consumer complaint received 2022-02-11
Company: PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES INC
State: OR
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
In late XXXX, I lost a parent after a long illness. This devasted me financially and I dealt with years of XXXX. During this time, unfortunately several of my credit card accounts fell into delinquency. It has taken nearly a decade to put myself and my finances back together. 

At some point in XXXX, Portfolio Recovery Associates ( of XXXX. VA ) purchased old debt from my accounts that was charged off by the original creditors. Long after the statute of limitations on these debts had already passed and Portfolio could no longer take any legal action about them, they began to fraudulently misrepresent the debts and distort information about them in an ongoing effort to re-age them and destroy my credit, a practice illegal under the FCRA. 

Their actions included : Misrepresenting themselves as various types of companies ( including factoring company, attorney, law firm ) when they are required by the FCRA to identify themselves as debt collector, debt buyer, or, in very specific conditions that did not apply to my old debts that they purchased, collection agency Misrepresenting information about the date on which the account in question would age off my credit report by : omitting information about the date of delinquency ; providing the ( irrelevant ) date on which they purchased the debt in an effort to misrepresent it as the date of delinquency ; fabricating the date completely ( as presently seen on my XXXX credit report : the date of delinquency was XXXX XXXX, but in XXXX of XXXX, they fraudulently misrepresented this date to XXXX as being XX/XX/XXXX ) Fraudulently posting the account in question as various types of accounts, including installment loans, other accounts, and payment plans Re-reporting the account in question after I have successfully disputed it with a credit reporting company ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX ) with false information in order to make it appear like a different account from one that was successfully disputed and removed, multiple times with multiple reporting companies Fraudulently claiming there has been activity on the account as recently as XXXX XXXX so as to cause the account to impact my credit score and creditworthiness Portfolio has made it impossible for me to take any action on this the debt in question until it is off my credit report ( because if I take any action it may reset the clock on the debt ), yet they are interfering with the lawful removal of the account from my credit reports due to its age. 

At this point their fraudulent manipulation of information on my credit report has impacted me professionally ( background checks for work ), I have been denied credit, and the presence of this item on my credit report makes it impossible for me to consider buying my first home. 

The attached screen shot shows my XXXX credit file. Note the missing information. This is for an account that went into delinquency in XXXX XXXX. Portfolio is now presenting it as an installment plan that has just gone into 120 day status.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation