Consumer complaint received 2017-02-18
Company: PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES INC
State: IL
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
WHICH BEST DESCRIBES YOUR ISSUES - none of the options apply but I was forced to choose one. They did not attempt to collect the wrong amount but they have continued to give me the run around and provide me with false information or they do not follow through with what they say they will do. 

I contacted Portfolio Recovery Associates to negotiate settlements on accounts that were reporting to the credit bureaus. The XXXX account I paid was on XX/XX/2017 and I asked for a letter to memorialize the settlement. I was told I would receive by e-mail in 24 hours but never received it. I called on XX/XX/2017 to payoff other accounts and came to an agreement to settle XXXX more accounts. I asked for an arrangement letter for these accounts as well as for the account paid on XX/XX/2017 that I did not receive. I waited 24 hours and called again asking about these letters always being told I would receive in 24 hours. I explained that I am under a deadline and could lose housing opportunities if I do not have these letters. I called every day, sometime 2x a day. Finally on XX/XX/2017 I called again and reached an associate who put me through to another supervisor ( XXXX XXXX in XXXX ) who just kept giving me bad information and would contradict himself. He said that they were not able to provide a letter through e-mail, that I could not have an arrangement letter until 48 hours after payment was received, could not have a {$0.00} balance letter for 10 days, and they could not use my husbands e-mail address for communication to me. When I tried to tell him we were accommodated when we paid off my husbands collections he was not interested. I asked again for arrangement letters and provided my personal e-mail. XXXX XXXX told me I would not get any letters until my e-mail address was verified and that he would need to send me a disclosure e-mail to respond to - again this could take up to XXXX hours. I finally received some letters through my husbands e-mail address but 1 of the letters was from an older account that I did not ask for and 1 of the other 4 letters I was expecting was not provided. The 3 letters received were poorly written, included the wrong dates, did not include the original balance so the balance could be matched to the credit report, and showed a current balance of {$0.00} with a payment due. I contacted the Ombudsman office in an attempt to resolve and I was sent the same poorly written letters in addition to the letter I was missing but now this also was poorly written and included incorrect information ( reports that I still owe money ). I called the rental relations company I am working with to see if they would call Portfolio Recovery and verify the accounts have been paid and when the rental relations company called Portfolio Recovery Portfolio Recovery would not verify any information. I am not sure why it is so difficult to get a letter from this company acknowledging the settlements they have agreed to. Every time I call I am connected to a different person and receive different information. I do not know what to do next.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation