Consumer complaint received 2019-01-10
Company: PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES INC
State: MA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Seized or attempted to seize your property

Complaint:
The Problem : I have an existing equity loan ( interest only ) with XXXX XXXX  in XXXX MA which will roll over to a 15-year repayment loan on XX/XX/XXXX. However, there is an obstacle to that roll over due to an improperly placed lien on my property. I say improperly placed because I have a Declaration of Homestead. 

In a pamphlet written by XXXX XXXX, our Secretary of the Commonwealth, states : The real property or manufactured home which serves as an individuals principal residence upon filing a declaration of homestead shall be protected. It goes on to say The declared estate of homestead shall protect against attachment, seizure, execution on judgment, levy or sale for the payment of debts to the extent of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( {$500000.00} ) per residence, per family. ( I will attach that document ). 

The debt amount is {$6500.00} which I am unable to pay at this time but sincerely wish that I could. I have had an excellent credit history up until 3 years ago ( and I am XXXX, so it was good for many years ). In fact, my credit was so good that it meant a lot of credit was available to me. Unfortunately, business and living expenses were high and it finally reached a point where I could no longer keep up with it. My intention is to repay it all when I am able to do so. 

The result is that I now have a limited income, consisting of social security and approximately {$300.00} per week delivering meals at lunch and dinner. My age is against me for getting a substantial job but deliveries help to keep up with living expenses. I will also be launching a business of my own in the very near future. This limited income at the moment has put me into a protected category as far as debt collection goes which is called judgment proof. 

The lien mentioned above is the result of a debt with XXXX XXXX ( a Bank ). The  collections business is a mystery to me but Im learning. It appears there is the Bank, and then with nonpayment of the debt, the Bank sells the debt to a debt buyer. The debt buyer then involves another company to actually collect the debt. The debt buyer in this case is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( telephone is XXXX ). 

The company hired by Portfolio to collect the debt was XXXX, XXXX XXXX   XXXX of XXXX, MA and this is where the problem arises. My only dealings were with this company. They were very difficult to work with as far as calls, threats of court, etc. I eventually signed a judgment for two reasons 1 ) because I owed it and 2 ) I was promised in no uncertain terms that once I agreed to a settlement ( a judgment ), I would no longer be harassed and that I would not hear from then again until I was able to enter into a payment plan. Sounded good to me and I signed in XX/XX/2018. In XX/XX/2018, an armed sheriff appeared at my door and presented me with a seizure of my property. 

I immediately called the Attorney General of Massachusetts because I just knew this wasnt right. And this is where I learned that XXXX, XXXX XXXX   XXXX had to pay the Attorney General {$XXXX} XXXX dollars and change its practices for the abusive handling of debt of thousands of consumers. One of the practices it was to change was the use of the court system to intimidate consumers. However, they certainly used the court system to issue me with a judgment and delivered by a sheriff. 

And the reason for this complaint is that last week, XXXX XXXX and XXXX filed for bankruptcy and went out of business. This was told to me by the Attorney Generals office who also said that collection of this debt would now revert back to Portfolio Recovery Associates and that I needed to contact them to have the lien removed. I have tried calling but continue to be put on hold for 30 minutes at a time until Im forced to give up.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation