Consumer complaint received 2020-07-07
Company: PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES INC
State: DE
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: I do not know
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was result of identity theft

Complaint:
Summary : I am contacting your services regarding several issues and concerns a debt collection company practicing business under the named Portfolio Recovery Associates. This company placed a fraudulent account on my credit report as not being paid. The account in question dates back to XXXX when I had been the victim of identity theft at the University I attended at the time. In XXXX The company to which the account was opened " XXXX XXXX was notified that the account was created using stolen information and faxed a police report from the Universities Police dept. I was given a case ID by XXXX XXXX and informed they would resolve the issue. 

A decade later in XXXX I received a notice from Portfolio Recovery Associates advising that I owe a balance for a XXXX account. I have informed this company numerous times that the account was created as a result of criminal activity. I provided them with timely responses challenging the debt presented and requesting additional information regarding the foundation of the debt and its validity of the debt. I have never claimed owner ship or acknowledge ownership of the debt as I was the victim of fraud. 

Portfolio Recovery Associates took it upon themselves to validate the debt without my authority and listed it on my credit report. Portfolio Recovery Associates had refused to acknowledge and respond to direct request for further information after the document which is a computerized billing statement dated for " XXXX '' that had been sent to me as claim of their proof of account authorization. 

My credit report showed Portfolio Recovery Associates as a collections account attempting to collect a debt on a " loan '' for the amount of {$3300.00}. I have never borrowed money from Portfolio Recovery Associates. I have never authenticated that this debt was valid nor created by myself. I have also recognized that the balance for the account is also significantly higher than what was reported in XXXX when the account was reported to XXXX XXXX as being fraudulent and was to be closed. 

I originally reached out to the Credit Bureau informing them that this account was created out of fraud and supplied them with the supporting documentation. I later received a notice from Portfolio Recovery Associates regarding that the account was " being placed under investigation '' and this time I received an additional form from them titled as an " Identity Theft Affidavit ''. 

This form is designed to deliberately mislead persons into filling out and providing sensitive information to Portfolio Recovery Associates for their own corporate use. The form is an altered Police Report form referencing actions that Portfolio Recovery Associates can not legally take nor authorize themselves to do on behalf of a victim. 

In areas the form references general information that is allowable to be collected by a Collections Agency but then further slips into Information that is not required to be provided to a collections agency in order to report " Identity Theft '' without telling the person receiving the form that it is optional and not required to process a claim of fraud. 

The form also ask for information and requests that are made to be extremely excessive and discouraging to anyone reporting an account to Portfolio Recovery Associates for fraud. 

I had submitted the required correspondence to Portfolio Recovery Associates under the FDCPA advising them that the account was fraudulent with supporting documentation to validate that the account was not opened under my consent. 

As a result this company has deliberately damaged my credit by falsely reporting a debt and refusing to remove the debt after they have been made aware was not created by the person they are attempting to collect the debt from. Portfolio Recovery Associates has refused to answer any specific questions I have submitted to them regarding this debt. As I have attempted to get information from them for several years regarding this account which has been largely ignored. 

Their responses have been generic letter responses that their company is doing an investigation to which they always claim the debt is valid after waiting the legal period of time and submit back to me the same generic computerized statement that was originally brought into question to me in an attempt to collect on it. 

Attached you will find supporting documents and a history of correspondence regarding the presented balance and discrepancies with Portfolio Recovery Associates collections behavior and lack of compliance to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation