Consumer complaint received 2017-10-23
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: False statements or representation — Attempted to collect wrong amount
Company: PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES INC (FL)

on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX I authorized my wife to speak Portfolio Recovery on an account they obtained from XXXX XXXX XXXX Original Creditor Stating that I owed a balance of XXXX My wife specified she wanted to settle this account in full if the payment was to bring the account to a XXXX balance. We explained to them that we are a family of five living off of XXXX and other state programs at the moment. Therefore no other payment agreement would work. Although I had never received written notification about this debt and validation of the amounts they say I owe or a even a signed original contract from portfolio recovery I was trying to take the initiative and close out the account. After we repeated and confirmed the settlement of XXXX to close the account for a XXXX balance. We went on to discuss payment methods. My wife wanted to use her debit card to pay it immediately but the rep said because of the age of the debt and the statute of limitations they could not sue he would need to use a checking account. Being that we had done our researched and read where Portfolio Recovery Assoc was ordered to pay back over XXXX XXXX and a penalty of XXXX XXXX back in XXXX due to inaccurate, lacking documentation, or unenforceable collection practices. Without verifying the debt, the companies collected payments by pressuring consumers with false statements and The companies purchased large portfolios of consumer debt with balances that sellers claimed were approximate or that otherwise did not reflect the correct amount owed by the consumer. Sellers also warned the companies that some of the debts they were buying may not have the most recent consumer payments deducted from the balance. Some sellers also represented that documents were not available for some of the accounts. This left us very apprehensive when providing our banking institution knowing the bad practices merely two years ago. But trying to be a good Samaritan and settle we proceeded with our last savings from our family to put this behind us. We did request a letter be emailed to us about the agreement and they rep stated it was sent just give it 15 mins if not call back. We proceeded with payment information via our account and authorized the payment for XXXX on XXXX. Still at the time we had not received our letter confirmation of settlement of the account. We called back 1 hr later only to be transferred to someone who said they see where it just had been sent and we checked and we received nothing. The next day we called again and was told oh no we do n't email anything after the rep promised us we had settled the account to XXXX and the email was an option as our proof of confirmation of payment. We were furious feeling like we were taken advantage of on a unvalidated debt that we never received one letter about or any proof or anything that this balance was ever XXXX just was taking their word as the debt collector not knowing that they would yet again make false statements and deceive us as the consumer. Even after confirming the financial hardship with them. Not only did they not honor the agreement to settle the account but I received a letter in the mail stating that I authorized them for reoccurring debits in the amount of XXXX. They were trying to collect this balance in full when they may have paid XXXX for this account to XXXX XXXX.This was not a part of the agreement they never emailed me the documents of settlement I called 3x and they did not respond promptly. This company lied and illegally setup a payment plan that nor myself or my wife agreed to furthermore I never received a letter to dispute the debt or proper validation of the debt it just appeared to my credit reports. This is why consumers do not trust companies as such because they lie and they cheat consumers out of thousands of dollars when in fact they have paid pennies on the dollar for these accounts. Not only did they falsify information they did not honor the settlement agreement and bring the account to XXXX and provide letter of our verbal agreement. this company continues to practice illegal debt collection and falsify information. Why would I authorize a reoccurring debit in the amount of XXXX on an account that is outside of the statute of limitations and has n't been validated and I was doing my due diligence by settling the account that im not liable for and they have taken advantage of me and have abused my spouses account information for unauthorized reoccurring debits that she did not agree to. After Speaking with a branch Manager they advised my wife and I that they were concerned that we had not received any proof of payment and sounded like a fraudulent transaction deal. Not only did they freeze our account they closed it out due to the manager having encountered previous consumers dealing with the same situation where the consumer account had been overdrawn by 1000s of dollars from debt collectors. If Portfolio Recovery does not correct this situation and close this account altogether we will be forced to pursue legal actions against portfolio recovery services. Please see the attached Documents showing how they falsified reoccurring debits and did not bring the account to XXXX just reported that we were only making a payment to this balance.