Consumer complaint received 2021-11-29
Company: PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES INC
State: MD
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was result of identity theft

Complaint:
Around XX/XX/XXXX, I received a notice to appear before a court, in regard to an Affidavit of Judgment made by Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC. At the time, I was not aware of who this company was, nor the request of my appearance. So, I decided to look further into PRA, XXXX  and the reason being of me going to court. I first checked my local case search website, and discovered that an attempt to take me to court went back into XXXX of XXXX, which was unbeknownst to me. I also noticed that the recent court date received as erected from an alleged summons that I did not receive. I later produced a request for a validation of debt as well as filed for a motion to strike. Their correspondence was a packet with alleged records of transactions made through XXXX XXXX, along with an alleged statement about the debt being sold to them by XXXX XXXX. I continued to dispute this alleged debt because it was honestly not mine. I sent a letter to XXXX XXXX to investigate how and why my name and other personal information was being used for something that was not in my doing. Also, I expressed to them that I never had nor opened an account with them to begin with. Fast forward, a XXXX  hearing was conducted sometime in XX/XX/XXXX for my Motion to Strike Service, and I requested to take it to trial. Trial was set for XX/XX/XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from XXXX XXXX stating that upon investigation they discovered that the alleged account was not mine, and was closing the account that was under my name. A little before, PRA, XXXX  dismissed the case and also sent a letter basically stating the same as XXXX XXXX. A request to issue a freeze was granted by the three major credit bureaus. XXXX XXXX  and PRA, XXXX  also stated they were going to notify the credit bureaus as well. The negative report was wiped off my credit report, but the damage is still present. From XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, my credit report consisted of negative account activity because of these frivolous claims. My identity and other personal information was not only stolen and misused, but XXXX XXXX  and PRA, XXXX  did not do their due diligence to investigate when I constantly disputed this alleged debt. So, my personal information was sold and used freely to produce an alleged debt that never existed. Furthermore, I was denied employment amongst other luxuries that deprived me of my God given right to enjoy life because of the negative reports that was place on my credit report due to this false claim of an alleged debt. When purchasing my first car, in XX/XX/XXXX, I had to settle for something around a 24.97 % interest rate from the only auto loan provider that would give me a chance. There are a slew of violations that I've documented that both companies should be held accountable for. I don't think it's humane for an entity or corporation to deprive a living man/woman of his life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness because of their presumptions and/or dishonorable intent, and walk away freely after doing such damage.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief