Consumer complaint received 2019-01-15
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Written notification about debt — Didn't receive enough information to verify debt
Company: PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES INC (MI)

XXXX  XXXX Credit Card account was reporting activity on a charged-off account, also showing balance as available credit. Disputed this account and it was removed XXXX, XXXX. Portfolio Recovery and Associates first appeared on my XXXX  credit report XX/XX/XXXX, and listed an open date of XX/XX/XXXX. The account posted a second time, on XX/XX/XXXX, and reported an open date of XX/XX/XXXX. As dispute report results arrived, credit reports from all three credit were generated as well. By XX/XX/XXXX, the Portfolio account had been filed in all three credit reports, showing different dates between each of the credit reports, and conflicting with what had been reported to XXXX  just months earlier, where this account first appeared. Every report, and the results of every investigation is always kept by me. This has given me a very clear picture of what Portfolio has done. By XX/XX/XXXX, Portfolio 's information had changed drastically and multiple times ; the first month this account had appeared, XX/XX/XXXX, was now referred to as the " date of status '', XX/XX/XXXX became the " first reported '', changing from XX/XX/XXXX, to XX/XX/XXXX, finally becoming simply, XX/XX/XXXX. The new date, XX/XX/XXXX is now the " date opened '', and would later become XX/XX/XXXX. I have on my credit file a hard inquiry from XXXX XXXX, dated just 6 days prior, that I did not initiate and did not become evident to me until Portfolio began reporting the XXXX date as the date the account opened. XXXX XXXX appears in the soft pull list several times, giving the reason for the entry each time. The hard inquiry, however, is supposed to list a valid reason, such as applying for a loan or credit card, but states nothing. This account is the charged-off debt I had first mentioned here, that had been disputed and was removed from my credit report a short time before. The hard inquiry states that XXXX XXXX initiated the hard inquiry, which I do not believe they would do for their own records. This account had recently been removed ; once removed, it can not reappear on a person 's credit file. The account was re-inserted, or parked, as their had not been any communication from Portfolio. The account then did not appear on file until months later, posting twice to cause more damage to my credit report and intentional to motivate the hopeful need for a fast payoff. As shown clearly by the numerous date changes, not appearing for months on XXXX  and XXXX XXXX reports, before quietly landing just after the hard inquiry, as if this hides anything. I have had a very difficult time trying to remove this account, and its outrageous to me these companies are allowed to operate, and that so many people are subjected to this. It is very serious, as these types of accounts cause such damage, keeping families from owning cars or buying homes, it is well known that an astounding 70-80 % of credit reports are not accurate, and yet are allowed to go on harming people everywhere. I just figured out even more as I type this out the lengths Portfolio went to keep this account on my file, and am even more disgusted. Despite how blatantly obvious this is to me, and would be to others, and this being one of the biggest debt buyers, and most involved in lawsuits, I do not understand how these companies are still in business, or the purpose they could possibly serve being allowed to continue. With that, I believe I have more than adequately described why I should no longer have to deal with this account. It has taken far too much of my time already, has deprived me from a variety of opportunities already, and has clearly violated my rights under the FCRA and FDCPA. I would like to ask the CFPB for their assistance in removing this account from my file. I have previously asked Portfolio for debt validation, and had been given the front page of my old XXXX XXXX statement, showing what I had owed at the time, in a much smaller format, and printed on paper bearing Portfolio 's markings. This is obviously insufficient, and supposed to be supplied from the original creditor, not the debt buyer. They clearly can not prove the validity of this debt, and have not answered my recent letter requesting their method of verification, sent by certified mail to the credit bureaus, with signature confirmation proving the request had been received. The credit bureaus are required to submit my request to the debt buyer, and within 15 days respond to me with the requested information. At this point, if these accounts are not removed, as the 15 days have now passed, I will be left unable to understand why these laws created to protect consumers from this are not protecting me.