Consumer complaint received 2019-06-23
Company: PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES INC
State: NY
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: I do not know
Issue: Communication tactics
Sub-issue: You told them to stop contacting you, but they keep trying

Complaint:
On XX/XX/19 on my cell phone, I found a missed call log entry at XXXX XXXX from XXXX at an unknown location. I XXXX the 866 number and found multiple descriptions of the source as Portfolio Recovery, a collection agency and financial services firm. Many comments about the company described calls that were baseless, harassing, and unremitting. However, Portfolio Recovery was also described as a huge corporation, now called PRA Group, that buys debt cheaply from creditors and then tries to collect not as cheaply from debtors to make a profit. The internet reported that the New York State Attorney Generals office and the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have both taken significant actions against the company under its several names for improper and sometimes deceptive debt collection practices. I responded to all this by checking my three credits reports, none of which showed adverse information ; I was aware of no debts not promptly paid by me. I then called the 866 number from my cell phone and spoke to a representative. I indicated to her that I was returning a missed call from her number. I gave her my phone number. She said that for her to tell me the reason for the call I would have to give her my name. I declined to do so because of adverse information about her company on the internet, and I stated that if her company has any demand to make of me, she can use my phone number to find my name and mailing address, if these latter data are not already in her companys hands, in order to send me the demand in writing. I told her that my credit reports have confirmed that I have no bad debts outstanding. I then filed the above narrative as consumer complaint # XXXX at the CFPB website on the same day. PRA responded via the CFPB on XX/XX/19 by requesting, in order to investigate the problem, the number of the cell phone on which I had received the company 's call. My feedback on the same day via the CFPB website stated essentially that the companys response was not substantive and that no action or plausible promise was made by the company. My reason for that feedback was the contradiction between 1 ) the companys request via CFPB for my cell phone number and 2 ) an  assertion on the phone by the companys customer service representative that my phone number, which I had told her, was not sufficient and that my name would have to be provided. I am now initiating a new complaint via CFPB because today on my cell phones missed call log I found a XXXX XXXX entry from XXXX from an unknown location. I XXXX the number ; some among the many hits of complaints identified the source of that same number as Portfolio Recovery. I had not contemporaneously been aware of or picked up the call and I will not call back. I will not disclose personal information in this complaint. As I had told the customer service representative by phone on XX/XX/19, if the company has my phone number, it can use that information to find my name and address and thereafter to notify me in writing by regular U. S. mail  about any ostensible pecuniary demands.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation