Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA): sent to collections
Dispute in writing before the validation period ends and ask for verification; PRA must pause collection until it answers.
What does this mean?
Grade C (use with care: check the source of each value before relying on it). 100% of 35 sources are the organization's own pages or government sites; 2 value(s) were read from a search snippet or an archive copy.
Collect
- validation notice with the end date of the validation period
- PRA and original account numbers
- proof of payment or identity theft report
- copies of what you send
Steps
Find the date the validation notice gives as the end of the validation period, and the dispute address on the notice.
Before that date, send a written dispute by certified mail. Say which part you do not owe and ask for verification and for the name and address of the original creditor.
MailPRA mailing address on its consumer contact page Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, 120 Corporate Blvd, Norfolk, VA 23502Keep a copy and the mailing receipt. You can also email the dispute, but keep the mailed copy as proof.
If the debt is from identity theft, attach your FTC identity theft report from IdentityTheft.gov.
If PRA keeps collecting without sending verification, file a CFPB complaint.
More contacts for this issue
Facts you can cite
- Process
If you dispute in writing within the validation period, a debt collector must stop collecting the debt, or the disputed part, until it sends verification of the debt or a copy of a judgment (Regulation F, 12 CFR 1006.38).
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-13
- Deadline
The FTC says to send a dispute letter within 30 days of receiving the validation information; if you do not dispute within 30 days, the collector can assume the debt is valid.
Source: consumer.ftc.gov, verified 2026-10-13
The CFPB received 20,723 complaints about Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026 (debt collection 16,518; credit reporting 3,989). 11,471 were closed with non-monetary relief and 9,250 with explanation; none show monetary relief. 155 responses were not timely.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-13
The most common CFPB issue for PRA in that period was "Attempts to collect debt not owed" (6,709), including 4,504 "Debt is not yours" and 1,830 "Debt was result of identity theft".
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-13
- Policy
On April 13, 2023 a federal court (E.D. Va.) entered a CFPB order against PRA. The CFPB alleged that PRA violated a 2015 order and federal law, including by collecting unsubstantiated debt, suing on time-barred debt and mishandling credit reporting disputes. PRA must pay at least $12.18 million in redress and a $12 million civil penalty.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-13
Tips
- Company tip
PRA's consumer site has "Who's Calling From" pages for the phone and text numbers it uses, such as https://www.portfoliorecovery.com/prapay/phone/8006548818. Use them, or the number on your letter, to check a caller. Seen in search results; not fetched.
Source: portfoliorecovery.com, verified 2026-10-13
Rules in force
- Debt validation notice and dispute period (FDCPA, Regulation F)12 CFR 1006.34; 12 CFR 1006.38 (Regulation F)
A third-party debt collector must give the consumer validation information, including an itemization of the debt and the date the validation period ends. If the consumer disputes the debt in writing within the validation period (30 days after the consumer receives or is assumed to receive the information), the collector must stop collecting until it sends verification of the debt.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
7 citable points
- Policy
Regulation F covers a debt collector: a person whose principal business purpose is collecting debts, or who regularly collects debts owed or asserted to be owed to another. It generally does not cover a creditor's own employees collecting in the creditor's name, or a person who got a debt before it was in default. A debt is a consumer obligation primarily for personal, family or household purposes.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Deadline
The collector must give the validation information in the initial communication, or within five days after it, or orally in the initial communication.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Deadline
The validation period ends "30 days after the consumer receives or is assumed to receive the validation information". The collector may assume receipt on any date "at least five days (excluding legal public holidays identified in 5 U.S.C. 6103(a), Saturdays, and Sundays)" after it provides the information. The notice must state the date the collector will treat as the end of the validation period.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Policy
The validation information includes the itemization date, the amount of the debt on that date, an itemization of interest, fees, payments and credits since then, the current amount, and a consumer response section with dispute prompts.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Process
"Upon receipt of a dispute submitted by the consumer in writing within the validation period, a debt collector must cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion of the debt," until it sends the consumer a copy of verification of the debt or of a judgment, in writing or electronically. A dispute sent through an electronic medium the collector accepts, such as its email address or website portal, counts as written.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Process
If the consumer asks in writing within the validation period for the name and address of the original creditor, the collector must stop collection until it provides that information.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Policy
During the validation period the collector may not use collection activities or communications that overshadow or are inconsistent with the consumer's dispute rights. Failure to dispute does not count as a legal admission that the consumer owes the debt.
Source: consumerfinance.gov, verified 2026-10-12
- Policy
If that fails, escalate
Go up one step at a time. Keep the reference numbers and dates from each contact.
Written complaint
MailPRA mailing address on its consumer contact page Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, 120 Corporate Blvd, Norfolk, VA 23502Dispute in writing within the validation period in the notice; use the address on the notice.
Federal regulator
Federal regulator
State agency
Your state’s attorney general. Find it in the list of state agencies (also as JSON:
states/<code>.json, for example states/ny.json).Small claims court
Watch out
- portfoliorecovery.com failed automated fetches (certificate error); hand the browser to the person.
- Phone lines verify the account holder by voice.
Let your AI agent handle this
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1. Set it up (needs uv):
uvx escalate-anything setup2. Ask your agent:
Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA) sent a bill I [paid or dispute] to collections. Use Escalate Anything to fix it.Source code, other install options and the Claude Code plugin